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The pivot point comes from Justman’s keys, a leavener for what is arguably the group’s heaviest-sounding moment. Though more lighthearted and accessible, there is not much distance between the song and AC/DC’s “Back In Black,” another guitar stomp of the times.
THE J. GEILS BAND PISS ON THE WALL FULL
Yet the opening salvo of this new attitude came with Geils in full stomp-mode on the title track of 1980’s Love Stinks, only their second release from new label EMI. It is thanks mostly to vocalist Peter Wolf and keyboardist Seth Justman, the latter of the two becoming the most integral to their success with a large hand in the writing of their poppier material, and an array of synth-keys that would become more and more predominant in their sound. After a decade of solid work and middling achievement, they finally came into their own but didn’t sound quite like the band of old. Geils was also recognized as a pretty hot guitar-player, and yet neither member seemed as essential to what would become the group’s biggest period the “comeback” that essentially wasn’t.
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![the j. geils band piss on the wall the j. geils band piss on the wall](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8b/41/ab/8b41ab99c737adddf2556de4480756b5.jpg)
You can hear Magic Dick knock it out of the park on a cover of “Whammer Jammer” from the 1971 record The Morning After. The two primary elements of their sound during this period came from the guitar of the band’s namesake, (John) Geils and harmonica player Richard “Magic Dick” Salwitz. They could swing it and bring it, but they were goofy too, and would possibly have played for a keg of beer as readily as for straight pay. They were a bunch of white fellows that deeply loved this authentic sound but were, just as equally, the original party rockers (sorry, LMFAO). The band was less a hardcore soul-rock outfit than were, say, The Blues Brothers or The Commitments. Geils Band and closing with 1977’s Monkey Island, had a distinctive blues-r&b flavor but also had a jovial, freewheeling touch to identify itself with. Let’s get real though - unless you were already fans of the band, their Atlantic Records output was usually something you flipped past in the record racks on the way to something else. Many people knew about the band’s ’70s output and some of their rock radio hits from that time period, and by that accounting the “Bad Boys of Boston” were doing pretty well. The problem with that is there really wasn’t much of a comeback to speak of.
THE J. GEILS BAND PISS ON THE WALL SERIES
I had originally set out to write an entry into our series Call It A Comeback, and it was to be about the J.