Born to Be Wild
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Born to Be Wild" is a song first performed by the band Steppenwolf, written by Mars Bonfire. The song is often invoked in both popular and counter 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 (although not as a description of a musical style).
Cultural references
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, released in 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 & Nash to do the movie's soundtrack. Eventually, it became clear that the song was well suited for the movie.
Steppenwolf's version of "Born to Be Wild" has been used in several movies, trailers, TV shows and commercials, including:
- Easy Rider (1969)
- Coming Home (1978)
- The Serial (1980)
- The Miami Vice episode "The Great McCarthy" (1984–85)
- Alvin and the Chipmunks episode "New, Improved Simon" (1984)
- Lost in America (1985)
- One Crazy Summer (1986)
- Armed and Dangerous (1986)
- The Married... with Children episode "Have You Driven a Ford Lately?" (1987)
- The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (1989–1991) episode "Toad Warriors"
- Opportunity Knocks (1990)
- Problem Child (1990)
- The NeverEnding Story III (1994)
- Speechless (1994)
- Wild America (1997)
- Van-Pires: The Next Generation (1997–98) (theme song)
- Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie (1998) (some TV spots only)
- A Bug's Life (TV spots only) (1998)
- Dudley Do-Right (1999)
- Recess: School's Out (2001)
- Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)
- Six Feet Under (2001–2005)
- Stuart Little 2 (2002) (trailer and TV spots only)
- Rugrats Go Wild (2003)
- Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman (2006–2010)
- Barnyard (2006) (some advertisements only)
- Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)
- Commercial for the 2007 Hess Monster Truck
- Alpha and Omega (2010) (trailer only)
- Blue Cross/Blue Shield (2011 TV commercial)
- Supernatural (2005–) (season 7 finale in 2011)
- Rise of the Guardians (2012) (teaser trailer)
- Home Improvement (1991–1999) Season 1 episode 2.
- Nymphomaniac Vol. I (2013–2014).