Monster is an album by the band Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf (band)

Steppenwolf are a Canadian-American rock group that was prominent in the late 1960s. The group was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of Toronto group The...

, released in 1969 (see 1969 in music

1969 in music

-Events:Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event...

) and was their first LP with new lead guitarist, Larry Byrom instead of Michael Monarch. The album was Steppenwolf's most political one, making references to important issues at the time, such as the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

.

The title refers to the contemporary politics and state of the U.S., as in the lyrics to the title song:

"The cities have turned into jungles,

and corruption is stranglin' the land.

The police force is watching the people,

and the people just can't understand.

We don't know how to mind our own business,

'cause the whole world's got to be just like us.

Now we are fighting a war over there.

No matter who's the winner, we can't pay the cost.

'Cause there's a monster on the loose,

it's got our heads into the noose.

And it just sits there... watching."

The album was the first Steppenwolf album not to feature a US top ten hit, and can thus be seen as the beginning of their slow fall from fame. Even though this album, "Live", "Steppenwolf 7" and "For Ladies Only" are today seen as making up the latter half of their ultimate prime, their days of "Born to Be Wild"-like fame were over. Still two singles from the album cracked the top 40, and Steppenwolf would continue landing albums in the US top 20 for a while yet, a factor that became more and more important during this time.

Track listing

1. "Monster" (Kay, Edmonton) / "Suicide" (Kay, St.Nicholas, Byrom, Edmonton) / "America" (Kay, Edmonton) – 9:15
2. "Draft Resister" (Kay, McJohn, Byrom) – 3:20
3. "Power Play" (Kay) – 5:26
4. "Move Over" (Kay, Mekler) – 2:53
5. "Fag" (Byrom, Edmonton, St.Nicholas) – 3:13
6. "What Would You Do (If I Did That To You)" (Francen, Porter) – 3:19
7. "From Here To There Eventually" (Kay, McJohn, Edmonton) – 5:27

Personnel

• Gabriel Mekler - Producer
• Steppenwolf - Main Performer
• Bill Cooper - Engineer
• Richard Podolor - Engineer

Charts

Album - Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

(United States)

Year	Chart	Position
1970	Pop Albums	17

Singles - Billboard (United States)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1969	"Move Over"	Pop Singles	31
1969	"Monster"	Pop Singles	39