My blood runs cold,
My memory has just been sold,
My angel is the centerfold,
(Angel is the centerfold).
My memory has just been sold,
My angel is the centerfold,
(Angel is the centerfold).
"Centerfold"
The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1967 in Worcester, Massachusetts, that had a successful R&B-influenced blues-rock sound in The '70s, before moving towards a more pop-influenced sound in The '80s, which brought them MTV airplay and a series of hit singles. Founder member J. Geils died in April 2017.
Their songs include:
- "Centerfold
" - "Love Stinks"
- "Freeze Frame"
- "Must of Got Lost", and the more famous live version from Blow Your Face Out
Studio discography:
- The J. Geils Band (1970)
- The Morning After (1971)
- Bloodshot (1973)
- Ladies Invited (1973)
- Nightmares...and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle (1974)
- Hotline (1975)
- Monkey Island (1977)
- Sanctuary (1978)
- Love Stinks (1980)
- Freeze Frame (1981)
- You're Gettin' Even While I'm Gettin' Odd (1984)
Principal Members (Founding members in bold):
- Stephen Jo Bladd – drums, backing vocals (1968–85)
- John "J." Geils – guitar (1968–85; died 2017)
- Seth Justman – keyboards, backing vocals (1968–85)
- Danny Klein – bass (1968–85)
- Richard Saltzer (Magic Dick) – harmonica, saxophone, trumpet (1968–85)
- Peter Wolf – lead vocals (1968–83)
Love stinks, but not these tropes:
- Alliterative Title: Freeze Frame.
- Album Title Drop: One of the most famous ones on a live album, as the band segues from "Lookin' for a Love" into "(Ain't Nothin' but a) Houseparty": "WE ARE GONNA BLOW. YOUR. FACE. OUUUUUUUT!"
- Ambiguous Syntax: In "Centerfold", the line "Oh no, I can't deny it. Oh yeah, I guess I gotta buy it." Which could either mean "buy it" as in he has to accept that his pure school crush is now a nude model, or that he's going to purchase a copy of the magazine she's in.
- Anti-Love Song: "Love Stinks"
- Artistic License – Sports: The poker hand pictured on the cover of their first live album, Full House, is not a full house (three of a kind plus a pair).
- The Band Minus the Face: They soldiered on for one last studio album after Peter Wolf left, with Seth Justman (who by that point was producing as well doing most of the songwriting) taking over as frontman. Not the same, although they did do the Fright Night (1985) theme song.
- From 2012 until their final performances in 2015, the band toured with Wolf...but without Geils, despite the whole "band literally named after him" thing. Geils sued the band for performing a short tour without him, the case was thrown out of court and he quit the band in acrimony.
- Claymation: In the video for "Freeze Frame".
- Crossdresser: Peter Wolf does this in a part of Love Stinks.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Much like The Rolling Stones' "Nanker Phelge" numbers, the band's first two albums contain several compositions credited to the whole band under the pseudonym "Juke Joint Jimmy", as well as a solo Geils instrumental and Wolf/Geils' classic "Hard Drivin' Man" on the first album. While many Wolf/Justman songs appear on these albums, Bloodshot was their first album as the band's exclusive songwriters.
- Epic Rocking: A few songs went past the 6:00 mark. Oddly, one of them, "Give it to Me", became their first Top 30 hit in America.
- Fanservice: Sexy schoolgirls in "Centerfold". It appears that sexy schoolgirls are not only a cross-cultural fetish, but a cross-generational one as well.
- Girl Next Door Turned Superstar: In "Centerfold", a man discovers that the girl he admired from afar/lusted after in high school has now become a centerfold model.
- Hold the Unsolicited Ingredient: "No Anchovies, Please" is all about this. Well, sort of. Eating anchovies caused a woman to get kidnapped and turned into a bowling ball, so the Spoof Aesop is to request no anchovies on pizza. Peter Wolf later plays this straight while nodding to the aforementioned bit on the "Love Rap" prelude to "Love Stinks" on their live album Showtime!, depicting Adam as The Stoner in the Garden of Eden, craving a pizza with increasingly eccentric toppings...Wolf: He put on peanut butter! He even put on tuna fish! BUT...nooooo...Wolf and Audience: ...aaaaanchovies, PLEASE!
- Horrifying the Horror: Peter Wolf was told in college to move out of his dorm room because he was creeping his roommate out. Said roomie asking for the move? David Lynch!
- Intercourse with You: "Give it to Me"
- Live Album: Live Full House, Blow Your Face Out, Showtime!
- Love Triangle: "Love Stinks" states that "You love her, but she loves him, and he loves somebody else."
- Lyrical Cold Open: "Freeze Frame" starts with a Title Drop before a few camera sounds and the synthesizers kick in.
- My Girl Is Not a Slut: "Centerfold" - the singer/protagonist of the song is throwing a massive hissy fit over the fact that a girl he knew in 'high school' is now a Playboy model.
- In a Twist Ending, he is eventually able to accept it...and even embraces it.
- Passing Notes in Class: "Centerfold" mentions "Slipping notes under the desk."
- Rouge Angles of Satin: "Must of Got Lost" (instead of "must've"). Blow Your Face Out backtracks this slightly with the use of "Musta" instead.
- Song Style Shift: "Give it to Me" starts out as a Reggae-influenced shuffle, then abruptly turns into Hard Rock at the bridge, then speeds up as the band trades solos, then the drum-dominated closing section with the band chanting in the background sounds more like junkanoo music than anything else.
- Spoof Aesop: "No Anchovies, Please": If you eat anchovies, you will be kidnapped and turned into a bowling ball.
- Stop and Go: "Centerfold", in which it is covered by crowd noises.
- Temporary Name Change: For the 1977 record, Monkey Island, the band shortened their name to just "Geils". They changed it back on the following record.
