Editing Born to Be Wild (section)

{{short description|1968 song by Steppenwolf}}
{{about|the song|other uses|Born to Be Wild (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox song
 |name          = Born to Be Wild
 |cover         = Born to be wild steppenwolf US single Dunhill-only variant A.png
 |alt           = side-A label
 |caption       = One of side-A labels of the US single
 |type          = single
 |artist        = [[Steppenwolf (band)|Steppenwolf]]
 |album         = [[Steppenwolf (Steppenwolf album)|Steppenwolf]]
 |B-side        = Everybody's Next One
 |released      = May 9, 1968
 |genre         = {{hlist|[[Hard rock]]<ref>{{cite book|first= Ian |last= Inglis |year= 2003 |title= Popular Music and Film |publisher= Wallflower Press |page= [https://archive.org/details/popularmusicfilm00iani/page/13 13] |isbn= 978-1-903364-71-0 |url= https://archive.org/details/popularmusicfilm00iani |url-access= registration |quote= Steppenwolf's 'Born To Be Wild', a gritty, hard-rock song that quickly became an anthem for defiant individualism.}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title= Heavy Metal |magazine= [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date= May 10, 1986 |page= H-1 |volume= 99 |issue= 18 |issn= 0006-2510 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8CQEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22born+to+be+wild%22&pg=PA47-IA2}}</ref>|[[proto-metal]]<ref>{{cite book|editor-first= Robert |editor-last= Dimery |year= 2011 |title= 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die |chapter= The Pusher – Steppenwolf (1968) |publisher= [[Lagardère Publishing|Octopus Publishing Group]] |isbn= 978-1-84403-717-9 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UH_EOUR4tmkC&pg=PT634}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first= Barney |last= Hoskyns |year= 1996 |title= Waiting for the Sun: The Story of the Los Angeles Music Scene |publisher= Viking |page= 172 |quote= The brilliant soundtrack, including the Byrds' 'Wasn't Born to Follow', Steppenwolf's proto-metal 'Born to be Wild', and Jimi Hendrix's 'If Six Was Nine', helped to set the film in a kind of outlaw-rock'n'roll context.}}</ref>}}
 |length        = {{hlist|3:30|3:02 (7-inch)}}
 |label         = {{hlist|[[Dunhill Records|Dunhill]]|[[RCA Records|RCA]]}}
 |writer        = [[Mars Bonfire]]
 |producer      = [[Gabriel Mekler]]
 |prev_title    = A Girl I Knew
 |prev_year     = 1967
 |next_title    = [[The Pusher]]
 |next_year     = 1968
 |misc          = {{External music video|header=Official audio|{{YouTube|p8FTmkTIL88|"Born To Be Wild"}}}}
}}

"'''Born to Be Wild'''" is a song written by [[Mars Bonfire]] and first released as a single by [[Steppenwolf (band)|Steppenwolf]]. Although the lyrics do not specifically mention motorcycles, the song is often invoked in both [[Popular culture|popular]] and [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counter]]culture to denote a [[motorcycle|biker]] appearance or attitude since being featured in the 1969 film ''[[Easy Rider]]''. Sometimes, "Born to Be Wild" is described as the first [[Heavy metal music|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, but rather a motorcycle).<ref name="Grdn">{{cite news |last1=Dave Simpson |title=How we made Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild: Interview |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jul/31/how-we-made-steppenwolf-born-to-be-wild |access-date=20 September 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=31 July 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first= Robert |last= Walser |year= 1993 |title= Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music |publisher= [[Wesleyan University Press]] |isbn= 978-0-8195-6260-9 |url= https://archive.org/details/runningwithdevil00wals |url-access= registration}}</ref>