The J. Geils Band “Freeze Frame” 1981. Today, March 7th, is lead vocalist Peter Wolf’s 70th birthday (b. Peter W. Blankfield in 1946). Freeze Frame made it to #1 on the US charts in 1982. It marked a departure from the band’s previous ‘bar band R&B, hard-driving rock’ groove of the 1970′s and boogied them into the sleek sound of the 80′s.

Pop rock with some new wave influences, Freeze Frame’s success was spurred by three Top 40 singles, two of which made it into the Top 10: “Centerfold” and “Freeze Frame.” “Angel in Blue” made it to #40.  I remember listening to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 in ‘82 with my little tape recorder (which looked a lot like the one pictured above) waiting for “Centerfold” and “Freeze Frame” to be played so I could press record/play (and hoping it wouldn’t be one of those irritating times when Casey would just play a snippet of the song and then keep talking). A naïve elementary school kid at the time, I was completely clueless of the print pornography content of both songs – I just wanted to dance!