“Love Stinks” by J. Geils Band

"Love Stinks" is the title track of the J. Geils Band's 1980 album, a Peter Wolf and Seth Justman song that turns heartbreak into a stomping, sneering party. It starts with a love triangle in which two of the three are pining for someone who won't love them back, then widens into a sour verdict on romance in general; it may have had roots in Wolf's own marriage to Faye Dunaway, which ended in divorce in 1979.

Justman produced and arranged it, with David Thoener engineering, and he piles on the keyboards; the Associated Press's James Simon reckoned they gave it a little extra zing. Author Maury Dean heard heavy metal in it, from the lumbering opening to the fire-breathing guitars and Wolf's gleeful snarl on the chorus. As a single it reached No. 38 in the US and No. 15 in Canada.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.