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Today’s Forgotten 45 was the #1 song on this date in 1976 “Love Rollercoaster” by the Ohio Players. Now this was a time before the internet, but there’s been an urban myth surrounding this song for decades, that someone was murdered in the adjacent studio while they were recording the song. In the middle of the track someone lets out a scream.
Now in the 70’s there were plenty of screams on records, but something about this one got the rumor mill going, but the most common version is that someone was killed inside the studio—in an adjoining room, or possibly the control room, or perhaps just a neighboring apartment!
What was the truth? Well, nobody was murdered while The Ohio Players were in the studio that day, and it certainly didn’t get caught on tape. The owner of that muffled scream is in fact Ohio Players keyboardist Billy Beck. The Ohio Players, for their part, didn’t bother correcting anyone—at least not for a little while. “The DJ made this crack and it swept the country. People were asking us, ‘Did you kill this girl in the studio?’” Williams said, noting that the mystique the legend circulated was actually pretty good for business.
Check out the Ohio Players on a Midnight Special appearance!
