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]