Their song "Runnin' from the Devil" inspired the Van Halen song "Runnin' With the Devil".
The group disbanded again in 1970. After again reforming with a line-up including Bonner, Satchell, Middlebrooks, Jones, Webster, trumpeter Bruce Napier, trombonist Marvin Pierce, and keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison, the Players had a minor hit on the Detroit-based Westbound label in 1971 with "Pain" which reached the Billboard R&B Top 40. Detroit vocalist Dale Allen shared co-lead vocals on some of the early Westbound material, although not credited on the albums "Pain" and "Pleasure".
The band’s first big hit was "Funky Worm", which hit #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts and made the pop Top 15 in May 1973. The band signed with Mercury Records in 1974. By this time, their lineup had changed again, with keyboardist Billy Beck instead of Morrison and Jimmy "Diamond" Williams on drums instead of Webster. On later album releases, they added second guitarist/vocalist Clarence 'Chet' Willis and conga player Robert "Rumba" Jones to the lineup. Bonner sang lead vocals on most of the band's hits.
The band had seven Top 40 hits between 1973 and 1976, including "Fire" (#1 on both the R&B and pop charts for two weeks and one week respectively in February 1975) and "Love Rollercoaster" (#1 on both the R&B and pop charts for 1 week in January 1976). The group's last big hit was "Who'd She Coo" a #1 R&B hit in August 1976.
The band became widely known not only for their sound, which has been sampled and copied by countless R&B and hip-hop artists since, but for their sexually provocative album covers, including the cover of 1974's Ecstasy, which featured a man and a woman in a pose of arousal wearing chains and leather, and 1975's Honey, which featured a nude woman holding an overflowing jar of honey and dropping some into her mouth with a ladle.
There is an urban legend that has it that a scream on "Love Rollercoaster" that came during the break after the second verse was the sound of someone being murdered in the studio while the track was being recorded. It is widely believed to be the scream of a female model (the nude woman Ester Cordet featured on the image for the Honey album) after being stabbed with a knife by the band's manager. She was complaining that the honey and fibre glass she was sitting on reacted when mixed causing permanent damage to her legs during the image photography, ending her modelling career. She then approached the manager seeking compensation during the recording of "Love Rollercoaster" only to be stabbed and attacked.
The Ohio Players then left the scream in as a sick tribute.[1] The band did not discredit this rumor at the time, because, as one band member put it later, "that makes you sell more records." This is just an urban legend however, as are any other disturbing explanations, including a person murdered outside the recording studio (although recording studios are soundproof and the scream would not have been heard), a band member murdering his girlfriend or a cleaning woman in the recording studio, or a real scream taken from a 911 call or a Psychiatric ward.
Clarence Satchell died in January 1996 after he had a brain aneurysm. Ralph Middlebrooks died in November 1997.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers were one of the bands heavily influenced by the Ohio Players, covering "Love Rollercoaster" for the film Beavis and Butt-head Do America. In the UK, there was a chain of music and DVD stores named after one of their hit songs, "Fopp". "Fopp" was also covered by Soundgarden for an EP called Fopp.
Funk O-Nots
Ohio Players Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Funk stars and funk-o-nots you are not funky
You are 'bout to have a funky counter, the upper's kind
Are you feeling funky or not?
Are you feeling funky or not?
Attention, attention, attention
Where no one has ever gone before
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
Are you feeling funky or not?
Are you feeling funky or not?
Are you feeling funky or not?
Are you feeling funky or not?
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
To funk or not or not to funk
Are you feeling funky or not?
Are you feeling funky or not?
The Ohio Players' "Funk-O-Nots" is a classic funk track that is all about getting people to get in touch with their funky side. The lyrics begin with a call to all "funk stars and funk-o-nots," telling us that we need to get funky. The song continues to ask the question, "Are you feeling funky or not?" The repeated refrain of "To funk or not or not to funk" emphasizes the importance of being authentic and true to yourself. The song encourages us to let go of our inhibitions and embrace our funky side, wherever that may take us.
Overall, "Funk-O-Nots" is a fun, upbeat song that is full of energy and life. The lyrics are a call to action, urging us to let go of our inhibitions and embrace our inner funk. The repetition of the refrain and the catchy melody make it an infectious track that is hard to resist.
Line by Line Meaning
Attention, attention, attention
Everyone, listen up!
Funk stars and funk-o-nots you are not funky
Being a funk star or a funk-o-not doesn't automatically make you funky. You need to prove yourself first.
You are 'bout to have a funky counter, the upper's kind
We're about to keep score of your funkiness, and only the best will win.
Are you feeling funky or not?
Do you have what it takes to be funky?
Funk stars be funky
If you want to be considered a real funk star, you need to bring your A-game and be really funky.
Where no one has ever gone before
We're looking for funkiness that's beyond what anyone has ever achieved before.
To funk or not or not to funk
Do you have the funk within you, or not?
Are you feeling funky or not?
Seriously, are you funky or not?
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: CLARENCE SATCHELL, JAMES L. WILLIAMS, LEROY BONNER, MARSHALL JONES, MARVIN PIERCE, MARVIN R. PIERCE, RALPH MIDDLEBROOKS, WILLIE BECK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
MrQmason
A classic that was WAYYYYYY underrated....
Erik Baktai
When funk was still real funk. Loved the cover too. Got the LP, looking for the CD!
the promise man
This song should got some serious airplay
Gerald J H Smith
A genre of music that is almost completely gone!! R&B FUNK with a rhythm section, horn section, lead and rhythm guitar, bass player, synthesizer and keyboards lead and back ground vocals, and of course a most funky drummer. I am drummer and in my opinion of so many funk drummers in that Golden Area Of R&B FUNK THE OHIO PLAYERS Diamond is one of the Best.
Buckeyecat2002
I used to buy Ohio Players albums just for the album cover. I still own most of them.
jdmchenry1
Me too
Kiwanis Hinton
Buckeyecat2002 everyone did
Jimmie Smith
me too and a lot of other artists copied that idea too for their album covers
8thmandchigh
I used to and still do love this JAM!!!!
sylvester johnson
I remember staring at this album cover for hours when I was a mere tyke, My older brother had an album collection out of this world and I would listen to all of them over and over when he was not around. There has been no time in music more influential than this era, long live the funk stars and funk - o - knots