Born to Be Wild
| "Born to Be Wild" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Steppenwolf | ||||
| from the album Steppenwolf | ||||
| B-side | "Everybody's Next One" | |||
| Released | June 1968[1] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
| |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | Mars Bonfire | |||
| Producer(s) | Gabriel Mekler | |||
| Steppenwolf singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Born to Be Wild" is the third single off Canadian-American rock group Steppenwolf's self-titled first studio album. The song was released in June 1968.
On the Billboard charts, the song was able to peak at #2 on the Hot 100.[6]
In 2004, the song was ranked #130 on the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list by Rolling Stone.[7] It has also been ranked at #53 on the 100 Hard Rock Songs list by VH1.[8] The song was first featured in the 1969 movie Easy Rider and has since been featured in many movies, trailers, TV shows and commercials. It was ranked #29 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of the top songs in American cinema.[9]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ "U.S. Metal's Lost Legends". Record Collector. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
- ↑ Inglis, Ian (2003). Popular Music and Film. Wallflower Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-903364-71-0.
Steppenwolf's 'Born To Be Wild', a gritty, hard rock song that quickly became an anthem for defiant individualism.
- ↑ "Heavy Metal". Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 18. May 10, 1986. p. H-1. ISSN 0006-2510.
- ↑ Dimery, Robert, ed. (2011). "The Pusher – Steppenwolf (1968)". 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die. Octopus Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-84403-717-9.
- ↑ Hoskyns, Barney (1996). Waiting for the Sun: The Story of the Los Angeles Music Scene. Viking. p. 172.
The brilliant soundtrack, including the Byrds' 'Wasn't Born to Follow', Steppenwolf's proto-metal 'Born to be Wild', and Jimi Hendrix's 'If Six Was Nine', helped to set the film in a kind of outlaw-rock'n'roll context.
- ↑ "Steppenwolf Album & Song Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
- ↑ "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2015-03-17. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
- ↑ "Vh1 Top 100 Hard Rock Songs". Spreadit.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
- ↑ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs". American Film Institute. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
