RIP J. Geils

[gkbill]

Hello,

RIP J. Geils. He was the guitarist for the J. Geils Band. These guys were a great show band prior to Centerfold which took them in a pop direction. Blow Your Face Out is the best live album I own.

[Flex]

J. Geils Band was the sort of music a teenage me thought was bad and a grown-up me realizes is actually pretty good. I credit Little Steven's Underground Garage for helping me see the light on that one. Good music. RIP.

[Dr. Medulla]

This gag track amused me as a kid:

[tepista]

I credit Little Steven's Underground Garage for helping me see the light on that one.

They do play the shit out of them. Which is not a bad thing, a lot of fun songs.

[Kory]

I always get them mixed up with The Georgia Satellites for some reason.

[JennyB]

I'm not at all knowledgable about them other than the hits. I'm curious - was the whole Centerfold era something J.Geils stood behind or was Peter Wolf the Mike Love of the band? Not that the hits are nearly as bad as Kokomo - Love Stinks is a solid tune - but I wonder if the hits doomed them in a sense? I'll have to check out more of their back catalogue.

[gkbill]

I'm not at all knowledgable about them other than the hits. I'm curious - was the whole Centerfold era something J.Geils stood behind or was Peter Wolf the Mike Love of the band? Not that the hits are nearly as bad as Kokomo - Love Stinks is a solid tune - but I wonder if the hits doomed them in a sense? I'll have to check out more of their back catalogue.

Hello,

Try either of the early live albums - Blow Your Face Out or Full House - or perhaps Bloodshot. The later stuff wasn't bad - different as more poppy and MTV friendly. I think Seth Justman had a bigger influence with that.

[Rat Patrol]

I'm not at all knowledgable about them other than the hits. I'm curious - was the whole Centerfold era something J.Geils stood behind or was Peter Wolf the Mike Love of the band? Not that the hits are nearly as bad as Kokomo - Love Stinks is a solid tune - but I wonder if the hits doomed them in a sense? I'll have to check out more of their back catalogue.

That's exactly it. Wolf's ego took over, they split into camps with purists Geils and Seth Justman (the other primary songwriter with Wolf) on one side and showmen Wolf and the others on the other side, and they spiraled towards a messy breakup in '85.

Bunch of original-lineup reunions and whatnot since the late-90's after fences have mended, but Geils and Justman haven't even played with them since 2012 because the bad blood resurfaced once easy stadium one-offs and festival money became available...and there were a couple court-settled lawsuits between Geils and the others over use of the name. The current touring act is basically the Wolf camp cashing checks with session men, so they're not going to stop. It also did not go unnoticed how pedantic Wolf's Twitter tribute was the other day. Most definitely not a happy ending to the group.

[Heston]

Centerfold was the song Bruce Springsteen wished he could have written. Love it.

[Dr. Medulla]

Centerfold was the song Bruce Springsteen wished he could have written. Love it.

Y'know, I never thought of it as a Sprucesque song, but you're right. I still dig it chiefly from a nostalgia angle, but it is pretty fun, too.

[muppet hi fi]

Centerfold was the song Bruce Springsteen wished he could have written. Love it.

Good call. I love it too. But in fairness Bruce has written loads of fun songs like this - "Sherry Darling", "Pink Cadillac", "Crush On You", etc.

[Silent Majority]

I like spunge's dumb cover of Centerfold.