Born to Be Wild - A band called Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf is one of the most legendary and simultaneously enigmatic bands in the history of rock music. Straddling the line between mainstream and psychedelic underground, their song 'Born to Be Wild' opened the cult film Easy Rider and became an anthem for an entire generation. The new, hard sound of Steppenwolf was a jolt to the heart of the Summer of Love and marked the end of the hippie era. It is no coincidence that they were the very first band to use the term 'Heavy Metal' in their lyrics. However, what few people know is that the band Steppenwolf had as its gravitational center two German immigrant children who initially met in Toronto before moving together to California - singer John Kay (born Joachim-Fritz Krauledat) was a war refugee from East Prussia. Bassist Nick St. Nicholas (born Karl Klaus Kassbaum) came from a respected Hanseatic family. 'Born to Be Wild - A Band Called Steppenwolf' takes us from war-torn Germany to the working-class streets of Toronto and on to Los Angeles, where the band rises to fame and then crashes down.