Centerfold (song)

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“Centerfold”

Single by The J. Geils Band
from the album Freeze Frame

Released

1981

Recorded

1980

Genre

Rock

Length

3:36

Seth Justman

Seth Justman

The J. Geils Band singles chronology

"Night Time"
(1980)

"Centerfold"
(1981)

"Freeze-Frame"
(1982)

"Centerfold" was a hit for The J. Geils Band. The song is about a man who is shocked to discover that his highschool crush did a centerfold spread for a male-oriented magazine. The song is believed^[who?] to be about actress Angel Tompkins relationship with Peter Wolf.

It was released in the Fall of 1981, and eventually went to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in February 1982, and stayed there for six weeks and also reached number one on the ARIA Chart in Australia. It was the first single released from the band's album Freeze Frame and was an early staple on MTV. The "school" where the video was shot had a girls' dance school on the floor above; the girls from the school were the ones appearing in the video. For a long time it was believed that MTV veejay Martha Quinn appeared in the video, but it was just one of the dancers that bore a striking resemblance to her.

The band's lead singer Peter Wolf revealed on In the Studio with Redbeard that "Angel in Blue" was going to be the album's first single. Then during the "Angel in Blue" video shoot, Peter got a call from the president of EMI America Records suggesting that the band changed the single's title to "Centerfold".^{[citation needed]}

In February 1983, a year after the song hit #1 in the US Billboard Hot 100, "Centerfold" peaked at #3 in the UK Top 40, earning The J. Geils Band their first - and only - hit in the UK.

[edit] Cover versions

The song was also covered by German speed metal band Tankard on 1993's Stone Cold Sober.

The ska-punk band Against All Authority covered the song which featured on a split 7" record with Less Than Jake as did Hayseed Dixie on their 2004 album Let There Be Rockgrass.

An English Ska-punk band called [spunge] also covered this song on their album, That Should Cover It!, also released in 2004.

The German Europop group known as Captain Jack has also covered this song. Their version of this song known as "Centerfold (130BPM move it remix)" can be found on the game Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA.

[edit] References

Preceded by "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" by Daryl Hall and John Oates	Billboard Hot 100 number one single February 6, 1982 - March 13, 1982	Succeeded by "I Love Rock 'N Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts