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.
Our Love Has Died
Ohio Players Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And your cold words stay on my mind
The tombstone that I put on your finger must be razed
′Cause our love has died, our love has died
We buried our love, six feet down
No mourners, no mourners came around
And all the tears, all the tears fell on the inside
Know a man ain′t supposed to cry, can't keep these tears from my eyes
You know the neighbors that embalmed your mind
Never never have to see you cry
But they called your less into their lies
Our love has died
We buried our love six feet down (Yes we did)
But you know no mourners, no mourners, no mourners came around
And all the tears fell on the inside
'Cause our love has died, our love has died
In "Our Love Has Died," Ohio Players sing about a failed relationship that has come to a bitter end. The lyrics are filled with references to death and burial, as the character feels that the love they shared is now dead and buried six feet under. The opening verse describes the aftermath of the breakup, with the singer still feeling the physical and emotional presence of their former partner. Despite the pain and heartache they feel, they realize that they must move on, and they wish to remove any reminder of the past, even the tombstone they placed on their ex's finger.
The chorus relays the idea that the relationship has ended with a whimper, without any support or condolences from anyone else. The only person who is truly affected by the breakup is the singer, and all the tears that they shed to mourn the relationship happen on the inside, unseen by others. The next verse illustrates the character's reluctance to show weakness and vulnerability, especially in front of those who did them wrong in the past. The neighbors who the singer feels have been meddling in their relationship will never get the satisfaction of seeing them cry, despite the pain they feel.
Throughout the song, Ohio Players employ powerful imagery and metaphors to express the depths of the character's despair. The lyrics suggest that the couple's love may have been doomed from the start and that it was destroyed by external influences that were beyond their control. Although the song has a melancholy and somber tone, it also suggests that the character is ready to move on from the failed relationship and begin a new chapter in their life.
Line by Line Meaning
Your cursed arms still surround me
Even though you have hurt me, your memory still haunts and affects me
And your cold words stay on my mind
The things you said still linger in my thoughts and affect me emotionally
The tombstone that I put on your finger must be razed
I can no longer accept the symbol of our love because it is now dead
'Cause our love has died, our love has died
Our relationship is over and we can no longer resurrect it
We buried our love, six feet down
The relationship is completely over and there is no chance of reconciliation
No mourners, no mourners came around
Nobody was there to support or console us during this difficult time
And all the tears, all the tears fell on the inside
We grieved and cried internally, without showing our pain to the outside world
'Cause our love has died, our love has died, our love has died
The death of our love is a painful reality that we cannot avoid or ignore
Know a man ain't supposed to cry, can't keep these tears from my eyes
Even though society teaches men not to show emotion, the pain of the breakup is too much to bear
You know the neighbors that embalmed your mind
The people who influenced you to change and become someone you were not
Never never have to see you cry
They don't have to witness the pain they caused you
But they called your less into their lies
They manipulated and deceived you into becoming someone you were not meant to be
We buried our love six feet down (Yes we did)
Our love is now completely gone and there is no hope of resurrecting it
But you know no mourners, no mourners, no mourners came around
No one was there to comfort us or help us through the pain of the breakup
And all the tears fell on the inside
We grieved and mourned in private, without showing our pain to others
'Cause our love has died, our love has died
Our relationship is truly over and has no chance of being repaired
Writer(s): Clarence Satchell, Walter Morrison, Ralph Middlebrook, Leroy Bonner, Marshall Eugene Jones, Gregory A Webster
Contributed by Samantha H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@TheHumanBallsack
B.I.B.L.E. = One of the sweetest samples ever laid down.
@gregdullirocks
the bass and piano are enough to love this let alone everything else
@tammystwilson1763
They have some undiscovered gems.I'm lovin this too!!
@leonbrown7642
One of the best BAND OF THE 70S
@woodschristine63
so deep....loving it
@lasobredosisd3007
I love this theme
@FeeliveinPC011
sentir a liberdade por uns minutos !
@danielguilherme3081
Sonhar com um mundo depois dos muros
@alvinfrazierTV
This is a "mean" tune!! Never heard this one and I'm a big fan of this group. A crate diggers gold mine!!!
@harryheath2616
I gold mine I feel this song I'm my heart when ya feel a love has died ouch