The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
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WILD CHERRY
“PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC”
(Robert Parissi)
Epic 50225
No. 1 September 18, 1976
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Guitarist/lead singer Rob Parissi (b. Steubenville, OH) was laid up in a hospital in 1970. His bandmates
came by to pay him a visit. “As they were getting ready to leave,” Parissi recalled to Bob Gilbert and Gary
Theroux in The Top Ten, “one said, ‘Hey, we don’t have a name for our band.’ So I held up this box of
cough drops… and said, ‘You can call it this; and pointed to the words ‘wild cherry.’ They liked it, and I
hated it. I said, ‘Are you serious?”‘
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In 1972, Terry Knight, manager of Grand Funk Railroad and head of the Brown Bag record label, heard
Wild Cherry and had the guys cut some singles. A few years later, Jeff Barry produced “Voodoo Woman,”
an obscure 45 for A & M. None of these numbers gained much notice.
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Soon the original Wild Cherries scattered. Parissi sold all of his equipment and became a manager of
some steakhouses. Our tale could have ended here, but the gnawing itch for pop success got the best of
Rob. He reformed Wild Cherry with musicians from the Steubenville, Ohio, area: keyboardist Mark
Avsec, guitarist Bryan Bassett, drummer Ronald Beitle, and bassist Allen Wentz.
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While playing Pittsburgh discos, the group made a discovery that would lead to their moment in Top 40-
land. “We played too much rock, I guess,” Rob explained, “because people came up to us and said, ‘Play
that funky music.’ In the dressing room, I told the guys that we had to find a rock’n’roll way to play this
disco stuff. Our drummer said, ‘Well, I guess it’s like they say, “you gotta play that funky music, white
boy.”‘ I said, ‘That’s a great idea.”
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Parissi crafted a number around the phrase, and the band went into a studio to record “Play That Funky
Music” and a cover version of the Commodores’ 1974 hit, “I Feel Sanctified.” The latter was meant to be
the A-side. Fortunately, Mike Belkin and Carl Maduri at Sweet City, a Pittsburgh-based production
company, suggested that “Funky Music” should be the unit’s first single for Epic Records.
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“Funky” sold more than 2 million copies and won the group two Grammy nominations, for “Best New
Vocal Group” and “Best R & B Performance by a Group or Duo.” A number of Hot 100 heavies followed:
“Baby Don’t You Know” (#43, 1977), “Hot to Trot” (#95, 1977), “Hold On” (#61, 1977), and “I Love My
Music” (#69, 1978). Wild Cherry’s first three LPs–Wild Cherry (1977), Electrified Funk (1977), and I
Love My Music (1978)–were healthy sellers as well.
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“After that, we started to overproduce our records,” Parissi admitted, “and that’s probably why we never
had another major hit. A lot of that was my fault, striving to sound different. We cut our [fourth and] last
album in February 1979, and then just kind of fell apart.”
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Rob Parissi has lived in Mingo Junction, Ohio, working as a morning DJ at a station in Wheeling, West
Virginia. “My bags are packed,” he told David Mills of the Washington Times. “All I need is material. I’d
like to get just enough hits … to build a catalog and be visible for a while–to know that I was there long
enough for people to remember who the hell I was.”
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