#1 Alert!
Gold Record Alert!
Grammy Alert!
Rated 10 Alert!
Song#: 0547 Date: 03/28/1981
Debut: 81
Peak: 1 (2 weeks)
Weeks: 32
Genre: Rock
Pop Bits: Australian Springfield had moved to the US ten years earlier and was having little luck on the music scene. He didn't have much confidence his just-recorded album "Working Class Dog" would do much better, so he fell back to his other profession, acting, and landed a role in the soap "General Hospital" as Dr. Noah Drake. But this first single from the album took off as did the popularity of "GH." He soon found himself with a hit song/album, going on touring, starring on the soap, and nabbing a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. After 15 years of music and acting, he "suddenly" broke out into a major international star.
ReduxReview: This was a win-win for me - I loved this song and I loved "General Hospital" (and just so you know, I was watching years before the whole Luke/Laura thing). It's just a terrific pop/rock song. Well written and performed. I think it is every songwriter's dream to have one song that is a huge hit and lasts far beyond it's chart time. For Springfield, this one was money. He had other hits that he wrote, but this one outshines them all by far. Classic 80s rock.
ReduxRating: 10/10
Trivia: Springfield was in several bands in Australia before signing on to sing lead and play guitar in the popular group Zoot. They had a few albums hit the chart with their best single effort being a remake of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," which hit #4 on the Australian pop chart. The band broke up in 1971 and Springfield moved to the US. His bandmate in Zoot was Beeb Birtles who went on to form the far more successful Little River Band.
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Having written about all these songs myself, having collected them and listened to hits from the 80s a million times, I tend to really gravitate towards listening to the rarer stuff rather than the hits but "Jessie's Girl" is one of the few #1 songs that I can still listen to today and love - and in fact, Rick Springfield ended up being one of my favorite artists of all time. Saw him live once about 7 or 8 years ago and he still rocked the hell out of it.
ReplyDeleteI love this song. Still do. And he continued to rock it. His "Rocket Science" album from 2016 was so good. One of my favorites from him.
DeleteI’m actually a big fan of the one before it - Songs for the End of the World, which is a really rock in’ album
ReplyDeleteChart Run: 81 - 72 - 61 - 53 - 47 - 42 - 38 - 33 - 28 - 24 - 22 - 20 - 10 - 9 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 3 - 1 - 1 - 4 - 5 - 5 - 9 - 11 - 13 - 15 - 31 - 54 - 64 - 70 - 87
ReplyDelete