As Steppenwolf approached the tip of their sophomore yr as Los Angeles rockers of nationwide and worldwide reputation, they have been bidding goodbye to the Nineteen Sixties with a fourth studio album and a brand new chart single. Their days of High 10 US singles have been, it turned out, already behind them, however the Monster LP would nonetheless deliver them one other gold disc and, on December 27, 1969, a brand new Sizzling 100 entry from it.
The album, produced like all its predecessors by the Palestine-born, LA-based Gabriel Mekler, was extra political in nature than Steppenwolf’s earlier work. That was not at all times to the liking of up to date reviewers, however the band had ample confidence to stay to their weapons, on songs by frontman John Kay, drummer Jerry Edmonton, Mekler and others. Seen by some as a watermark launch, Monster was a transparent try by the band to make additional inroads into the FM radio market, having conquered pop radio with their earlier hit singles.
Kay and Mekler’s “Move Over” was launched as a single forward of the album in the summertime of 1969 and reached No.31 on the US chart. The LP adopted in November, debuting at No.188. It made gradual progress at first, however by Christmas week was sitting fairly at No.18, as an edited model of its formidable opening monitor arrived as a single.
The nine-minute, socially conscious and episodic “Monster/Suicide/America” was trimmed down as a single and named merely “Monster,” getting into the Sizzling 100 at No.71. It spent one week within the High 40 at No.39 in early February. By March, the Monster album was gold within the US; it turned out to be the final to be made by the unique Steppenwolf line-up, earlier than the arrival of bass participant George Biondo, who debuted on the Steppenwolf 7 set of late 1970.
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