Clases básicas

"He r i d e s a road that d o n 't have no end An open highway without any bends

Tramp and h i s s t a l l i o n alone In a dream Proud In h i s co lou rs as the chromium gleams

On Iron Horse h e ' l l f l y , on Iro n Horse h e ' l l g l a d l y die Iro n Horse h i s w i f e , Iro n Horse h is l i f e

He l i v e s h i s l i f e , h e 's l i v i n ' I t f a s t

E o n 't tr y to hide when the d ie s have been cast Riding a w hirlwind that cuts to the bone

Wasted f o r e v e r , f e r o c i o u s l y stoned

On Iron Horse h e ' l l f l y , on Iro n Horse h e ' l l g l a d l y die Iro n Horse h i s w i f e . Iro n Horse h is l i f e

One day, one day t h e y ' l l go f o r the sun Together t h e y ' l l f l y on the e t e r n a l run Wasted f o r e v e r on speed, b ik es and booze

Yeah, us and the brothers w e 're a l l bora to lose

On Iron Horse h e ' l l f l y , on Iro n Horse h e ' l l g l a d l y die Iron Horse h is w i f e . Iro n Horse h is l i f e "

Motorhead, ' I r o n H o rs e ' 62

"We're a l l outlaws In the eyes o f Amerlka . . . J e f f e r s o n A irplane

"Arggggghhhh - about 3 p.m. they s t a r t e d hearing I t .

" I t was l i k e a locomotive about ten m iles away. I t was the

H e lls Angels In 'running f o r m a t io n ', coming over the mountain on

H a rle y -ta v ld s o n 7^ s. The Angels were up there somewhere, weaving

down the curves on Route 84, g ea rin g down - thraggggghhhh - and winding up, and the locomotive sound got lo u d e r and lou der u n t il you couldn’ t hear y o u r s e lf t a l k anymore, or Bob Dylan rheumy and - thraaaaaaaaagggghhh - here they came round the l a s t curve, the H e l ls Angels, with the b ik e s , the beards, the long h a i r , the s le e v e l e s s denim Jackets with the d e a t h 's head I n s i g n i a and a l l the r e s t , looking t h e i r most r o y a l r o t t e n , and then one by one they came b a r r e l l i n g In over the wooden bridge up to the f r o n t of the house; sk id d in g to a stop In e x p lo s io n s of d ust, and I t was l ik e a movie or something - each one of the outlaws bouncing and gunning acro ss the bridge with h is arms spread out In a tough curve to the han dlebars and then skidding to a stop, one a f t e r another a f t e r ano ther . . . ” 63

Dates Saturday August 7th. 19 6 5. P la c e : the La Honda ranch

of w r i t e r and L .S .D . Inno vato r Ken Kesey, San Mateo, C a l i f o r n i a . Occasion: the f i r s t ' o f f i c i a l ' party held by the Merry P ran k sters, the d evian ts of the American drug s u b c u ltu re , f o r the H e l ls A ngels,

the d evian ts of the motorcycle s u b c u lt u r e . This was the day the

Angels became the toast of the I n t e l l e c t u a l hip-community, the day the roughest and c r a z i e s t of b ik e rs were Introduced to the twin d e l i g h t s of a c id and f r e e lo v e , as i f they needed any le s so n s

In high l i v i n g . More Im p ortan tly, I t was the day that the outlaw

bike cu ltu re ceased to be famous ( o r Infamous) simply f o r smashing up bars In sleepy hick towns and began to achieve a f r e s h n o t o r ie t y a s the shock troops of the counter cu ltu re - mechanised h ip p ie s who openly d eclared love and peace to be a cop -out.

The P ra n k s te rs, In t h e i r d e s ire to f r e a k out even the f r e a k s , had opened the door to the Angels and, almost Immediately, the A n g e ls ' Image was once a g a i n ' c o o l ' . I t was a s I f the ghost of M arv in 's Chino had a t long l a s t taken h is revenge on Brando's

Johnny, stomping him Into the ground f o r good measure. As Tom Wolfe d e s c rib e s I t In h is chronicle o f the times, the F l e c t r i c K o o l-A ld Acid Tests

"The news spread around l n t e l l e c t u a l - h l p c i r c l e s In the San

Fran clsco -B erk eley area l i k e a legend . . . (The P ra n k s te rs) had

broken through the worst hang-up that I n t e l l e c t u a l s know, the

r e a l - l i f e hang-up. I n t e l l e c t u a l s were always hung up with the

f e e l i n g that they w eren 't coming to g r i p s with r e a l l i f e . Real l i f e belonged to a l l those funky spades and prize f i g h t e r s and b u l l f i g h t e r s and dock workers and grape p ic k e rs and wetbacks. N o s t a lg ia de l a boue. W e l l , the H e l l s Angels were r e a l l i f e .

AZL

I t d i d n 't get any r e a l e r than that . . . "

The outlaws, f o r t h e i r p a r t , had no com plaints. From being

ou tcasts even among t h e i r f e l l o w m o t o r c y c lis t s , they had suddenly become so|^^t a f t e r p e r s o n a l i t i e s , courted by w r i t e r s , r e l i g i o u s mystics and p o l i t i c a l a c t i v i s t s , anxious to d is c o v e r t h e i r p h i l ­

osophy of l i f e . They were In v ite d to plush Hollywood p a r t i e s

and b efrien ded by f i l m s t a r s and rock m usicians. They no lo n ger

had to demand anything by f o r c e . I t was a l l f r e e l y given - money,

d rugs, women, and most Important of a l l pre s t l g e . By some quirk

of nature they had a r r i v e d , and t h e i r a r r i v a l had been noted by w o rk in g -c la s s b ik e r s and m id d le -c la s s h ip p ie s a l i k e .

Unlike the h ip p ie , however, the outlaw b ik e r was not prepared to p a s s i v e l y accept ' f u n - l o v i n g ' c i t i z e n s ' d ig s about his gender

or I n q u i r i e s about whether or not h i s mother was a baboon. He

fro n te d out the c i t i z e n and s a id , ' I f you d o n 't l i k e what you see - fuck o f f . ' In f a c t , he d e l i b e r a t e l y went out o f h is way to outrage the s e n s i b i l i t i e s of his d e t r a c t o r s , or anybody else who

c o u l d n 't come to terms w it h him. As Angela C a rte r commented at

the tim e :

I

"Even the b i k e r ' s c lo th in g ( I s ) the c lo th in g of pure a f f r o n t , sported to bug the squares . . . (a n d ) always succeeds In bugging the squares no matter how often they are warned, 'He only does I t to a n n o y .'

"The . . . C a li f o r n i a n motorcycle gangs deck themselves with

Iro n c r o s s e s , Nazi helmets, n e c k l e t s and e a r r i n g s , they grow t h e i r h a i r to t h e i r shoulders and dye t h e i r beards green, red and p u rp le ; they c u l t i v a t e h a l i t o s i s and body odour. P e r f e c t dandles of

b e a s t l i n e s s , they Incarnate the American nightmare. B e tte r your

s i s t e r marry a Negro than have the Oakland chapter of the H e lls