Photo: Courtesy of Mercury News
Turning now to cheerier topics, my main man Rick Springfield is having quite a week. On Sunday, May the Fourth (a.k.a. “Star Wars Day”), he appeared in a College Humor video as “Rick Forcefield” (little-known trivia fact: Rick is a sci-fi fanboy who owns an extensive collection of Star Wars action figures… “One of us! One of us!”). His first novel, Magnificent Vibration, was released Tuesday and has been garnering some good reviews (my copy is already waiting on the “to read” stack). And just this morning, he was honored with his very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His fellow ’80s pop artist Richard Marx probably said it best during the ceremony today: “He’s arguably writing the best songs he’s even written in his life right now, plus now he’s an accomplished author, he’s still acting up a storm all over TV, and he’s still that good-looking… which, if I didn’t like him, would be really freakin’ annoying.”
In light of all that, I think it’s all entirely fitting to end the work week with a selection from the man of the hour. His signature song “Jessie’s Girl” is of course the obvious choice for a Friday Evening Video… which is exactly why I’ve chosen to go with something else. Because I’m contrary that way.
“Love Somebody” was a top-five hit from the soundtrack of Rick’s 1984 feature-film debut Hard to Hold, a mediocre flick that’s mostly remembered these days by middle-aged women who were teeny-bopper fans at the time, and who fondly recall those unfamiliar tingling sensations they experienced following a brief glimpse of Rick’s bare butt midway through the movie. (Rick mentions this moment in every single concert performance just before launching into this song.) The video is typical peak-period MTV: a quasi-narrative that mixes footage from the movie with live concert clips and an out-of-left-field fantasy sequence that includes a hot chick with big hair, a wind machine, fog, and breaking glass. It doesn’t make a lick of sense… but I love it. And I love this song, which I’d probably rank second only to “Jessie’s Girl” in my personal all-time Rick canon, thanks to its catchy melody and chorus, and that really mean-sounding guitar-thing at the bridge…
And with that, I bid you all a good Friday…
