Steppenwolf rocketed to world-wide fame after their third single, "Born To Be Wild" as well as their cover of Hoyt Axton's "The Pusher" were used in the cult film Easy Rider (both titles originally were released on the band's debut album). "Born To Be Wild" was written by Jerry Edmonton's elder brother Dennis, who was lead guitarist of The Sparrows and early Steppenwolf. He left them to perform solo using the name Mars Bonfire. "Born To Be Wild" reached number 2 on the charts. The song introduced to rock lyrics the signature term "heavy metal" (in fact, not about a kind of music, but about a bike: "I like smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder, racin' with the wind...").
This was followed by several more hits, including "Magic Carpet Ride" (which reached #3) from Steppenwolf The Second and "Rock Me" (which reached #10) from At Your Birthday Party. Many fans consider their double album Steppenwolf Live (an extended single album in the UK) the best of Steppenwolf's releases, though John Kay expressed a personal dislike for the album in his autobiography, Magic Carpet Ride.
Monster, which criticized US policy of the Nixon-era, and Steppenwolf 7 were the band's most political albums, and are still fondly remembered by fans as two of the best rock & roll snapshots of the attitudes of the late 1960s and early 1970s.