The J. Geils Band

The J. Geils Band (formerly known as The J. Geils Blues Band) was an American rock band formed in 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils. The original band members included vocalist Peter Wolf, harmonica, trumpet, and saxophone player Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz, drummer Stephen Bladd, vocalist/keyboardist Seth Justman, and bassist Danny Klein. Wolf and Justman served as principal songwriters. The band played R&B-influenced blues rock during the 1970s, and achieved commercial success before moving toward a more mainstream new wave sound in the early 1980s, which brought the band to its commercial peak.

They performed a mix of cover songs of classic blues and R&B songs, along with original compositions written primarily by Wolf and Justman, as well as some group compositions written under the pseudonymous name Juke Joint Jimmy. After Wolf left the band in 1983 to pursue a solo career, the band released one more album in 1984 with Justman and Bladd on lead vocals, before breaking up in 1985. Beginning in 1999, the band had several reunions until the death of its namesake, J. Geils, on April 11, 2017.

The band first released several Top 40 singles in the early 1970s, including a cover of the song "Lookin' For A Love" by The Valentinos (which reached No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972), as well as the single "Give It to Me" (No. 30 in 1973). Their biggest hits included "Must of Got Lost" (No. 12 in 1975), "Come Back" (No. 32 in 1980), "Love Stinks" (which reached No. 38 in 1980 and was featured in several films), "Centerfold" (No. 1 in 1982), and "Freeze-Frame" (No. 4 in 1982).

Early days

The band started in the mid-1960s while John Geils was attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute for a couple of semesters after transferring from Northeastern University in Boston (where he lived in "The Playboy Room" of the Gamma Phi Kappa fraternity). Originally named Snoopy and the Sopwith Camels, the group was an acoustic blues trio with Geils on guitar, bassist Danny Klein ("Dr. Funk"), and harmonica player Richard Salwitz ("Magic Dick").

In 1968, the band switched focus, going electric and recruiting two fellow musicians from Boston band The Hallucinations, drummer Stephen Jo Bladd and vocalist Peter Blankfield, a fast-talking former WBCN disc jockey with the air name Peter Wolf. Initial influences included James Cotton and Little Walter – in a 2008 interview, harmonica star Magic Dick said they were all "harp freaks".

They became The J. Geils Blues Band, later dropping the word "Blues" from the band name. Fan Seth Justman joined on keyboards and the band started to earn a sizable following in the Boston area.

The band took its time carefully considering various offers of contracts. Unofficial live recordings circulated: as noted in Creem, "WBCN had the infamous J. Geils 'bathroom tapes' (that were almost exactly what the name implies) and a tape of their performance at Alternate Media Conference at Goddard College, but these hardly sufficed" to fans who wanted a proper album. The group ultimately signed to Atlantic Records in 1970.

1970s touring, recordings and early top 40 success

After spending the better part of 1970 playing live shows around the US opening for artists as eclectic as B. B. King, Johnny Winter, The Allman Brothers, and The Byrds, The J. Geils Band recorded their debut LP The J. Geils Band in August 1970 in A&R Studios in New York City. It was released in November. The band started to get airplay with release of their first single, a rock-cover of The Contours' Motown hit, "First I Look at the Purse", and the band got more AM radio airplay with a series of several successful singles in the early 1970s. The first one was a cover version of The Valentinos' "Lookin' for a Love", which appeared on their second album The Morning After and was their Top 40 debut in 1972 (at No. 39 on the Billboard chart). The album was released in October 1971. In April 1972, Atlantic staff producer Michael Cuscuna enlisted the J. Geils Band to record two tracks behind Buddy Guy, "This Old Fool" and "Honeydripper"; these songs were included on the album Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues, issued in August 1972.

Through constant touring, the band built a large following in the US for their energetic live shows, with the charismatic stage-antics and "microphone-stand-pole-vaulting" of singer Peter Wolf, as well as its innovative use of the harmonica. Harmonicalinks.com later called Magic Dick "a pioneer in sound and style for rock harmonica." AllMusic described their 1970s period as a band "pure and simple, churning out greasy covers of obscure R&B, doo wop, and soul tunes, while cutting them with a healthy dose of Stonesy swagger." On August 17, 1971, at a show on the Boston Common, The Allman Brothers Band named The J. Geils Band as its favorite local band. Both bands later played the last show at the Fillmore East prior to the venue's closing.

The J. Geils Band's third album Full House, recorded in April 1972 at the Cinderella Ballroom in Detroit and released that September, showcased their live appeal. Although the members all hailed from Boston, the band had always considered Detroit its second home because of its enormous popularity there. Part of their second live album (Blow Your Face Out, 1976), and all of their third (Showtime!, 1982), would also be recorded in Detroit.

After the release of their first two albums and keeping a busy show schedule, it was The J. Geils Band's third studio album Bloodshot that would be the first commercial breakthrough for the band, reaching No. 10 on the Billboard 200 album charts in the United States in 1973 and spawning the single "Give It to Me", which went to No. 30 in the Billboard charts following the album's release in 1973. The original U.S. copies of Bloodshot were distributed in red vinyl instead of the customary black, with matching red 1950s style Atlantic Records labels. The band would continue to use these vintage-style Atlantic labels, in different colors with each album release, throughout their remaining tenure with the label. Seeking to seize on this commercial success, the band released their following album Ladies Invited in November of that same year, which debuted at No. 51 but did not match the commercial success of Bloodshot. After spending the early part of 1974 on the road with an active touring schedule, the band went back into the studio and recorded their fifth studio album Nightmares...and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle, which yielded a big hit single, the Justman/Wolf composition "Must of Got Lost", which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Top 100 in early 1975. Later that year, the band started playing arenas across the US with a variety of artists including the Rolling Stones, Peter Frampton, and Rod Stewart. After their initial commercial success and with constant touring, the group seemed destined to be nothing more than a party band until the release of Monkey Island (1977). The group left Atlantic Records and signed to EMI America for Sanctuary (1978), which charted at No. 49 on the Billboard 200 and spun off a sizable hit single in "One Last Kiss" (No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100).