Another track from that excellent 'Essential Soundtracks' compilation that FilmFour released years ago. Also on the excellent 'Easy Rider' soundtrack album, which I now own on vinyl... "'Born to Be Wild' is a rock song written by Mars Bonfire (Canadian songwriter Dennis Edmonton) and performed by Steppenwolf. It is often used in popular culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude. It is sometimes 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 (albeit not obviously as a description of a musical style). The song was initially released in 1968, but it was subsequently included in many compilation albums and soundtracks. The first of these was the soundtrack for the movie Easy Rider (1969). Unlike the album or single version, the song on this soundtrack is accompanied by the sounds of motorcycles as an introduction. (Another Steppenwolf song from their first album, "The Pusher", was also used in the film.) When the movie was in production, Born to Be Wild was used simply as a placeholder, since Peter Fonda had wanted Crosby, Stills and Nash to do the movie's soundtrack. Eventually, it became clear that the song was well suited for the movie..."
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