Day After Day #168: Fire

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Fire (1974)

When people tend to think of the pre-eminent funk bands of the '70s, they list off Parliament/Funkadelic (George Clinton's simultaneous bands), Kool and the Gang, Sly and the Family Stone and Earth, Wind and Fire (and of course the supreme funkiness of folks like James Brown and Stevie Wonder). But Ohio Players deserve to be on that roll call as well. They brought the heat in more ways than one.

The band started in Dayton in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables with Robert Ward on vocals and guitar, Marshall "Rock" Jones on bass, Clarence "Satch" Satchell on sax and guitar, Cornelius Johnson on drums and Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks on trumpet and trombone. 

After a lot of infighting, the group split up in 1964. Ward found new backup musicians, while the rest of the band went back to Dayton and brought in Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner on guitar and Greg Webster on drums, changing their name to Ohio Players. They played for a few years before disbanding again in 1970 and then reforming a while later. They landed a contract on Westbound Records and released two albums, scoring a hit with "Funky Worm" in 1973. 

This led to the Players getting signed by Mercury Records and releasing two albums in 1974, Skin Tight and Fire. Skin Tight came out in April and was considered the band's commercial breakthrough, going to #11 on the Billboard album chart. Fire was released in November and the title track was an immediate hit.

A fire truck siren opens the song and the Players launch into a serious funk vamp that's, let's face it, about being an unrelenting horndog.

"The way you walk and talk/Really sets me off to a four-alarm, child/The way you squeeze and tease knocks me to my knees/'Cause you're smokin', baby baby."

Hey, I didn't say it was subtle. But damn, was it funky, with horns, guitar riffage and a slammin' bass line and of course, the refrain of "Fire."

"The way you swerve and curve really wracks my nerves/And I'm so excited, child, woo woo/The way you push, push lets me know that you're gonna get your wish/Fire/Fire/Got me burnin', got me burnin'."

The Ohio Players didn't hide their horniness. Their album covers featured models in various sexy poses; Fire's cover model was augmented with a fire chief's helmet and a fire hose.

The song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1975, which was really interesting considering it followed number ones by Barry Manilow ("Mandy"), The Carpenters ("Please Mr. Postman") and Neil Sedaka ("Laughter in the Rain"). Those are three decidedly UN-funky songs. "Fire" only stayed at #1 for a week, but it's one of the biggest funk hits ever. Their funk contemporaries didn't top the charts; the closest was War's "Cisco Kid" at #2 and the Commodores' "Brick House" at #5. Kool and the Gang and EWF eventually hit the top spot, but with songs that were more pop than pure funk.

The album Fire went to #1 on the pop and R&B album charts. Ohio Players continued rolling along, with their next album, 1975's Honey, going to #2 and featuring the hit "Love Rollercoaster," which also went to #1 on the pop chart. As disco took hold, the Players saw their success diminish, with each of their next seven albums through 1981 selling less than the one before it. Two more albums followed in 1984 and 1988 that didn't even hit the Billboard 200.

Various incarnations of the band have continued to play live shows over the years. Their songs have been sampled and covered many times; the Red Hot Chili Peppers had a hit with "Love Rollercoaster" in the '90s, a young Soundgarden covered "Fopp" and even R.E.M. did a live instrumental cover of "Skin Tight." But ultimately, the band's story was in their live performances, as you can see in the clip from the Midnight Special below. Ohio Players were definitely a hot act in the '70s.