"Love Rollercoaster" is a song by American funk/R&B band Ohio Players, originally featured on their 1975 album Honey. It was composed by William Beck, Leroy Bonner, Marshall Jones, Ralph Middlebrooks, Marvin Pierce, Clarence Satchell, and James Williams. It was a number-one U.S. hit in January 1976, and became a Gold record. In Canada, the song spent two weeks at number two.
History and description
The song uses the roller coaster, a common theme park attraction, as a simile for the ups and downs of dating and romantic relationships. The roller coaster metaphor is also suggested musically as the guitarist plays a funk riff which slides up and back down repeatedly throughout the song, from the key of C down to the key of A and back up to the key of C. Consistent with Casey Kasem's notes at the time, the song's Hot 100 top 40 run 34-16-12-6-5-4-4-4-4-3-1-6-7-33, with its rapid ascent, leveling off at number four, short climb to number one, steep descent to number six, slower descent to number seven, and its final, very steep, descent to number 33 before falling off, plotted as a moving function of chart date, resembles a rollercoaster's motion on its track, viewed from the side.
Urban legend
The song has a persistent urban legend, that during an instrumental portion of the song, a high-pitched scream is heard. This was Billy Beck, but according to the most common legend, it was the voice of an individual being murdered live while the tape was rolling. The "victim's" identity varies greatly depending on the version. The supposed sources of the scream have included an individual who was killed at some prior time, her scream inexplicably recorded and looped into the track. Another version says that a girl has fallen off the roller coaster and was screaming to her death. Another version tells of a rabbit being killed outside the studio whose scream was accidentally picked up by the band's recording equipment – highly implausible, as professional recording studios are soundproof. The most widespread version of the myth, however, tells that Ester Cordet, who appeared nude on the Honey album cover, had been badly burned by the super-heated honey used for the photo shoot, which occurred simultaneous with the recording session, and her agonized screams were inadvertently captured on tape. Jimmy "Diamond" Williams explained that the scream was nothing eerie or disturbing:
There is a part in the song where there's a breakdown. It's guitars and it's right before the second verse and Billy Beck does one of those inhaling-type screeches like Minnie Riperton did to reach her high note or Mariah Carey does to go octaves above. The DJ made this crack and it swept the country. People were asking us, "Did you kill this girl in the studio?" The band took a vow of silence because you sell more records that way.
"Love Rollercoaster" was covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1996, recorded and produced by Sylvia Massy. This version includes original rap-based verses and additional lyrics provided by guest female backup singers, as well as the horn section being replaced with an approximation played on kazoos. The song appears on the soundtrack for the animated feature filmBeavis and Butt-head Do America. An animated music video was made for the song, featuring Beavis, Butt-head, and the band riding an amusement park roller coaster, intercut with scenes from the film. The song is played early in the movie as well, when Beavis and Butt-head arrive in Las Vegas. In the dance hall scene, a fictional funk band is shown performing the song live. Although the song became a crossover hit, peaking at number 40 on the BillboardHot 100 Airplay chart and at number 22 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, it did not enter the top 10 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and it failed to enter the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The band has never performed the song live.
