Latest Release
- OCT 6, 2023
- 9 Songs
- Honey · 1975
- Fire · 1974
- Jam · 1996
- Skin Tight · 1974
- Skin Tight · 1974
- Honey · 1975
- Jam · 1996
- Gold · 1976
- 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Ohio Players · 2000
- 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Ohio Players · 1975
Essential Albums
- Ohio Players are consummate party-starters, and Honey is an all-out funk rager that sizzles with sexiness. After setting the mood with the slow play of the title track, the album kicks into high gear with the bass-thumpin’ “Fopp.” Alternating between sassy growls and falsetto harmonies, they get “the whole house boppin’” to dizzying horn crescendos. “Sweet Sticky Thing” rolls up with percolating percussion and cool sax, leaving us primed for the timeless “Love Rollercoaster,” with its signature muted guitar skank and neck-snapping grooves.
- Sure, the Ohio Players also produced Skin Tight and Honey, but make no mistake: Fire was the big one, the thick-hipped, fat-bottomed monolith that Dayton, Ohio's favorite sons had been working toward for 15 long years. In one sweet stroke, The Ohio Players distilled their hot horns, super-slinky grooves, and near-lethal sex attack into 36 minutes, 18 seconds of supreme goodness. Not a single note is wasted, not a bead of sweat misplaced. First things first: the title track, one of the greatest moments in funk And where there's "Fire" you just knew there had to be "Smoke," another horn-heavy bounce bonanza right up there with the fierce "What The Hell" and "Runnin' From The Devil." In between and all around, jams like the tender "Together" and the plush "I Want To Be Free" bring on the nuance, leavening the hard funk with a soft, sweet caress.
- By the time of The Ohio Players' fifth album, there was no question that the band had set their sights on the lucrative pop charts and disco dance floors of America and beyond. (It was their first LP for Mercury and first one to go platinum.) Good thing, too, because Skin Tight offered sassy funk grooves and beautifully arranged horn boogies. The hit title song sounds like what Sly Stone might’ve been doing in 1974 if he'd had his finger on the sweaty pulse of the disco underground, while “Jive Turkey,” with its horny blips and electric piano, sounds like some grooving Stevie Wonder street credo. The band keep their tongues in their cheeks on “Streakin’ Cheek to Cheek” and get all bedroom-eyed on the near eight-minute soul smoother “It’s Your Night/Words of Love.” Handclaps and organ lift the gospel-like “Is Anybody Gonna Be Saved?” to an optimism that transcends such forewarning lines as “I can’t just help but look around and see we’re digging our own graves.” This album set the tone for more of The Ohio Players' hits to come.
- 1988
- 1981
- 1981
- 1978
- 1977
- 1977
Artist Playlists
- This legendary crew laid the foundation for modern funk and soul.
- Their original tunes have been the source material for some of modern music’s biggest hits.
- The funk masters' influence spans pop, hip-hop, and rock.
Singles & EPs
- 2017
- 1981
Live Albums
- 2013
- 1996
Compilations
More To Hear
- Mike and Adam discuss the Beastie Boys Book they wrote together.
About Ohio Players
Formed in 1959, the Ohio Players are true pioneers of funk, blending big and brash horn blasts with irresistible rhythms on groovy numbers like 1975’s classic “Love Rollercoaster.”
- HOMETOWN
- Dayton, OH, United States
- FORMED
- 1959