J. Geils Band's "Centerfold"

As a nine-year-old heterosexual boy in Catholic school in the early 1980s, I'm sure there were a lot of reasons why this song and video appealed to me. Looking back on it now, it's quite apparent just how much it embodies the kinds of blatant sexism that have been staples of rock 'n' roll music. I mean, seriously, is J. Geils Band's "Centerfold" not the perfect example of
scrawny-looking men thinking that women should be throwing themselves at them?

I obviously wasn't alone, as the song went to number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart exactly 30 years ago today, and it would remain there for a total of six weeks. Surely, the catchiness of the whistled melody played a significant role in the song's popularity as well, and I do remember a few instances in which I was whistling or singing that melody without thinking about it in the context of the subject matter of the song or video. Yet, I have to think that subject matter also aided that popularity, and in that regard, it's a pretty telling reflection of the kinds of gender attitudes that prevailed at the time (and that, I think, many contemporary media texts would suggest we may not be as far removed from as we might like to think).