Songfacts®:

• Many songs written since the invention of music can be summed up in two words: Love Stinks. This one tells it like it is, with lead singer Peter Wolf explaining that he's been through every hue of love (blue, red, pink), and he's come to the conclusion that love does indeed stink.
• Like most J. Geils Band hits, this song was written by Peter Wolf and the band's keyboard player, Seth Justman, who was also their producer.
• This was the title track to the band's ninth album, which found them moving in a pop direction while remaining rooted in blues. Their next album, Freeze Frame, was a commercial breakthrough, making them stars on MTV and Top 40 radio.
• A movie called Love Stinks was released in 1999 starring French Stewart and Bridgette Wilson as a couple that just can't get along. A version of the song by Himalayaz with Ms. Toi plays under the closing credits.
• Adam Sandler sang this in the 1998 movie The Wedding Singer. It was also used in the film Opie Gets Laid (2005), and the "Foreign Exchange Student" episode of My Name Is Earl (2007). It's also in the 2007 "The Boys of Bummer" episode of The Simpsons as "Bart Stinks." Joan Jett recorded a cover for the 1996 movie Mr. Wrong.
• In 2009, this was used in commercials for the Swiffer Wet Jet.
• Peter Wolf released a bluegrass version on his 2016 solo album A Cure for Loneliness. He came up with the idea one night before a show. He and his band were planning to play some Bill Monroe songs, and he started messing around with "Love Stinks" bluegrass style. They played it as part of the show, and that live version made the album.