The Sorcerer

Steppenwolf released their first album, Steppenwolf, at the end of January 1968. Their first two singles release were “Sookie Sookie,” and “A Girl I Knew,” but a month after these shows they unleashed “Born to be Wild,” and took off.  Originally from Canada, the band went by the name “Sparrow” and moved to Los Angeles in November 1966. From there they essentially commuted back and forth to San Francisco and there are about 20 San Francisco-based posters advertising them (as Sparrow, or The Sparrow) in that year. At the end of 1967 they changed their name to Steppenwolf, after the Herman Hesse novel.

Artist Robert Fried was born in Brooklyn in 1937. While not considered one of the San Francisco School’s “Big Five,” Fried was valued for his technical skill and creative application of the abstract to a commercial execution. Like Victor Moscoso, he was one of the rare SF School poster artists who was formally trained as an artist and graphic designer. From 1967 through 1970 Fried created 18 rock concert posters for promoters Chet Helms of the Family Dog, Bill Graham and others. As the demand for posters tapered off, at the end of the decade, Fried turned to painting and fine art prints.