Steppenwolf : Top 10 Favorite Songs

[Wolf]

I think Monarch and McJohn played with Kay on seperate occasions at the Wolfests held each year but like many others would have killed to have all three play together again. You can throw Nick St. Nicholas in there too. Monarch I believe still plays with St.Nicholas with the World Classic Rockers.

World Classic Rockers



John Kay forgot that secret, he kept the name, and made money, but he forgot the formula..for hits

but yeah Goldy Mcjohn gigging with Larry Byrom or whoever is not steppenwolf either, but they probably were living in a van or one room
apartment and needed money, who can say. I think Mike Monarch cleaned
up and became quite reknowned. too bad John Kay never called him and said
well? have you cleaned up your act, do you fancy recording[/QUOTE]

 

[whobeatle]

I think Monarch and McJohn played with Kay on seperate occasions at the Wolfests held each year but like many others would have killed to have all three play together again. You can throw Nick St. Nicholas in there too. Monarch I believe still plays with St.Nicholas with the World Classic Rockers.

World Classic Rockers



John Kay forgot that secret, he kept the name, and made money, but he forgot the formula..for hits

but yeah Goldy Mcjohn gigging with Larry Byrom or whoever is not steppenwolf either, but they probably were living in a van or one room
apartment and needed money, who can say. I think Mike Monarch cleaned
up and became quite reknowned. too bad John Kay never called him and said
well? have you cleaned up your act, do you fancy recording

[/QUOTE]



Well its refreshing for me to hear so much knowledge and passion for the Wolf, at this late date!

You certainly seem to know more than me. about it all. I did know Monarch briefly in the seventies, when he had a band before or just after detective, and I knew Kent Henry rather well, and Richie Podolor and Mike Wilk I recorded with as well as Podolor, but John Kay struck me as very business like and somewhat unfriendly, my observation, was he was a disciplined almost germanic militaristic kind of guy, ruling his band with a sort of benevolent dictatorship, I had the priviledge of being a studio gopher when He did his "My Sportin Life" album when I was about 11!

Love that album quite a bit,

But in my view, and I admit I am not a Steppenwolf expert, the two things that stick in my mind, are they seemed generally. a rather unhappy bunch of people, the Wolf people I knew with substance problems, and (except for kay) and second, the departure of Monarch was the end of their commercial success, even though Kay made another 8-10 albums.

So why overthink it? When Monarch left, their commercial success left permanently. In retrospect that seems to be a huge mistake not getting Monarch back to try the formula again. Monarch did have one big hit in Los Angeles a remake of Elvis Costello's "Watching The Detectives" for Monarchs new band Detective. Also, Podolor although hitting a plateau , did limp along to another 15-20 gold records so he apparently wasn't the problem. Kent Henry had struck gold with "Ride Captain Ride" and Blues Image. maybe the problem was indeed, John Kay and the Mike Wilk crowd, maybe they just didint have it to strike gold. Or Maybe Kay was content to never have another hit, and just collect all the money from all those one night state fair gigs. It does pay well when you own the name and run the band.

too bad, but hey they did alright for themselves Born To Be Wild and Magic carpet ride are two of the alltime classics! Rock on

 

[Wolf]

I thought I knew a few things but there are quite a lot of fans that post on the Steppenwolf forum that can tell you virtually every single detail about The Sparrow and Steppenwolf I don't know how they retain it all. I think Michael felt the other members were like his older brothers because he was younger and wanted to break away from that. I don't think he liked JK always giving some sort of political rant inbetween some songs, he just wanted to turn the amp up and rock. If you search Goldy's website he talks about the past a bit and he's not real happy.
Goldy McJohn - Home
I agree with your post I wish I could have been that close to the action back then. Goldy has mentioned that if Jerry Edmonton were still around they would all have played together again but there is just too much finger pointing still going on with Goldy, Nick and John to resolve anything. When John came back as JK and Steppenwolf (that always bugged me sounds like Gary Puckett and the Union Gap) Jerry Edmonton was not asked to join but not because there were problems. Well as JK always tells his fans "Keep Rockin'"





Well its refreshing for me to hear so much knowledge and passion for the Wolf, at this late date!

You certainly seem to know more than me. about it all. I did know Monarch briefly in the seventies, when he had a band before or just after detective, and I knew Kent Henry rather well, and Richie Podolor and Mike Wilk I recorded with as well as Podolor, but John Kay struck me as very business like and somewhat unfriendly, my observation, was he was a disciplined almost germanic militaristic kind of guy, ruling his band with a sort of benevolent dictatorship, I had the priviledge of being a studio gopher when He did his "My Sportin Life" album when I was about 11!

Love that album quite a bit,

But in my view, and I admit I am not a Steppenwolf expert, the two things that stick in my mind, are they seemed generally. a rather unhappy bunch of people, the Wolf people I knew with substance problems, and (except for kay) and second, the departure of Monarch was the end of their commercial success, even though Kay made another 8-10 albums.

So why overthink it? When Monarch left, their commercial success left permanently. In retrospect that seems to be a huge mistake not getting Monarch back to try the formula again. Monarch did have one big hit in Los Angeles a remake of Elvis Costello's "Watching The Detectives" for Monarchs new band Detective. Also, Podolor although hitting a plateau , did limp along to another 15-20 gold records so he apparently wasn't the problem. Kent Henry had struck gold with "Ride Captain Ride" and Blues Image. maybe the problem was indeed, John Kay and the Mike Wilk crowd, maybe they just didint have it to strike gold. Or Maybe Kay was content to never have another hit, and just collect all the money from all those one night state fair gigs. It does pay well when you own the name and run the band.

too bad, but hey they did alright for themselves Born To Be Wild and Magic carpet ride are two of the alltime classics! Rock on[/QUOTE]

 

[whobeatle]

Well, feeling fresh and clear this afternoon, reflecting back, I think most of the groups, Steppenwolf,Three Dog, Iron Butterfly, Blues Image, that came out of Richie Podolors studio in the late sixties early Seventies, all had enormous drug problems, and John Kay of the Wolf, and Cory Wells of Three Dog, did not seem to have substance problems. Today they are both wealthy and happily married, most of the rest of them all suffered horrible poverty, coming down six pegs on the ladder, and some of them even died.Chuck Negron, has made a remarkable public, recovery, and so have a few of the others, kent Henry my buddy he died, Joe Schermie Died, Edmonton died, (Unrelated to drugs I think)

John Kay made a bad miscalculation, when he thought changing personell like that would be okay. in retrospect we can surmise, perhaps there would have been a couple more landmark recordings like Born To Be Wild, or Magic Carpet ride...if. they had kept it together.. Maybe John Kay figured. Hey, I got half a dozen gold records under my belt, there is no amount of hit records worth this kind of lunacy on a daily basis.

I talked to Monarch a couple years ago, I reminded him of some band he was in called Rooster, that I roadied for him when I was like sixteen, and he seemed normal and lucid to me.. they probably should have reunited in the nineties for a big score, but..maybe that would have been unfair to the Mike Wilk crowd... they could have always tried at least Kay-Monarch Wilk... and a good drummer..

too late now, Kay is almost 70, its all over but the rockin chair and slippers!

 

[Alistair]

Dear People I would like to share here top 10 songs of Steppenwolf as the list below

Snowblind Friend
Take What You Need
Rock Me
None of Your Doing
Don't Step On The Grass Sam
Foggy Mental Breakdown
Earscplittinloudenboomer
Rock N Roll Rebels
Man on a Mission
Born to be Wild

 

[DaKillerWolf]

Born to Be Wild
Magic Carpet Ride
The Pusher
Desperation
The Ostrich
Don’t Step on the Grass Sam
Disappointment Number
Monster / Suicide / America
Power Play
Faster Than the Speed of Life

 

[Magic]

01. Born to be Wild
02. Magic Carpet Ride
03. The Pusher
04. Rock Me
05. Sookie Sookie
06. Straight Shootin' Woman
07. The Ostrich
08. Hoochie Coochie Man
09. Renegade
10. Hippo Stomp

 

[zoso80]

1. Gang War Blues
2. Ball Crusher
3. Don't Step on the Grass, Sam
4. Renegade
5. Jeraboah
6. The Night Time's For You
7. Hey Lawdy Mama (early version minus obnoxious guitar overdub)
8. 28
9. Skullduggery
10. Rock 'N Roll Song

 

[bigyak]

the best in opinion (mine) of 10 Steppenwolf songs

Magic Carpet Ride
Who Needs Ya
Pusher
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Born To Be Wild
Screaming Nighthog
Tenderness
Sparkle Eyes
Don't Step On the Grass Sam
Renegade

For an encore i'd say
Ride With Me

 

[Speed King]

1. Hippo Stomp
2. Fat Jack
3. Renegade
4. Jupiter's Child
5. From Here to There Eventually
6. Move Over
7. The Pusher
8. Draft Resister
9. Don't Step on the Grass Sam
10. Foggy Mental Breakdown

more:

Powerplay
Earschplitenloudenboomer
Who Needs Ya
It's Never Too Late
Monster/Suicide/America
Ball Crusher
Hodge Podge Strained Through a Leslie
Resurrection
Sookie Sookie
Snowbird Friend