"Love Rollercoaster" is a song by American
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
/
R&B band
Ohio Players
Ohio Players is an American funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "Fire (Ohio Players song), Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of t ...
, originally featured on their 1975 album ''
Honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
''. 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 was
certified gold. In Canada, the song spent two weeks at number two. "Love Rollercoaster" was covered by American rock band
Red Hot Chili Peppers for the soundtrack of the 1996 animated movie ''
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.''
Urban legend
The song has been the subject of a persistent
urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
since its release. A primal scream is heard in the background fairly early in the song (between 1:24 and 1:28 on the single version, or between 2:32 and 2:36 on the album version). According to the most common legend, it was the voice of an individual being murdered live while the tape was rolling. Jimmy "Diamond" Williams described the innocent nature of the scream:
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
Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...
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.
The legend appears to have evolved from an incidental comment made by an unidentified
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
during a radio broadcast, probably in late 1975 or early 1976. It spread and mutated in several variations, probably as a result of
Casey Kasem having repeated it on the nationally syndicated radio show
American Top 40
''American Top 40'' (previously abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally syndicated, independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs. The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacr ...
in early 1976.
[Graff, Gary, and Durchholz, Daniel. Rock 'n' Roll Myths: The True Stories Behind the Most Infamous Legends, p. 50-51. United States, Voyageur Press, 2012.] The most common version of the legend was that the scream was from Ester Corbet, a model who appeared on the cover of the album (''Honey'') purportedly stabbed by a band member, manager or engineer during the recording sessions.
Subsequent variations included an elaborate backstory involving the artwork on the album cover as a motive for the stabbing.
Less common variations identified the "victim" as a band member's girlfriend or cleaning woman.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Red Hot Chili Peppers version
"Love Rollercoaster" was covered by American rock band
Red Hot Chili Peppers for the soundtrack of the 1996 animated movie ''
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America'', based on the iconic
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
adult animated series ''
Beavis and Butt-Head
''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, ...
'', so it had a lot of diffusion on the channel in that time. It was released as a single in November 1996 through
Geffen Records, being particularly successful in the UK.
For this version, an animated music video was made directed by Kevin Lofton. In the video, the members of the band are shown performing the song and riding together with other characters on a gigantic
roller coaster
A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...
, while playing some scenes from the film.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
In other media
The song was used, amongst other uses, in an advert for the
Suzuki Jimny
The is a series of four-wheel drive off-road mini SUVs, manufactured and marketed by Japanese automaker Suzuki since 1970.
Originally belonging to the kei class, Japan's light automobile tax/legal class, the company continues to market a kei- ...
,
[TV Ad https://www.tvadmusic.co.uk/2007/10/archive-q-to-z/] in the 2020 film ''
Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey'', and in a promo for the
Epcot
Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...
ride ''
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind'' ahead of its opening in 2022; the song, although not played outright, is also referenced to on ''
The Cleveland Show
''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A spin-off of ''Family Guy'', the series centers on Cleveland Brown, his new wife Donna Tubbs, a ...
'', serving as the title for the show's 11th episode of its pilot season. It was also used in the 2006 horror movie ''
Final Destination 3'', and it was also used in 2004 action-adventure video game ''
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' as song for radio station Bounce FM.
See also
*
Hot 100 number-one hits of 1976 (United States)
References
{{Authority control
1975 singles
1975 songs
1996 singles
Animated music videos
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Funk songs
Geffen Records singles
Mercury Records singles
Warner Records singles
Ohio Players songs
Red Hot Chili Peppers songs