Bad Motor Scooter

Hey Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew just spun up that roaring opener from Montrose’s 1973 debut album, and “Bad Motor Scooter” still hits like a kickstart on a cold morning. Sammy Hagar wrote this one as the first song he ever composed, and the story behind it comes straight from the man himself in interviews and posts over the years. He was tooling across the Golden Gate Bridge in his old beat-up Volkswagen when he spotted a guy on a chopper with a fine-looking girl on the back, hair flying, and that image stuck. Hagar started imagining the whole scene, a young guy too chicken to drive out to her daddy’s farm, so he begs her to hop on her bad motor scooter and ride over to his place instead. It is pure made-up youthful mischief, nothing more than how he felt at the time, but it landed perfectly on the record.

The song almost stayed a straightforward rocker until Ronnie Montrose started fooling around in the studio. He had his guitar in open D, a fuzz box cranked, and he began sliding that intro that sounds exactly like a motorcycle revving up. Producer Ted Templeman and engineer Donn Landee nearly missed capturing it because the tape was not rolling, so they hollered at him to keep going while they scrambled to get the machine started. Ronnie later recalled it felt like that moment in 2001 when the ape figures out the bone, a sudden flash of something new. That distorted slide became the hook that makes the track stand out, and when the original lineup played it live, Hagar handled the motorcycle sound on a lap steel. Even after he left the band, he kept the song in his sets, and years later with Chickenfoot he still claimed it was the first tune he ever wrote. Joe Satriani has recreated that rev with a whammy bar at tribute shows, keeping the spirit alive.

Hagar has talked about the lyrics plenty of times, how the boy is afraid of her dad so she has to make the ride. It is a lighthearted, rebellious little story that fit the freewheeling San Francisco scene the band came out of. The album itself earned a reputation as America’s answer to Led Zeppelin, short and punchy hard rock that influenced plenty who came after, including the title of Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger. Fans still share stories of catching the original lineup live, the energy of those early shows with Bill Church on bass and Denny Carmassi on drums. One clip Hagar posted years back showed a 1974 performance with the full crew, and it captures that raw drive that made the record a cult favorite even if it took a while to go platinum.

Ronnie Montrose got his start the hard way, born in San Francisco in 1947 before the family moved to Colorado when he was little. He spent his younger years around Denver until he took off at about sixteen to chase music. He taught himself guitar, joined local bands like the Grim Reapers, and eventually landed in San Francisco with Sawbuck alongside future Montrose bassist Bill Church. That connection opened doors. He did session work on Van Morrison’s Tupelo Honey and Saint Dominic’s Preview, played briefly with Boz Scaggs, and then joined the Edgar Winter Group. On They Only Come Out at Night he laid down guitar parts for hits like Frankenstein and Free Ride, showing the power and theatrics that would define him. Encouragement to play heavier pushed him toward forming his own band in 1973.

He pulled in Church again, drummer Denny Carmassi, and a then-unknown singer named Sam Hagar from the local cover-band scene. They cut demos that caught the ear of producer Ted Templeman, who helped them land a Warner Brothers deal. Billed at first as Ronnie Montrose and Friends, they made their public debut on KSAN radio in April 1973 with a full set that included most of what would become the album. The self-titled Montrose record followed that year, packed with tracks like Rock Candy and Space Station No. 5 alongside this scooter song. Ronnie always followed his own path after that, forming Gamma, cutting instrumental albums, and staying active right up until he passed in 2012. The debut remains the one that set the standard for American hard rock, and the man behind it never stopped tinkering with effects and ideas the way he did that day in the studio.

You can dig deeper into the catalog and the stories on the official site at ronniemontrose.com, where the bio and updates keep the legacy rolling. Connect with fellow fans on the official Facebook page at Ronnie Montrose Official, follow the Instagram at ronniemontroseofficial, and check the X account at @Ronnie_Montrose. Those pages stay active with posts, rare tracks, and tributes that keep the fire going for the original lineup and everything that followed. Sammy still pulls the song out from time to time with his current bands, and the influence keeps showing up in unexpected places, from Seattle grunge nods to all-star memorial shows.

The Zoo Crew keeps spinning these deep cuts for the Zoo Freaks because that is what freeform album rock is all about, the stories behind the riffs and the players who made them. Crank it loud, feel that motorcycle growl, and remember how a simple studio experiment and a glimpse from a Volkswagen turned into one of the great hard-rock hooks. Stay locked on THE ZOO for more of the music that still moves us the same way it did when those records first hit the streets.