Wednesday 27th November 1968

Steppenwolf’s first album, featuring the rock and roll driving hit “Born to Be Wild,” was certified gold with sales in excess of 500,000 copies. “Born to Be Wild” demonstrates the ongoing love affair of rock and roll with fast driving, affirmed earlier by such rock artists as Chuck Berry and the Beach Boys, in hits like Berry’s “Maybelline and the Beach Boys’s “Little Deuce Coupe.” In “Born to Be Wild,” which was Steppenwolf’s biggest hit, rough-voiced singer John Kay asked listeners to “get your motor running / head out on the highway / lookin’ for adventure / in whatever comes our way.”