by Andy Nowicki
“Centerfold,” a Billboard number-one 1983 hit by J. Geils Band, is a unique pop anthem in
which the speaker mourns the marring of a girl’s purity and the obliteration of
her innocence. It is the only “radio song” in recent history—of which I am
aware, at least—in which such thematic ground is covered. This is surprising,
given the undeniable ubiquity of the circumstance of wrecked virtue in our wretched
and degraded age.
Why are there not more songs like “Centerfold”?
Perhaps it
is believed to be insufferably old-fashioned to bemoan such a turn of events. Perhaps, that is, having the gall to express sadness over a virgin transforming into a whore is now inevitably construed
as a deplorable instance of retrograde “slut shaming,” and is thus avoided by
all non-J. Geils-affiliated recording artists.
