Steppenwolf the Pusher

[sinner]

Maybe it was that Drug and Songwriting Thread that did it, but I just had to hear Steppenwolf do The Pusherman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMqVrUSz62o&feature=related

For some reason, this song haunts me. The opening chord riffs sound so cool and well, guitar-like. Lot of soul. Then the psycho lead, whoa!

Maybe it's my own lost youth. Yeah, my youth is gone but not forgotten.

[Jay Mitchell]

Maybe it was that Drug and Songwriting Thread that did it, but I just had to hear Steppenwolf do The Pusherman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMqVrUSz62o&feature=related

For some reason, this song haunts me. The opening chord riffs sound so cool and well, guitar-like. Lot of soul. Then the psycho lead, whoa!

Maybe it's my own lost youth. Yeah, my youth is gone but not forgotten.Trivia bit: Hoyt Axton - the same guy who wrote "Joy to the World" ("Jeremiah was a bullfrog") and "Never Been to Spain" - wrote "The Pusher."

[zosozep7]

Maybe it was that Drug and Songwriting Thread that did it, but I just had to hear Steppenwolf do The Pusherman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMqVrUSz62o&feature=related

For some reason, this song haunts me. The opening chord riffs sound so cool and well, guitar-like. Lot of soul. Then the psycho lead, whoa!

Maybe it's my own lost youth. Yeah, my youth is gone but not forgotten.


Hey Rocco

I seen these guys back around 86ish. The entire original band. I was about 8 rows away and they blew me away. I will never forget the Pusher Man! I can still remember John Kay with his mirrored sunglasses singing this tune as if it was yesterday. I remember them opening for Alvin Lee. Alvin Lee just came out with that song Detroit Diesel. So that would have been the year if you remember when it was?

[jefesq]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pusher

[lhallam]

Ah, the early days, me in my bedroom, incense burning, laying on my bed, sweat dripping down my face, music cranked and me screaming in agony "GODDAM THE PUSHER MAN!"

It was psychedelic. ;)

Not long afterward I picked up the gtr.

[84Bravo]

One of the M60 tanks in my regiment, in 1969, was named after this song. Those were the days.

[puckhead]

allright, who's got a good tab of the song?

[Drifting]

That song does have a very unique vibe to it.

The way the chords 'crunch' always gets me.

[dk123123dk]

allright, who's got a good tab of the song?


http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4228/lsdcollage2.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/lsdcollage2.jpg/)

[randall g]

My mom took me and my brother to see Steppenwolf at the Forum in LA - we were 13 and 15. My first concert! Loved that live album.

[daacrusher2001]

Love that song...something about the rhythm...and to vocal.

Never could find a decent tab...anyone have one?

[Twangmaster]

Steppenwolf, another one of the many 'reasons' I picked up a guitar in the first place!

... and they had this Bassist, Nick St. Nicholas I think... Loved the way he played!

[darkstar11]

Yep...

Love the intro.....

[Wooley]

I actually like every song on Steppenwolf's 16 Greatest Hits.

"Jupiter's Child" is a fave, not to mention "It's Never Too Late" (a classic IMO), "Snowblind Friend", and of course "The Pusher".

[Jon Silberman]

You know the dealer, the dealer is a man
With the love grass in his hand
Oh but the pusher is a monster
Good God, he's not a natural man
The dealer for a nickel
Lord, will sell you lots of sweet dreams
Ah, but the pusher ruin your body
Lord, he'll leave your, he'll leave your mind to screamTrue and controversial then, true and controversial today.

[jtm622]

That B3 sound was front and center on their song: "Sookie-Sookie Sue"...
I saw those guys in a club in San Antonio when their first album came out, and that was the song I remember the most... PURE "take no prisoners" hard-ass rock... :)

[benjammin420]

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4228/lsdcollage2.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/lsdcollage2.jpg/)

you can never have too many good tabs for this song

[lhallam]

The last song on the 1st lp: "The Ostrich" is very well arranged, has an interesting use of the Bo-Diddly beat, a cool chord progression and the lyrics are still applicable today.

Here is a free listen on Rhapsody if you want to refresh:

http://www.rhapsody.com/steppenwolf/steppenwolf--geffen

[Jon Silberman]

"Sookie-Sookie Sue"...
The actual lyrics, of course, are "Suck me, suck me, Sue" but the record label wouldn't allow this as the song title. (Fact that my college girlfriend was also Sue is purely coincidence. ;) ).

[RocksOff]

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4228/lsdcollage2.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/lsdcollage2.jpg/)


Blotter makes rock RAWK!

[pickaguitar]

Great song!

[JDW3]

Blotter makes rock RAWK!



I remember finding Steppenwolf "The Second" in an old pile of albums at my grammas. They were my uncles. This album had Magic Carpet Ride and a bunch of other cool tunes. Been 20 years since then.

Anyone have this album?

[MickeyJi]

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4228/lsdcollage2.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/lsdcollage2.jpg/)

:hiP:hiP:hiP:hiP:hiP:JAM:D

[stratman89]

I saw Steppenwolf a couple of years ago at an outdoor concert and John Kay brought down the hose with The Pusher!

I have to say that was one great concert.

[teleman1]

Of my many misinterpretations of songs, I always thought it was, "I'd kick him in the balls and shoot him if he runs"

Of Course there was "I've got to read Newsweek about you" Bargain by The Who.

[pickaguitar]

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4228/lsdcollage2.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/lsdcollage2.jpg/)
5th one over at the top...Felix the Cat...I've taken multiple hits of that before :)
Friggin' crazy! My guitar picks were melting on my amplifier and the grass around me grew into a jungle!
Misty Mountain Hop by Zeppelin never sounded sooooo good!

[Fred Farkus]

The actual lyrics, of course, are "Suck me, suck me, Sue" but the record label wouldn't allow this as the song title. (Fact that my college girlfriend was also Sue is purely coincidence. ;) ).

What?!?!? :nuts

Always struck me as just a silly dance song: http://www.steppenwolf.com/lyr/sooies.html

Partially written by Steve Cropper btw...

[zosozep7]

Theres a line in that song that goes "You know I've seen a lot of people walking 'round
With tombstones in their eyes"

Ive actually witness this before. I remember standing in line for the Stones concert at the Pontiac Silverdome back in 82 I believe. I seen people with tombstones in their eyes! I seen people that looked like Charles Manson. Scary!! Ill never forget that look on so many people faces. You could tell they were stoned on some major drugs. Like they sold their souls to mr. Morningstar.

Ever see some hardcore Alice in Chains fans? Damn! Scary!!! I love AIC so dont try and tell me Im bashing. I seen AIC open for Kiss at the old Tiger Stadium. The security guards looked terrified! lol! Samething. Tombstone eyes.

[JDW3]

Theres a line in that song that goes "You know I've seen a lot of people walking 'round
With tombstones in their eyes"

Ive actually witness this before. I remember standing in line for the Stones concert at the Pontiac Silverdome back in 82 I believe. I seen people with tombstones in their eyes! I seen people that looked like Charles Manson. Scary!! Ill never forget that look on so many people faces. You could tell they were stoned on some major drugs. Like they sold their souls to mr. Morningstar.

Ever see some hardcore Alice in Chains fans? Damn! Scary!!! I love AIC so dont try and tell me Im bashing. I seen AIC open for Kiss at the old Tiger Stadium. The security guards looked terrified! lol! Samething. Tombstone eyes.


You're not kidding! I was at a few shows in my day, including that same Tiger Stadium show. Tombstones in MY eyes!! 2nd row baby....

Seriously, that concert was just beautiful, every note......

[telemike]

Steppenwolf was my first concert - 1968 at St. Johns Arena in Columbus, OH. I actually won the tickets in a radio contest and took my older brother with me. They played The Pusher, of course. A great time and the first exposure to a whole lot of things. Still think back to that concert every time I hear a Steppenwolf song. Good times.

[indravayu]

Didn't discover this tune until the early 90's (only ever knew Born to be Wild and Magic Carpet Ride), but I was totally sold on Steppenwolf after hearing it for the first time.

Another great Steppenwolf "druggie" song is "Don't Step On The Grass Sam"!

[Jon Silberman]

What?!?!? :nuts

Always struck me as just a silly dance song: http://www.steppenwolf.com/lyr/sooies.html

Partially written by Steve Cropper btw...

Obtain Steppenwolf live, listen closely, return/post again. I'll look forward to your follow-up.

[Jim Jones]

Isn't "Sookie Sookie" an old Don Covay song? Maybe John Kay took some liberties with the lyrics live but...

Jim

[Jon Silberman]

Maybe John Kay took some liberties with the lyrics live
Not maybe. :)

[Fred Farkus]

I've got the live album, had it for years, first heard it when it first came out. Sounds a little like maybe "suckey suckey" but that's as "crazy" as it gets IMO.

[jay42]

Trivia bit: Hoyt Axton - the same guy who wrote "Joy to the World" ("Jeremiah was a bullfrog") and "Never Been to Spain" - wrote "The Pusher."He also wrote "Greenback Dollar" which the Kingston Trio did definitively....and played the dad in Gremlins.

[fenderball]

way back i used to listen to steppenwolf live...
it was on that album...

i remember there is a part in the song where they hit the same note or chord (cant remember which) 47 straight times...

i havent heard it in years and years, but i think i remember that correctly...

from steppenwolf live, with the wolf on the cover....live, the pusher....

[Fred Farkus]

way back i used to listen to steppenwolf live...
it was on that album...

i remember there is a part in the song where they hit the same note or chord (cant remember which) 47 straight times...

i havent heard it in years and years, but i think i remember that correctly...

from steppenwolf live, with the wolf on the cover....live, the pusher....

Probably thinking of the little 2 chord sequence in "Monster". It sounds kind of silly nowadays but was pretty cool back then. First heard that album right after it came out when I was 10 or 11. A buddy of mine down the street joined a record club and we went over to his house every day after school to listen to "Steppenwolf Live". I still think Larry Byron's guitar sounds very sweet on that album.

[Twangmaster]

Another great Steppenwolf "druggie" song is "Don't Step On The Grass Sam"!
:agree

....and who the Hell was Sam? :hide

[RickC]

ya know, I've never actually heard the original version of "Sam"; just the Mule's

:(

[Jon Silberman]

I've got the live album, had it for years, first heard it when it first came out. Sounds a little like maybe "suckey suckey" but that's as "crazy" as it gets IMO.
Everyone is entitled to his opinion.

[Littman]

What instruments did Steppenwolf use on 'The Pusher'

[Littman]

How did they get the rhythm guitar tone?

Thanks!

[michael30]

Trivia bit: Hoyt Axton - the same guy who wrote "Joy to the World" ("Jeremiah was a bullfrog") and "Never Been to Spain" - wrote "The Pusher."

Additional trivia: His mom wrote "Heartbreak Hotel"

[SlyStrat]

I love Steppenwolf.

[jefesq]

Monster rules

[Lava Lamp]

Ah yes, my very first gig - the high school Christmas dance, 1968 - in the gym. My Fender Jaguar was plugged into a borrowed Fender Reverb unit and Bandmaster and carried in my mom's '55 Chevy. We had 'em rockin', till we launched into the chorus of The Pusher, and Mr. Ochoa pulled the plug. We were infamous after that....

[kush06]

Anybody else play this (the rhythm part) in open G?

[Joe4]

Listened to it every day while getting dressed for a long time as a kid (my wife says we have many disturbed days of youth represented on here...hmmm).

RE: "Don't step on the grass, sam" ---- John Kay intros the song with a quick recap of a drug bust, at a border IIRC, leaving no doubt about the topic.

[Steve_2020]

When someone asks me what a good example late 60s gnarly fuzztone lead guitar sound is I point em at the first Steppenwolf album, specifically "The Pusher"...

Even back in my teenage 'experimental' days- when that album came out- somehow I was smart enough to realize that heroin was one of the hard, bad drugs that you just didn't fool around with.

Not coming from any sort of street-scene to be wise from, I credit part of this early 'don't touch these types of drugs' knowledge to hearing the lyrics in 'The Pusher' and also to reading 'Panic In Needle Park' in Life Magazine (i think). Grim story of some NYC junkies' day to day existence...later made into a movie. Seem to recall reading that story when I was maybe 14.

Good timing on both these things because that was a time of 'try this, try that' and all kinds of stuff was becoming available.

Hoyt hit the nail on the head with those lyrics, though I didn't know who he was or that he'd written the song back then. For me "The Pusher" was a song I heard on free-form KSAN FM around 1967 when John Kay's pre-SWOLF group The Sparrow had a recording of it that got some airplay locally. Then the definitive (imoho) version of it by Steppenwolf a year later.

[DrumBob]

Hey Rocco

I seen these guys back around 86ish. The entire original band. I was about 8 rows away and they blew me away. I will never forget the Pusher Man! I can still remember John Kay with his mirrored sunglasses singing this tune as if it was yesterday. I remember them opening for Alvin Lee. Alvin Lee just came out with that song Detroit Diesel. So that would have been the year if you remember when it was?


I'm sorry to tell you, but you didn't see the entire original band. The original bass player, Rushton Moreve, was already dead, drummer Jerry Edmonton was all but retired, guitarist Mike Monarch had been fired in 1969, and organist Goldy McJohn was trying to tour with a bogus Steppenwolf.

[dohootowl]

Just did the song in a one-off gig with a bunch of old friends. I played "organ"--my guitar through a POG2. Everybody dug it! We removed the actual GD lyric though, and just went with "damn". We chose not to take the Lord's name in vain.

[daacrusher2001]

So, I've been trying to work out "The Pusher" and the following tab sounds right to me, but I don't know exactly what it is...

Capo at the third fret, and these notes (relative to capo):

---------------------------------
---------------------------------
---1------2-----4---------------
---x------x-----x---------------
---2------4-----5---------------
---------------------------------

D-B
E-C
F-D

Are these 6ths in the key of C? Or is it G, C, Dm ?

I've tried G, C, Dm, C for the rhythm and it sounds pretty close too...

Can one of you guys explain this? It really does sound right...

[beachbum0711]

They also did another Hoyt Axton cautionary drug song, one of my favorites, called SnowBlind Friend.

[minorseventh]

I had a friend who was a stripper, and she used to dance to The Pusher. Transcendental, to say the least.

[Bodhisattva]

I found a great tab for this a few years back. It's not really complicated but the chord shapes weren't something i'd played with before but it sounded right on. I'm at work now and don't have my guitar but i'll see if i can remember what it was when i get home tonight.

Even my Dad loved the Pusher. I'm the baby of a family that hit it's zenith in the late 60s/early 70s so i grew up around all that music. Dad went thru his "trying to be hip" phase and my brothers came in from wherever they were, dad was grinning, red-eyed and had The Pusher blaring through the house. Mom was not happy, but it was a funny story in retrospect.

[fenderball]

hey fred...just pulled it up on youtube and you are right..it was from monster....thx!


Probably thinking of the little 2 chord sequence in "Monster". It sounds kind of silly nowadays but was pretty cool back then. First heard that album right after it came out when I was 10 or 11. A buddy of mine down the street joined a record club and we went over to his house every day after school to listen to "Steppenwolf Live". I still think Larry Byron's guitar sounds very sweet on that album.

[Teleking]

One of the best vocals of all time. Blind Melon did a cool cover of it as well, which is totally different. But it's a great cover.

[bluesb4sunrise]

Great song.

[Scumback Speakers]

Ah, the early days, me in my bedroom, incense burning, laying on my bed, sweat dripping down my face, music cranked and me screaming in agony "GODDAM THE PUSHER MAN!"

It was psychedelic. ;)

Not long afterward I picked up the gtr.

LOL, bingo, this was me in 1971. At the time I was in 7th grade, and wanted to play drums...till I got "Steppenwolf Live" (2 album set). That whole last side with Hey Lawdy Mama, Magic Carpet Ride, The Pusher, and Born to be Wild is one of the best live album finishes I have locked away in my memory banks.

And the very next summer (1972) I picked up guitar and threw away the sticks. :drool

[paulg]

They had a string of "hits" in the late 60's, were ,maybe, the first real biker band, never went away but don't get the recognition they deserve. Born to be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride, Rock Me Baby, come on!

[SteveGaines]

I remember being in 3rd grade and we got to bring our 45's to school for music time. I brought "BORN TO BE WILD" and "THE PUSHER" was on the flip side. Some girl is playing the records for the class. I tell her "BORN TO BE WILD" she plays "THE PUSHER"...When that "G.D THE PUSHER" came blaring out of that little record player :facepalmYou talked about a P"ED OFF Teacher...and music time being over...Put an end to that. Got my butt tore up by the teacher and a note sent home to my parents who promptly threw the record in the garbage can......Funny thing, Being a kid I had NEVER listened to the flip side..I loved "BORN TO BE WILD"..:dunno.No more bringing records to school for me... But I did sneak out an buy ANOTHER COPY when I got older and got myself some headphones!:phones

[Bassomatic]

This song held a special place in my heart, and heavy rotation, when I was a sophomore in college.

That opening line is delivered so...authentically.

[daacrusher2001]

Funny thing is, it's at least 40 years later, and I'm still mesmerized by the rhythm. I think those chords are right, btw

Just a typical blues rhythm. I'm still not sure if it's G, C, Dm, C or G, C, G7, C - but either way, it seems to work

Want to use it for an upcoming jam - thought it would be fun and different from what we usually hear