The Midnight Special gave us so many iconic performances in the 70’s! It was one of those original gems that just can’t be replicated. I’m so glad I was able to see it! Loved the 70’s, you just had to be there and those of us that were are so lucky 💯
And YES!! That was actually played LIVE . No lip synching . Using real instruments! no auto tune or computer enhancement. And that folks , is how it is done.!
I agree.Also they are in tune.No sour notes.Ive seen the Jackson 5 live and was disappointed.Flat notes and all.Being a musician myself with perfect pitch. How James Brown said" Can't Stand It.
That was my daddy song, he loved those Ohio players R.I.P pops ! My dad had good taste for music he loved zapp & Roger more bounce to the ounces heard through the grapevine and there was one more song and it was Parliament night of the thumpasourus people with Bernie worrell on the keyboards !
Just think of the Great Music OHIO has blessed us With..... Isley Brothers...Ohio Players.... Lakeside....Roger Troutman and Zapp... Bootsie Collins...The Dazz Band.... Midnight Star(1 of the founding member is from Cincinnati Ohio).... Heatwave...The O'Jays...Slave...Faze O....Bones Thugzs and Harmony...etc.. Shoutouts to Cincinnati...Dayton and Cleveland Ohio....
@Marshall L Smith You've been Misinformed..The Dazz band began in Cleveland Ohio....As for Heatwave..the Wilder brothers(Lead Vocals)are from Dayton Ohio...
All instruments and vocals - little bit of wa wa pedal, Leslie amp spinning up on a beautiful big Hammond and that's it - no autotune, overdubbing blah blah - raw real funk - RIP Sugarfoot
When funk ruled the airwaves. There was none better than SUGARFOOT. One of the coolest to ever sing or play guitar and as you can see he could do both at the same time with ease. The Ohio Players where one of the main reasons I picked up a bass and guitar. Sugarfoot stayed true to his art all his life. And his legacy will live on FOREVER. RIP.
Many front men can't do that even with Rock bands...few were successful at it... Sister Rosetta Thorpe was Great at it; she was said to have pioneered American Rock & Roll
This song popped into my head while I was driving. Some songs are just timeless. It was also great to see the Late Wolfman Jack on Midnight Special. Another one of my favorite tv shows growing up in the 1970s.
Where did the good music go?? Now, we have to reminisce the good old days when what is known now as old school funk was the best thing going. I will forever be an old school lover of the oldies but goodies in music.
Suga Foot, baby. Big tight 'fro with the left eye covered. Larry Graham, Michael Cooper copied his style as did Lionel Ritchie when he was with The Commodores. "Aww, aww gurl" He, I couldn't dance to save my life. Poor as hell. Lived in a house where dad abused Mom some. But I'll tell you what, I could always look forward to the music.
It really is STILL hot, I wish something would come up like this stuff. The talented live musicians even on the studio albums makes the difference. Band chemistry and live playing talent man!!
Just love the Players sound! Love the horns,, keyboards, bass and especially Sugar's voice and guitar riffs. He will be sadly missed, but will live on through his legacy!
Satch was the leader of the group, named all their songs. Handled their finances, and lost all their money to the IRS (failure to pay taxes, because he was skimming). But he was a great musician.
Seriously! Look at all those people just sitting there and Not Moving!! When it use to DON Kirshner's Midnight SPECIAL, All the kids were dancing !!! That's how I know im not from this world !!! But The Ohio Players still sound GREAT !!! 💃
True musical geniuses! There craft spoke for it's self! I was alive and saw this original broadcast! It was definitely late and my pops... let me stay up to watch it! 1974! YES!
This always came on too late when I was young. I would be sleep by the time it came on. I would have stayed awake for this. I listened to all of their albums.l
That was absolutely killing. Great band. Great sound and superb repertoire. I’m so happy to have been old enough to consider them one of my favorites during their heyday.
The Ohio Players are great! "Skin Tight" and "Fire" were two of my favorites in High School! Wolfman Jack was only 57 when he died of a heart attack. He wanted to see his wife, Lou after touring to promote his autobiography. He got home, went to hug her and collapsed. RIP Wolfman!
Lady Suzette thanks for sharing. I was working a 2nd shift job back in those day couldn't wait to get off on a friday night because wolfman jack was soon be on the tube I would shower eat get my glass if 🍷 my puff puff pass we be ready for wolfman jack to hear wolfman Jack to tell us who his guest going to be and wait for the howl. Let The Midnight Special Shine Its Ever Loving Light On You.
I remember them in jr high always loved their music i remember that girl that got stabbed at the love rollercoaster concert great soul music Ohio Player's best music that i still listen too
Skin Tight "Skin Tight" is track #3 on the album 20th Century Masters. It was written by Bonner, Leroy/Williams, James L./Jones, Marshall/Pierce, Marvin R./Middlebrooks, Ralph/Satchell, Clarence. Yeah, yeah You are a bad bad Mrs. In them skin tight britches Runnin' folks in ditches Baby about to bust the stitches, yeah Skin tight, skin tight Skin tight, skin tight Hold tight You are a real fine lady Though your walks a little shady Step on the strip on time There's money you're bound to find, yeah Skin tight, skin tight Skin tight, skin tight Skin tight, skin tight Hold tight Gone, gone, gone with your bad self Walk that walk, talk that talk mama Skin tight Hold me barely back girl Keep on steppin' to me baby
I LOVED Sugarfoot....that cool as shit 'Fro, the way he sang., that funky guitar.......part of my teenaged years are pained again with the loss of this brother. RIP Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner.
One of the groups who learned from James Brown and went on to teach others how's it's done. They should be in the Rock in Roll Hall Of Fame. Lesser groups have made it.
I recently saw them fronted by Diamond..their original or nearly original drummer, in San Diego. Show was tight as hell!. Diamond made a point of saying that there were no computer or vocal enhancements being used!
Sugarfoot was real funky, I'm goona miss this brother. the only brother who played a double neck Mosrite ( I wonder if the guitar was custom made for Leroy). In this clip he's chewing gum...I think when you chew gum and play guitar your timing gets funky and nasty. RIP my brother..your playing was "Skin Tight". YA BOY!!
These were my guys! They inspired me to learn guitar, trombone and trumpet. When the horn section era declined in the 80s, I discovered I had a voice. Great times !
I was in 5th grade bussed into a black school in 1979 OMG those black kids kicked me down the best records and fully ignored my Kiss disks. I'm honored to have grown up with this band, Richard Pryor and tons of other acts I would never have seen in my Texas neighborhood.
I so remember doing the bump( dance) on the dance floor often with two young lady students simultaneously at UCLA in the 70s to this song, and the OHIO PLAYERS cuts were many of my favorites as I commanded the record player at our housing parties/dances!!!!!!!
Wait, it was almost forty years ago that I stayed up to watch this "Midnight Special" episode? WOW!!! WTF happened to music since then? Great to see The Wolfman and The Ohio Players in this video. RIP, Sugarfoot!!!
OHIO PLAYERS are for me the group that alongside SLY & THE FAMILY STONE and PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC just changed everything when it comes to groove with an ROCK influence. Check out the groups WESTBOUND albums!
This is when talent was real, notice they are actually playing instruments! Not pushing buttons! God l love the old way, the "REAL" way, music is played!
Melanie Petrarca I'm a white rocker from this time. I started playing when I was 14, in 1977. When I was 45, I tried playing with kids, 19-25 years old - raised right, on gospel and funk. It was a university band at Tennessee State University. Those kids were so much better and knowledgeable players than me. This is a 13 piece band with 4 horns, bass, drums, 4 vocals, two keyboard players - all black and young and talented as can be in the most beautiful way, and my dumb ass on guitar. I was the weak link - and it stung because I had made money in rock. They were kind and nuturing, but not the teacher so much. That was 6 years ago, and now I can play a lot more, know my theory better, and will challenge myself harder always. This music is real. When you feel that funk in a big way, it lights you up.
+WhIke Turner Plus each generation seems to complain about the younger generations music. I'm 56 and my father thought I was out of my mind when I listened to music like this.
Melanie Petrarca I realized something a long time ago. All music is folk music - just depends on what kind of folks you are referring to. When the music is good, there is a reason. It's who is playing. It's the character and dedication. It's their story as well. Take Miley Cyrus. She's the spoiled brat daughter of a crappy 80s commercial pop-country asshole. She's also a child star. These industries are monumentally screwed up. And that is what spat out that brat. The Ohio Players, along with every other great act, worked their asses off and established an identity. But they had proper musical training, even if it was self taught. Sugarfoot, for instance, taught himself jazz theory - because he was hungry for it. Look at him go... It's a beautiful thing.
+Melanie Petrarca You got that right Melanie. And that is why a lot of this modern "rap" and hiphop stuff doesn't have the same "feel" to it. These dudes were MUSICIANS. not plastic wannabees who are backed up with Synthesizers, sequencers, and digital drummers
Part of my fave top ten..Ohio Players, Commodores, Kool and the Gang, Earth Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye.. to name some of my days of great memories....Loved to dance, still do..
These song were really. Funky.i remember at the time most people were taking speed pills that make u freak out.and stay up few days at a time.those was getting high times. Never will forget the good old days. No more speed pills .
This is 1970s when the Funk was real musician singers having good fun without sex showing ass disrespect to the female all of the weave. I am still rockin my big FRO natural hair. U can tell the area smaller did not have the full band and still sound better 2018
