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In 1980, the J. Geils Band released a song that would become one of their signature hits. The song, “Love Stinks,” was a kiss-off classic and breakup hit, but it also came during a turbulent period in band member Peter Wolf’s life.
Written by Wolf and Seth Justman for the album of the same name, “Love Stinks" featured a killer garage rock guitar riff and singalong-ready lyrics about love gone wrong.
“And so it goes/'til the day you die/this thing they call love/it's gonna make you cry,” Wolf sang, before adding in the chorus, “One thing for sure/ Love stinks.”
The song became a Billboard Top 40 hit and remains one of rock’s greatest anti-love anthems 46 years after its release.
There’s no doubt that “Love Stinks” is a sarcastic take on a failed relationship. What has long been debated is whether it’s a reference to Wolf’s marriage to actress Faye Dunaway. The former couple split in 1979 after five years of marriage, not long before Wolf and Justman penned the hit breakup tune.
Wolf, now 80, has been respectful when publicly talking about Dunaway, 85.
After penning his 2025 memoir, Waiting on the Moon, Wolf told Rolling Stone he didn’t want it write “a kiss-and-tell book.”
“We had a very great marriage, and we both were so absorbed with each other, but we had this unspoken rule that our careers came first,” the rocker shared of his marriage to the Hollywood legend. “We were supportive of each other’s careers. But I was so committed to the band, just like Faye was so committed to her career in film, that it became my life.”
Speaking with Billboard, Wolf described his ex-wife as a “very determined, talented person.”
“And we loved each other,” he said, adding, “Of course there’s regrets; one has regrets and wishes they could do things differently, and I think I’ve expressed that in all the chapters.
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Dunaway also wrote positive things about Wolf in her memoir, Looking for Gatsby, declaring that she always knew that Wolf loved her. “Time, life, and the world kept wearing away at our relationship,” she shared.
Still, speculation about the inspiration for "Love Stinks” remains. Ultimate Classic Rock noted that the couple’s divorce came “the year before the J. Geils Band scored its highest chart showing in nearly a decade with the (allegedly) coincidentally titled ‘Love Stinks.’”
It’s also ranked on the outlet’s Top 10 Breakup Songs list.
