Editing Easy Rider (section)

==Music==
{{Main|Easy Rider (soundtrack)}}
The movie was financed with money made from [[the Monkees]], and features a cameo of record producer [[Phil Spector]] in the opening scenes, but neither provided any music. The "groundbreaking" soundtrack featured popular rock artists including [[the Band]], [[the Byrds]], [[the Jimi Hendrix Experience]], and [[Steppenwolf (band)|Steppenwolf]].<ref name="salon">{{cite web
 |title       = The greatest week in rock history
 |website   = Salon
 |date        = 2003-12-19
 |url         = http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/feature/2003/12/19/rock/index.html
 |access-date  = 2008-10-19
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20081202050513/http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/feature/2003/12/19/rock/index.html
 |archive-date = 2008-12-02
}}</ref> Editor and negative cutter Donn Cambern used various music from his own record collection to make watching up to 80 hours of bike footage more interesting during editing.<ref name=Fisher2004/> Most of Cambern's music was used, with licensing costs of $1 million, triple the film's budget.<ref name=Fisher2004/> The film's extensive use of pop and rock music for the soundtrack was similar to what had recently been used for 1967's ''[[The Graduate]]'', including songs been used more than once, or being adapted for the movie.

[[Bob Dylan]] was asked to contribute music, but was reluctant to use his own recording of "[[It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)]]", so a version performed by [[Byrds]] frontman [[Roger McGuinn]] was used instead. Also, instead of writing an entirely new song for the film, Dylan simply wrote out the first verse of "[[Ballad of Easy Rider]]" and told the filmmakers, "Give this to McGuinn, he'll know what to do with it."<ref name="Easy Rider">{{cite web|title=Easy Rider|url=http://www.criterion.com/films/27528-easy-rider|website=The Criterion Collection}}</ref> McGuinn completed the song and performed it in the film.

Originally, Peter Fonda had intended the band [[Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young|Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young]] to write an entirely original soundtrack for the film, but this failed to materialize for two reasons.<ref name="UCR">{{cite web|last=Mastropolo |first=Frank |url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/easy-rider-soundtrack/ |title=The Story of the Groundbreaking ''Easy Rider'' Soundtrack |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |date=July 14, 2014}}</ref> For one, Cambern edited the footage much more closely to what were only meant as temporary tracks than was customary at the time, which led to everyone involved finding them much more suited to the material than they had originally thought. Also, upon watching a screening of the film with Cambern's edits, the group felt they could not improve on the music that was used.<ref name=Kiselyak/> On the other hand, Hopper increasingly got control over every aspect over the course of the project and decided to throw CSNY out behind Fonda's back, telling the band as an excuse, "Look, you guys are really good musicians, but honestly, anybody who rides in a limo can't comprehend my movie, so I'm gonna have to say no to this, and if you guys try to get in the studio again, I may have to cause you some bodily harm."<ref name="UCR" />

Inspired by the movie, Hendrix later wrote a song "[[Ezy Ryder]]", with lyrics reflecting the film's themes, while [[Iron Butterfly]] wrote "[[Metamorphosis (Iron Butterfly album)|Easy Rider (Let the Wind Pay the Way)]]".