Paul Justman, Who Shed Light on Motown’s Unsung Heroes, Dies at 74

Mr. Justman, who moved to Los Angeles in 1980, was additionally a fixture behind the scenes with the J. Geils Band because it was climbing from the golf equipment of Boston towards fame. In the mid-Nineteen Seventies, he made a brief documentary, “Postcards,” in regards to the high-energy blues-rock band’s frenzied life on the street. That movie, which featured appearances by the rock critic Lester Bangs, was broadcast on PBS.

In addition to his brother, Mr. Justman is survived by his spouse, Saundra Jordan, and his sister, Peggy Suttle Kligerman.

Not all Mr. Justman’s work with the J. Geils Band was behind the digicam. He typically collaborated on songs together with his brother, and he contributed lyrics for all of the songs on the band’s ultimate studio album, “You’re Gettin’ Even While I’m Gettin’ Odd” (1984), recorded after the kinetic frontman, Peter Wolf, left the band. (Seth Justman dealt with a lot of the lead vocals.)

But, his brother stated, it was Mr. Justman’s ever-present movies, not his phrases, that helped break the band into the pop stratosphere. His “Freeze Frame” video, that includes band members wearing white and splattering each other in paint as in the event that they have been human Jackson Pollock canvases, acquired heavy airplay on MTV. The tune hit No. 4 on the Billboard singles chart in 1982.

But it couldn’t match “Centerfold,” from the earlier yr, in ubiquity. The video for that tune, that includes fashions marching round a highschool classroom in teddies and, famously, a snare drum crammed with milk, turn out to be a token of Generation X popular culture, and the tune grew to become the band’s first and solely No. 1 hit.