Steppenwolf – The Pusher

A Dealer Is Not Equal To A Pusher ...

In a world of terribly misunderstood lyrics, The Pusher, a lamenting reflective number regarding the end days of the psychedelic peace & love generation and the collapse of the mecca Haight Ashbury, Steppenwolf have not written an anti-drug anthem, they have written an anti-pusher anthem.

Generally people hear this song and matter of factly associate a ‘Dealer’ with a ‘Pusher’, where nothing could be further from the truth. Simply listen with open ears as the band define a ‘Dealer’ as: the man with the love-grass (marijuana) in his hand, which would also include party pills such as Quaaludes, Seconal, Tuinals and such, reflected in the opening lines: You know I've smoked a lot of grass, O’ Lord, I've popped a lot of pills. With that, the song goes on to suggest that the ‘Dealer’ is far from a ‘Pusher,’ as the ‘Pusher’: Oh but the pusher is a monster, Good God, he's not a natural man, The dealer for a nickel, Lord, he'll sell you lots of sweet dreams (marijuana and barbiturates), Ah, but the pusher will ruin your body, Lord, he'll leave your mind to scream, meaning that the ‘Pusher’ is selling your soul the darker drugs, heroin and methamphetamine, both drugs that wasted the counter culture and killed many of our music heroes.

The song has an infectious atmospheric groove, along with some very psychedelic tinges, though the number goes on to create a dynamic power play between the psychedelic and the song’s solid blues foundation that’s designed to hold your attention throughout the track, and achieves that effortlessly.

Steppenwolf had a number of hits coded with drug messages, simply consider “Magic Carpet Ride,” another emancipated track touting the pleasurable mind enhancing nature of LSD. Please allow me to quote myself from my book “The Alchemist Letters”, Drugs are like going to the carnival, a fun place to spend the day, but certainly not somewhere you would want to live.

Review by Jenell Kesler