SHOCKING BLUE-“HARLEY DAVIDSON/ GET IT ON“ (69/75)

“Real women ride!“ The motorcycle and the open road have always been metaphors for freedom. Between Kerouac’s “On the Road“ and Persig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance“, the counterculture embraced that ideal and roared with it. Shocking Blue did two B-sides, “Harley Davidson“ (1969) and “Get It On“ (1975), that tread that path. For women, whose lives were locked up in farms or drawing rooms in the 1800’s, the bicycle, the car, and the plane were transports of liberation in the 20th century. Amelia Earhart and black aviatrix Bessie Coleman opened up the skies. Linda Gudeau (The Motor Maids) and Louise Scherby (Women’s International Motorcycle Association) scorched the tarmac. The cycle helped them to explore new gender roles, sensuality, self-reliance, equity, and the land in vaster vistas. This proud, rich heritage extends today from Motorcycle Clubs like the Amazon WMC and the Cycle Sisters, to the ultra-hellion