Steppeulvene (

Danish language Danish (, ; , ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are a ...

for The Steppe Wolves) was a Danish

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band which despite its short life has become the icon for the Danish

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

music scene. The name of the group was taken from the 1927 novel '' Steppenwolf'' by German Nobel laureate

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

. Also in 1967, in California, the band Steppenwolf named itself after the novel. Their only

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

''Hip'' (1967) was the first rock album with original Danish lyrics, and has attained near-mythological status in the history of Danish rock. The group was the result of a collaboration between lead singer , who had traveled in the Orient in the early 1960s and wrote the

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

-inspired, highly symbolic and almost surreal lyrics, and (guitar, vocal), who wrote the drawling, psychedelic, folk-influenced music. The other members were Søren Seirup (bass) and Preben Devantier (drums). A tour in October 1967 came to a chaotic end when a concert was cut short by the police and the group members were arrested for

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

use. Shortly after being released, Eik Skaløe went on a journey to Afghanistan/Nepal (on the so-called "

hippie trail The hippie trail (also the overland) was an overland journey taken by members of the hippie subculture and others from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s travelling from Europe and Western Asia, West Asia through South Asia via countries such a ...

") and was found dead outside the city of

Ferozepore Firozpur, (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Punjabi, ɪroːzpʊr also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in the Firozpur District of Punjab, India. After the Partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the In ...

near the Indian/Pakistani border in October 1968, apparently after a drug-induced suicide. Back in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

the rest of the group attempted to carry on, but, lacking the characteristic Skaløe as a front figure, quickly dissolved.

Steppeulven ''Itsi Bitsi'', also known as ''Steppeulven'', is a 2014 Danish drama film directed by Ole Christian Madsen. It is a biopic of the band Steppeulvene. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film ...

is a 2014 film about them.

Discography

*1967: ''Hip'' (re-released in 2015, No. 4 on

Tracklisten Hitlisten (), formerly known as Tracklisten, is a Danish top 40 record chart that is updated every Wednesday at midnight on the website hitlisten.nu. The weekly Danish singles chart combines the 40 best-selling tracks from streaming and legal mus ...

) *1967: Du skal ud, hvor du ikke kan bunde / Flip

References

External links

Steppeulvene dedication website
Danish rock music groups {{Denmark-band-stub