Soundtrack #5: Easy Rider

No movie exemplified the era of the late 1960's better then Easy Rider.  My dad was a biker later in his life.  He was roughly in his mid 40's bought the neighbor's Harley to do cruising and go on day long rides with his fellow Harley buddies.  He was in his late 40's when he decided to grow the hair long. At this time of this crisis he was not laughed at by myself or my mother, but understood he wanted to do something more exciting in his spare time.  When he visited his mother in the nursing home she just shook her head.  She was non verbal, but she just saw her son as a funny guy growing his hair out.  She would touch it and laugh.  He took it in good faith that she approved.  My friends all were looking at me and thought that my dad was losing his mind or some friends thought he was the super hip dad that they wish they had.  

Before all this radical change by my dad he pointed out movies that are iconic and are the seed of popular culture and hip.  I was around fifteen when he saw Easy Rider on TV and pointed out to me that this was one of the films that everyone discusses.  It's the film of a generation he pointed out.  He told me the story line and pointed out every detail of Peter Fonda's and Dennis Hopper's bikes.  He even gave a little foreshadowing pointing out to me that he wanted to get a Harley like Dennis Hopper's.  Nothing too crazy, but flamed on the side and with loud pipes.  He actually did buy a bike that was similar to Hopper's.  The tank was yellow with orange flames and a ton of chrome and yes loud pipes.  

After the long hair crisis was over he cut his hair and got this yellow beast and retired from where he worked early and took the bike out on sunny days and returned for supper.  He was like a cat who gets let out in the morning and comes back in for food and rest.  He would go out again the next day and head out with his neighbor somewhere near or far.  One day while I was back at college he came to visit me.  It was like six of his biker friends.  I was going to class when I heard a group of motorcycles on the route I walked to campus.  At the light I looked at them and saw that my dad was the leader.  We both saw each other at the same time.  Him and his biker dudes did a U-turn and stopped me before I went to class.  After class I told him to meet me at the local brewery and we could have lunch.  This trip was just about 200 miles round trip.  It was not the first or last that he would take these long trips.  He went to Daytona Florida or Sturges South Dakota or one time he went all the way to Milwaukee to the Harley headquarters.  In the last years of his life he did the famous Route 66 road from Chicago to California.  

As I watched the movie I realized I had some of the music from the soundtrack.  It was not the first time I heard these songs, but when I was a teenager I had a copy of the soundtrack in my collection.  It was found at a local tag sale.  I bought it for my dad, but we shared the music on this one.  The music is mostly songs from the time period and from the bands of the time as well.  This was great because it included the classics by Steppenwolf, The Byrds and Jimi Hendrix.  On the other hand there were bands I never heard of at the time like Smith, The Holy Modal Rounders and The Fraternity Of Man. These bands were new to me, but I liked what I heard.  One band I knew but only knew one song and that band was The Electric Prunes.  Before the internet I had to ask about those unknown bands.  Only problem, was Smith and Fraternity of Man was pretty much way, way under the radar and disbanded by the end of the 1960's.  One member from Fraternity Of Man went on to help form the great Little Feat.  

It's not a long soundtrack, but like good soundtracks you kinda know where they are placed in the film.  It was always a well worth a listen soundtrack as well.  In 2000 after the soundtrack being everywhere on cassette or record it went out of print.  To be honest that is a crime.  Why record labels do that is beyond me.  It took till someone at MCA records to finally put it back in print.  Dunhill was part of MCA in later years.  Dunhill was the label that owned Steppenwolf.  The song we all know by The Band was not licensed to Dunhill and they did not want to either so a Dunhill band called Smith decided to record it.  If you hear it in the movie then you hear the original. 

The soundtrack is a great time capsule of the era.  This soundtrack was a trailblazer too.  Before this movie and soundtrack came out, many soundtracks did not have "Rock" or "Pop" music featured in the movies or on the soundtrack.  After the popularity of the film and this soundtrack paved the way for other movies to use modern music.  A great example of a future soundtrack would be American Graffiti.  That soundtrack has a ton (two records worth) of old time Rock and Roll from the 1950's.  

If you have not seen the movie it's a staple in American Cinema.  It changed how film was made or even produced for us the American public.  The 60's films like music changed so much to over the decade.  In the early 60's a few movies challenged the viewer or Hollywood.  By the end of the decade the music and cinema was way different then normal or cookie cutter we saw and heard at the beginning of the decade.  It's this cinema and music that challenges my mind and curiosity.  Easy Rider seemed simple now, but back then it moved mountains and blazed a trail for change.  Check out this soundtrack and watch this film.  If you have seen and heard then you should really understand how rebellious both mediums were.  I'm sure if you heard "Born To Be Wild" this film is engrained in your head and you thank Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda for breaking a wall that at some point thought would never be broken.  Enjoy!!!