State fairs have been an American tradition for nearly 180 years. They began as forums for promoting local agriculture and have since added displays of industrial products, carnival rides and games, car races, musical events, and decadent fairground snacks.
Indiana’s fair draws large crowds and to ensure everyone is safe while having a good time, state troopers are on patrol. Four of them — Jonathan Amburgey, Jonathan Cole, Brent Lemberg, Dustin Rutledge — accidentally became famous in 2016. To have some fun themselves, they recorded themselves lip syncing “Summer Nights” from the rock musical “Grease” and posted it on the internet. They were completely surprised when it became a big hit. As Amburgey recalled, “It was overwhelming and humbling at the same time. Reading the countless positive comments was amazing. People sent me messages saying they were having a really tough time and our video put smiles back on their faces.”
The following year, the four state troopers tackled Irish rock band Thin Lizzy’s hit song “The Boys are Back in Town.” Ironically enough, it was part of their album “Jailbreak.”
Scott Gorham, one of Thin Lizzy’s guitarists recalled how the song saved the band: “It was 1976 and we were touring America. Jailbreak wasn’t shifting and we weren’t selling any tickets — but there we were, gigging around. The manager came in and told us, ‘Well guys, it looks like you have a hit record.’ Our response was, ‘Wow! Which song are you talking about?’ When he replied, ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’, it was a case of ‘Really?’ We’d demoed maybe 15 songs and ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ wasn’t among the ten that we chose for the album, which in some ways made it a double surprise… Had that song not kickstarted the sales of the album, then the band was over.”
Check out the video and let us know what you thought of this lip syncing quartet of state troopers in the comments section below. Be sure to like and share, too!
