Born to be Wild was a huge hit, and has some darned cool lyrics. Do any other Steppenwolf songs have good stuff, or are they all “God Damn the Pusher” sort of quality: heartfelt but uninspired?
Well, John Kay didn’t write either of those songs. “The Pusher” is by Hoyt Axton, and “Born to Be Wild” is by Mars Bonfire (who, IIRC, was the brother of Steppenwolf drummer Jerry Edmonton).
Some notable songs that Kay wrote or co-wrote:
Magic Carpet Ride
Don’t Step on the Grass
Rock Me
Monster
Draft Resister
For Ladies Only
A couple of my faves are from Steppenwolf 7: “Who Needs Ya” and “Earschplittenloudenboomer”.
I dunno - I think of them as kind of in their correct space: They had a few solid hits that place them firmly in their era, and within that context they were pretty darn cool. John Kay has one of those voices that sounds perfect for bluesy rock - he could sing one note and give it a swagger - kinda like Paul Rodgers of Free/Bad Company/Queen.
Really cool, underrated album. “Who Needs Ya” is a great kiss-off song (“Now you can save your lip, just pack your grip, and leave a trail of smoke behind you”), “Renegade” is very cool (and autobiographical–the infant Kay and his mother were refugees from what was then East Prussia), “Snowblind Friend,” another Hoyt Axton number, has a nice arrangement, and “Ball Crusher” is just deliciously vile. 
Steppenwolf is a great, great band. I believe that their time has come and gone, though, which is a real shame. Kay has an excellent, unique voice, and there are so many more great songs by them.
Hippo Stomp, and Foggy Mental Breakdown are just two more that are brilliant, and they are on the 7 album.
Any band with over 5 songs that are great cannot be written off as a band that just got lucky. There was some real talent there.
yep, I saw the guitarist for Steppenwolf play as part of the Bob Wier band at UC Davis around 1982. He was simply great (and the Bob Wier band rocked to). Version of Little Red Rooster would have made Willie Dixon proud. [I saw the Bob Wier band with a different line up in Boulder around 1978 as well, both times it was a rocking great show.]
Right after I posted I knew I should have checked. I had “I like smoke and lightning/Heavy metal thunder/Racin’ with the wind/And the feelin’ that I’m under.” in my head and it made me start this thread. It wasn’t my fault!