Born to Be Wild

"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.

"Born to Be Wild"
Single by Steppenwolf
from Steppenwolf"
B-side"Everybody's Next One"
ReleasedJune 1968[1]
Genre
Length
  • 3:30
  • 3:02 (7-inch)
Label
Songwriter(s)Mars Bonfire
Producer(s)Gabriel Mekler
Steppenwolf singles chronology
""A Girl I Knew"
(1967)
Born to Be Wild ""The Pusher"
(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

  1. "U.S. Metal's Lost Legends". Record Collector. https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/us-metals-lost-legends. Retrieved December 30, 2019. 
  2. 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.
  3. "Heavy Metal". Billboard 99 (18): H-1. May 10, 1986. ISSN 0006-2510 . https://books.google.com/books?id=8CQEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22born+to+be+wild%22&pg=PA47-IA2. 
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. "Steppenwolf Album & Song Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  7. "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2015-03-17. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  8. "Vh1 Top 100 Hard Rock Songs". Spreadit.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  9. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs". American Film Institute. Retrieved 2015-03-09.

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