…Back in the United
States , Rick’s career was moving at a
breakneck speed. Initially more famous
for his soap opera character than for his music, Rick began to appear
everywhere, including the cover of TV
Guide. It wasn’t long, though,
before music overtook acting. The first
release from the Working Class Dog
album, Sammy Hagar’s “I’ve Done Everything for You,” went to #8 on the American
charts. The song also reached #31 on the
Australian national charts. Rick’s biggest break, though, came in August of
1981, when “Jessie’s Girl” reached #1 on the American charts. Ten days earlier, the song had reached the #1
spot on the Australian national charts.
Those two tracks, Rick’s first hits in nearly a decade and
his most successful American releases up to that point, were produced by Keith
Olsen. Rick says that, although Olsen
only did the two singles, “They were great choices, and they changed my writing
and my production dramatically.” The
remainder of the album, including the top-20 “Love is Alright Tonight,” was
co-produced by Rick and Bill Drescher, beginning an association that continues
more than two decades later.
In addition to writing all of the songs on the album,
playing guitar and bass, and co-producing all but two songs, Rick created the
concept for the now-famous Working Class
Dog album cover. When RCA executives
were skeptical of the concept and wanted to go forward with a more traditional
and undeniably appealing photograph of Rick on the cover, Rick created a mock-up
of the cover he wanted using his own dog and sold RCA on the idea.
It is difficult to say whether Working Class Dog would have been so successful without Rick’s General Hospital fame. Although the
album certainly pulled its own weight, it is undeniable that the visibility of
the soap opera made the public more aware of Rick’s music. When the dreamy heartthrob from television’s
most popular show as always singing the #1 song in the country, all eyes were
on him. General Hospital writers, of course, wanted to incorporate Rick’s
music into the show, but he refused. He
said that his character, a doctor whose father and grandfather had been doctors
before him, would have neither the time nor the inclination to become a rock
and roll guitarist.
That kind of blatant self-promotion could have had a
negative impact on Rick’s musical credibility, and, having learned well the
lessons of his early brushes with teen idol stereotyping, Rick was extremely
conscious of the image he projected. He
told the Los Angeles Times’s Dennis
Hunt in 1981 that he was glad, in retrospect, that his career hadn’t taken off
in the early seventies, when he was being pushed and packaged as a teen
idol. “When you’re a teen idol, people
never take you seriously. If I had made
it as a teen idol, it would have been nice in the short run, but not in the
long run. It would probably be all over
for me now. Then you’re just an
ex-teen-idol. In this business, that’s
like having the plague.”
[1982 concert photos not licensed for web use.]
[1982 concert photos not licensed for web use.]
Image wasn’t the only thing Rick was hyper-aware of because
of his experiences in the seventies.
Conscious of the problems that had arisen when he allowed others to
control his career, Rick took a much more active role in the business of being
a musician. He set up a corporation to
manage his assets and took an active role in production. Carrying forward what he had learned from
Drescher and Olsen during the production of Working
Class Dog, Rick would co-produce all but one album from Working Class Dog forward.
The recording and production of Working Class Dog formed the basis for many lasting
relationships. Keith Olsen would go on
to produce Rick’s next album, Success
Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet, and co-produce Rick’s 1988 Rock of Life. Bill Drescher would co-produce Living in Oz, Tao and Karma, and is
credited as engineer on the Hard to Hold
soundtrack.
Drummer Mike Baird also came on board for the recording of Working Class Dog, and would go on to
play drums on Rick’s next three albums and play the role of the drummer in Hard to Hold. Jack White also played drums on the album,
although his primary role then and for the next two decades would be as Rick’s
touring drummer.
A solid album, expert production and skilled musicians who
worked well together was a recipe for sure success, and that success came in
the form of three top-20 songs—but it wasn’t without complications. Rick’s good looks had been at least as much
of a curse as a blessing in the music business. In the seventies, his
pink-cheeked innocence and wide eyes had been a perfect fit for the teen idol
packaging that had so hindered his career.
An early music review bore the headline “Listen To—Don’t Just Look
At—Rick Springfield.” Not everyone was
willing to do that, though, either in the seventies or the eighties. In perhaps the most ironic twist in a career
peppered with the unexpected…
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