Love Rollercoaster

"Love Rollercoaster" is a song by American funk/R&B band The Ohio Players, originally featured on their 1975 album Honey. The song was a hit upon its initial release, reaching the top of both the R&B and pop charts, and still sees wide airplay on classic funk and R&B stations. The song uses the roller coaster, a common theme park attraction, as a metaphor for the ups and downs of dating and romantic relationships.

The Scream

While the song is known within the music community for its distinctive and influential sound, within the popular imagination it remains best identified with a persistent urban legend. During an instrumental portion of the song, a high-pitched scream is heard; according to the legend, this is the scream of a murder victim, but who the victim is varies greatly depending on the teller. The supposed sources of the scream have included an individual who was killed at some prior time, his or her scream inexplicably recorded and looped into the track, or a woman being murdered outside the studio whose scream was accidentally picked up the band's recording equipment (of all the explanations, this is the least plausible — professional recording studios are soundproof).

The most widespread version of the myth, however, tells that the model who appeared seminude on the Honey album cover had suffered permanent disfigurement due to the substance used to replicate honey for the photo, and interrupted the band's recording session, at which point she was stabbed to death.

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 Ripperton 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 chick in the studio?' The band took a vow of silence because that makes you sell more records." ~ Jimmy Williams

Red Hot Chili Peppers Cover

"Love Rollercoaster"
Song

• "Love Rollercoaster" was covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1996; their version appeared on the soundtrack of the animated film Beavis and Butt-head Do America. There was also a music video that was made for the song.

Track Listing

CD Single 1

1. Love Rollercoaster
2. Lesbian Seagull - Engelbert Humperdinck

CD Single 2

1. Love Rollercoaster(Clean Edit)
2. Love Rollercoaster(Rock Rollercoaster Mix)
3. Love Rollercoaster(LP Version)

7" Vinyl

1. Love Rollercoaster
2. Lesbian Seagull - Engelbert Humperdinck

In the media

The song was featured briefly in the film Urban Legend, where a reference is made to the myth associated with it.

It makes a more prominent appearance in the third Final Destination film, where the song is played as death stalks and manifests itself to kill two teenage girls tanning in a tanning salon. This use is a dual reference used as a "sign" in the film citing the metaphoric legend of that song is known for, and the literal rollercoaster which plays an important deadly role in the film.

The song was also featured in the movie After The Sunset. The song was played during a point when an FBI agent was locked in his car and the "villans" were flooding the car with sleeping gas.

This song was used in the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete during a band scene.

This song was featured in popular video game Grand theft Auto San Andreas, played on the game radio station Bounce FM.

See also

• Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1976 (USA)

References

• "Love Rollercoaster" at All Music Guide.
• The Ohio Slayers, an article about the legend at Snopes (includes an audio clip of the scream)