Rocktober '60s Song #5: "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf (1968)

Steppenwolf rose to fame in the late '60s on the heels of "Born To Be Wild," the 1968 hit that is often credited as the first use of the phrase "heavy metal" in music.  That song hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has since become an anthem for motorcyclists (thanks in large part to its inclusion on the Easy Rider soundtrack) and roaming free at high speeds.

But it's the band's other big hit -- "Magic Carpet Ride," also released in 1968 -- that I like better.  The song is a psychedelic ball of feedback and organs that reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.  I can only imagine how many acid trips were enhanced by this song.  My earliest memory of it was when it was used in a Miller Genuine Draft commercial in the '80s, where some guy made an island around a bikini-clad woman on a beach using only his cowboy boot and his guile.  Why he was wearing cowboy boots on a beach on a hot sunny day is a question that has not yet been answered.