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J.Geils Band- Centerfold ?


Gizzyboo

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Centerfold was always a guy's song.

 

 

Maybe that's it. Although I don't know that it was ever anymore of a guy's song than Jenny Jenny. I just thought it had all the elements of a winner: good recognizability; lyrics about a chick being hot; nursery-rhymish sing-a-long chorus. But I think some bands here HAVE had good luck with it. But we sure didn't. Not in clubs anyway. I've thought that it might work better for us now doing the corporate/wedding gigs. But I hate going backwards on material, so I doubt we'll ever bother with it again.

 

 

I'm thinking about throwing in Video Killed The Radio Star though.

 

 

With the way you guys do mash-ups, pretty much anything is possible, but I would seriously question the recognizability of this song with people under 40.

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Maybe that's it. Although I don't know that it was ever anymore of a guy's song than Jenny Jenny. I just thought it had all the elements of a winner: good recognizability; lyrics about a chick being hot; nursery-rhymish sing-a-long chorus. But I think some bands here HAVE had good luck with it. But we sure didn't. Not in clubs anyway. I've thought that it might work better for us now doing the corporate/wedding gigs. But I hate going backwards on material, so I doubt we'll ever bother with it again.

Right, but in 8675309 the guy is writing about wanting to be with Jenny... not about her once being sweet and becoming a whore ;)

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Right, but in 8675309 the guy is writing about wanting to be with Jenny... not about her once being sweet and becoming a whore
;)

 

Yeah, but Jenny has her number on a bathroom wall! And the guy in Centerfold still pines for her! But seriously, I don't think girls go that deep into the lyrics. Which is why I thought "Na na na na na na" would be gold. Which is wasn't. So you're probably right.

 

It's too early, I need more coffee....

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Um, it's kind of a corny melody IMO which would be why I suspect it doesn't do that well.

 

 

The melody IS corny. It's what I call a "nursery rhyme" song. If you think about it, the melody is very similar to something like "Three Blind Mice". But not only are these kind of songs usually very big hit, they often are good cover band songs as well, so I'm not really sure that's the reason. (Although it might be.)

 

A couple of other big "nursery rhyme" hits are "Achy Breaky Heart", "We're Not Gonna Take It" and pretty much anything by Poison.

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Um, it's kind of a corny melody IMO which would be why I suspect it doesn't do that well. Jesse's Girl, Jenny Jenny, Your Love, etc. can still be done with a sense of "cool". Centerfold, not so much.

 

 

 

Definitely agree about it having a corny melody. Between that and the cheesy lyrics it's probably the song I hate the most that gets played on the radio with any regularity. There's got to be better songs for a cover band to pick.

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Fun song... we used to play it years ago along with "Whip It", "My Sharona", "Freeze Frame", "Walk Like An Egyptian"... they all sort faded away. For us the 70-80's pop have been less and less of a hit except for some staples that work for us ("Footloose", "Walking in Sunshine", "Mickey"). It wasn't so much that these songs bombed over time, we just naturally found better songs to replace them. I really think it's all about setlist placement and delivery rather than the song working. All of these tunes are fun and nostalgic. Maybe getting a bit old in the tooth with the under 30 crowd, but honestly they enough fun they could get the right crowd dancing. Years ago we were 60-70% 80's material. These days it's 25-30%. We just seem to filter out the songs we've played to death and just don't seem to pop.

 

A few weeks ago we brought back 'Come On Eileen" & "Buttercup" and paired it with "Wake Me Up" from Wham as a joke... and it lasted maybe three weeks (6 shows). Then we remembered why we axed "Come On Eileen" a few years back. After seeing it in action again we were reminded why. Again.. other bands.. YMMV

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Maybe that's it. Although I don't know that it was ever anymore of a guy's song than Jenny Jenny. I just thought it had all the elements of a winner: good recognizability; lyrics about a chick being hot; nursery-rhymish sing-a-long chorus. But I think some bands here HAVE had good luck with it. But we sure didn't. Not in clubs anyway. I've thought that it might work better for us now doing the corporate/wedding gigs. But I hate going backwards on material, so I doubt we'll ever bother with it again.




With the way you guys do mash-ups, pretty much anything is possible, but I would seriously question the recognizability of this song with people under 40.

 

 

Granted, my musical tastes are wider than most people's (after all, both Ludacris and Tommy James and the Shondells are among my favorite artists..), but at 28, I recognize this song. It was the first song played on MTV, and it's been covered many times, by many newer bands. Not sure how it would do at a Broke By Sunday gig... but I know the song.

 

Centerfold... we've thrown the chorus and "na na na na na na" part into the middle of a medley. It goes over OKAY... it seems like people do KNOW the song, they just don't care about it that much either way...

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Right, but in 8675309 the guy is writing about wanting to be with Jenny... not about her once being sweet and becoming a whore
;)

 

I like Centerfold a lot. But I never got that it was a sweet girl turning into a whore. Maybe I'm just dense or whatever.

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I like Centerfold a lot. But I never got that it was a sweet girl turning into a whore. Maybe I'm just dense or whatever.

 

 

I think it's a youth thing. Back when this record came out, a girl posing as a Centerfold was still considered a whorish thing to do. Hence, "My Blood Runs Cold. My Memory Has Just Been Sold. My Angel Is A Centerfold".

 

Now, posing as a Centerfold is a badge of honor for most girls.

 

Which is why I disagree with Austin that it's about the lyrics. Somehow I can't picture the same girls who are rushing to the front of the stage to hump each other during "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and "You Give Love A Bad Name" would suddenly feel demure about seeing themselves as the Angel who became a Centerfold.

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I think it's a youth thing. Back when this record came out, a girl posing as a Centerfold was still considered a whorish thing to do. Hence, "My Blood Runs Cold. My Memory Has Just Been Sold. My Angel Is A Centerfold".


Now, posing as a Centerfold is a badge of honor for most girls.


Which is why I disagree with Austin that it's about the lyrics. Somehow I can't picture the same girls who are rushing to the front of the stage to hump each other during "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and "You Give Love A Bad Name" would suddenly feel demure about seeing themselves as the Angel who became a Centerfold.

 

the fact that we are debating this is an embarrassment to all of us... but:

Pour Some Sugar on me = My, you certainly are an attractive woman and I would very much like to have sex with you.

You give love a bad name = Golly! You are so attractive that even though I know it will be to my detriment, and lead to possible psychological damage, I would very much like to be in a relationship with you.

see? They are actually empowering songs for women. On the other hand,

Centerfold = Once I thought you a perfect woman, wife material even... but now, well... now you've cheapened yourself to the point that you're no longer a desirable mate. I'm quite sad about this.

 

see?

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the fact that we are debating this is an embarrassment to all of us... but:

 

 

Well, I think we've all thrown out our claims to high-minded debate long ago in this place...

Centerfold = Once I thought you a perfect woman, wife material even... but now, well... now you've cheapened yourself to the point that you're no longer a desirable mate. I'm quite sad about this.

 

 

Well, until you get to the last verse anyway....

 

It's okay, I understand

This ain't no never-never land

I hope that when this issue's gone

I'll see you when your clothes are on

 

Take your car, yes we will, we'll take your car and drive it

Take it to a motel room, and take 'em off in private

 

A part of me has just been ripped

The pages from my mind are stripped

Oh no, I can't deny it

Oh yeah, I guess I got to buy it

 

But I'm just having fun here. You may very well be right about the lyrics being the reason. Honestly, I don't think 90% of girls under 35 know any words to the song beyond "na na na na na na" and maybe "My angel is a centerfold". But you could be right.

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Honestly, I don't think 90% of girls under 35 know any words to the song beyond "na na na na na na" and maybe "My angel is a centerfold". But you could be right.

 

 

I guarantee 99.9% don't know more than "na na na" and "my angel is a centerfold"

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