The most beloved show in television history about daytime drinking, Mad Men, just wrapped up its eight-year run, with Don Draper and his ad-pitching peers marching boldly into the 1970s. For past Mad Men seasons, Ken Jennings of Jeopardy! fame has helped us debunk some persistent myths from the 1950s and the 1960s so we've asked him to keep on truckin' and do us a solid by debunking some "Me Decade" misinformation as well. It turns out that a lot of what we think we know about the seventies is pretty "far out."
The Debunker: Who Screams During the Instrumental Break in "Love Rollercoaster"?
"Rollercoaster! Of love!" It's one of the most famous choruses of the early disco era, and one of the signature hits of the Ohio Players, the Dayton-based funk band recently voted as founding members of the R&B Music Hall of Fame. The song was released on their 1975 album Honey and quickly became a million seller.
But ever since the song's release, it's been dogged by rumors about a shrill scream that can be heard low in the mix right before the second verse. The scream, it's often said, actually belongs to a woman being murdered! Right there, on the Love Rollercoaster! In some versions of the urban legend, the scream is a sound effect borrowed from an emergency call. In other, even less plausible tellings, the victim is Playboy Playmate Ester Cordet, who appears nude and slathered in honey on the album cover. It's not clear why the band would have killed off their cover model and recorded it and immortalized their crime in vinyl forever, but here we are.
In fact, this rumor was started by a bored California DJ, who, in the time-honored tradition of radio personalities, just made it up. In The Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits, Jimmy "Diamond" Williams, the drummer on the track, reveals the disappointing truth: the rollercoaster scream was just atmosphere provided by keyboardist Billy Beck, who got caught up in the moment. "People were asking us, 'Did you kill this chick in the studio?'" Williams recalled. "The band took a vow of silence because that makes you sell more records." A little cynical? Maybe. But that's the music industry for you. Don't hate the Ohio Player, hate the Ohio Game.
Quick Quiz: Speaking of Ohio and roller coasters, the roller coaster most often voted as the best in the world is Millennium Force, found in what famed Sandusky, Ohio amusement park?
Ken Jennings is the author of six books, most recently his Junior Genius Guides, Because I Said So!, and Maphead. He's also the proud owner of an underwhelming Bag o' Crap. Follow him at ken-jennings.com or on Twitter as @KenJennings.