"Born to Be Wild" is a song written by Mars Bonfire and first performed by the band Steppenwolf. It is often invoked in both popular and counter culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude. It is most notably featured in the 1969 film Easy Rider. Sometimes, "Born to Be Wild" is described as the first heavy metal song, and the second-verse lyric "heavy metal thunder" marks the first use of this term in rock music (although not as a description of a musical style but rather a motorcycle).[5][6]
Composition
Mars Bonfire wrote "Born to Be Wild" as a ballad.[7] Bonfire was previously a member of the Sparrows, the predecessor band to Steppenwolf, and his brother was Steppenwolf's drummer. Although he initially offered the song to other bands — The Human Expression, for one[8] — "Born to Be Wild" was first recorded by Steppenwolf in a sped-up and rearranged version that AllMusic's Hal Horowitz described as "a roaring anthem of turbo-charged riff rock" and "a timeless radio classic as well as a slice of '60s revolt that at once defines Steppenwolf's sound and provided them with their shot at AM immortality".[7]
Release and reception
"Born to Be Wild" was the band's third single off their 1968 debut album Steppenwolf and became their most successful single, reaching No.2 on the Billboard Hot100 singles charts. It was kept from the No.1 spot by "People Got to Be Free" by the Rascals.[9] In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed "Born to Be Wild" at No.129 on the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.[10] Also in 2004, it finished at No.29 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. In 2009, it was named the 53rd best hard rock song of all time by VH1 (It ranked 40th in the 100 Greatest Songs of Rock and Roll by VH1 nine years earlier.).[11] In 2018, the song was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a new category for singles.[12]
In 1985, the song was covered by Australian band Rose Tattoo. Their version peaked at No. 25 in Australia.[34] In 2002, it was covered by Kim Wilde and released as a non-album single. Her cover reached No. 84 in Germany[35] and No. 71 in Switzerland.[36] Belgian singer Tanja Dexters also covered the song in 2002. Her version peaked at No. 21 in Belgium.[37]
^Inglis, Ian (2003). Popular Music and Film. Wallflower Press. p. 13. ISBN978-1-903364-71-0. Steppenwolf's 'Born To Be Wild', a gritty, hard-rock song that quickly became an anthem for defiant individualism.
^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.
