Rick Springfield | The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan – Rick Springfield

Release Date: July 16, 2025

Introduction

In this compelling episode of The Magnificent Others, host Billy Corgan sits down with legendary musician and actor Rick Springfield. The conversation delves deep into Springfield’s multifaceted career, his early days with the band Zoot, his transition to a solo artist, his ventures into acting, and his personal struggles with mental health. Through candid discussions and insightful anecdotes, listeners gain a profound understanding of the journey that shaped Springfield into the icon he is today.

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Early Career and Zoot

Rick Springfield opens up about his formative years with the Australian band Zoot, reflecting on the band’s image and music style.

• Band Image and Dynamics:

  • [00:00] Rick humorously recalls, “We got in a lot of fights just because, well, we were cute and we wore pink. So that's all you needed?”
  • This highlights the band's emphasis on a distinctive and visually appealing image, which sometimes led to internal conflicts.

• Musical Influences and Changes:

  • [00:50] Discussing musical shifts, Springfield notes, “There was a teen band that I joined after they'd had, like, some pop hits, you know, and then Led Zeppelin was on the horizon. And because I'm a guitar player, I said, you know, dude, we gotta change this thing.”
  • This indicates Springfield's desire to evolve the band's sound in response to emerging rock trends.

• Instrument Preference:

  • [01:06] Springfield shares, “I do [still have the white SG]. It’s amazing. I use that on. I still use it.”
  • His continued use of the white SG guitar underscores its sentimental and instrumental value in his music career.

Transition to Solo Artist

The conversation shifts to Springfield's decision to pursue a solo career after Zoot's dissolution.

• End of Zoot and Solo Aspirations:

  • [05:00] Reflecting on Zoot’s breakup: “Yeah, Zoot was. We broke up in '70, and I had this. I was going to join another band. I always saw myself as a guitar player in a band.”
  • Springfield reveals his initial reluctance to embark on a solo path, emphasizing his identity as a band-oriented guitarist.

• Influence and Support:

  • [05:00 - 05:40] He credits a pivotal interaction with a magazine writer who encouraged him to pursue solo work, leading to his first solo hit, “Speak to the Sky.”

Record Deals and "Comic Book Heroes"

Springfield discusses his experiences with record labels and the creation of his second album.

• Navigating the Music Industry:

  • [06:16] Springfield recounts the challenges of securing a record deal in America, stating, “I was trying to get to America, and it was so freaking hard. I couldn’t get in.”
  • His persistence eventually pays off when Steve Bender facilitates his move to the U.S., leading to his first solo record.

• "Comic Book Heroes" Album:

  • [11:01] Reflecting on his sophomore album, Springfield says, “Heroes. It was the only good review I think I’ve ever gotten in Rolling Stone.”
  • Despite mixed reviews, the album plays a crucial role in establishing his solo career.

• Creative Process:

  • [26:30] Discussing the creation of "Jesse's Girl," Springfield shares, “I had super confidence of this record. It had a big long solo in it because it was still coming out of the '70s.”
  • This illustrates his blending of pop sensibilities with rock elements, contributing to the song’s enduring popularity.

Acting Career and General Hospital

Springfield explores his foray into acting, particularly his role on the iconic soap opera General Hospital.

• Decision to Act:

  • [15:50] When asked why he ventured into acting, Springfield explains, “No, I wasn’t pushed. I wanted very much to do it.”
  • His transition was driven by personal ambition rather than external pressure.

• Balancing Music and Acting:

  • [27:07] Despite initial reservations, Springfield found success in acting, which complemented his musical career and expanded his public persona.

• Impact of Acting on Music:

  • [27:33] The synergy between his acting and music careers is evident as his role on General Hospital coincided with the rise of his hit single “Jessie's Girl.”

Struggles and Mental Health

A profound portion of the conversation addresses Springfield's personal battles with mental health, including his suicide attempt and ongoing struggles with self-worth.

• Early Mental Health Challenges:

  • [38:44] Springfield candidly shares, “I tried to hang myself when I was 16 in my garden shed.”
  • This admission highlights the depth of his early struggles and the long-lasting impact they had on his life.

• Impact of Fame and Success:

  • [37:22] He reflects on the pressures of sudden fame: “And I could tell. And I was very aware.”
  • The relentless demands of the music industry exacerbated his feelings of inadequacy despite outward success.

• Coping Mechanisms:

  • [55:25] Discussing therapy, Springfield states, “I started to see him [therapist]. I saw him for about five years and it didn’t heal me, but it doesn’t heal you. But you start to name the demons that are chasing you.”
  • His journey through therapy signifies a crucial step in addressing his mental health issues, even if partial.

• Ongoing Struggles:

  • [38:44] Reflecting on his enduring challenges: “I could slip back sometimes, but it’s... part of a softness in me that I, well, don’t love.”
  • This underscores the persistent nature of his mental health battles.

Return to Music and Recent Work

The episode touches upon Springfield's return to music after years focusing on acting and personal healing.

• Continued Creativity:

  • [58:48] Springfield mentions, “I wrote an album actually out of my therapy sessions called Rock of Life that was basically about my first son and how it shook me and changed me.”
  • This album represents a fusion of his personal experiences with his musical artistry.

• Recent Projects:

  • [65:00] Discussing his latest work, Springfield shares enthusiasm for his current music: “I have a new song out that I just listened to. So how have you balanced all that?”
  • His ongoing commitment to music showcases his resilience and passion despite past challenges.

Personal Reflections and Legacy

In the concluding segments, Springfield reflects on his life's journey, legacy, and the balance between public perception and personal reality.

• Legacy and Public Image:

  • [64:13] He states, “I’m not big on the legacy thing, you know, all that kind of thing.”
  • Springfield expresses a grounded perspective, valuing personal authenticity over public accolades.

• Navigating Public Perception:

  • [63:21] Springfield discusses how he manages public expectations: “I have a very accurate view of the public's idea of me.”
  • This self-awareness allows him to maintain a balance between his personal identity and celebrity persona.

• Future Aspirations:

  • [74:05] Looking forward, he shares, “I still have drive. I still have, you know, things I want to achieve, mountains I want to climb.”
  • His forward-looking attitude reflects an ongoing desire for growth and creative expression.

• Final Thoughts on Change:

  • [73:35] When asked if he'd do anything differently, Springfield responds, “Oh, no, I’d probably want to do it differently. Why would I want to do it the same?”
  • This acknowledgment of personal evolution underscores his adaptability and self-awareness.

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Notable Quotes

• "We got in a lot of fights just because, well, we were cute and we wore pink. So that's all you needed?" — Rick Springfield [00:00]

• "It's not just Norman Vincent Peale. It's very spiritual. He talks very spiritually." — Rick Springfield [32:01]

• "Success, a lie. It's something we must, you know, as human beings. We must achieve, you know, we must. There's all that thing, leave your mark, you know, leave our legacy." — Rick Springfield [58:05]

• "I wrote an album actually out of my therapy sessions called Rock of Life that was basically about my first son and how it shook me and changed me." — Rick Springfield [58:48]

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Conclusion

This episode of The Magnificent Others provides an intimate glimpse into Rick Springfield's life, revealing the complexities behind his success. From grappling with mental health issues to balancing dual careers in music and acting, Springfield's story is one of resilience and authenticity. Billy Corgan's thoughtful questioning allows Springfield to share his vulnerabilities and triumphs, offering listeners an inspiring narrative of perseverance and self-discovery.

Transcript

[Rick Springfield]

We got in a lot of fights just because, well, we were cute and we wore pink. So that's all you needed?

[Unknown Interviewer]

You're aware, like, this moment doesn't last.

[Rick Springfield]

No, I was very aware. And I could tell.

[Unknown Interviewer]

It's not like you just get off a train and like, hey, I'll get back on this train in a year from now. You know, that train's gonna be longer on the track. And by the way, and I don't know where you were. There's also the predatory part of the music business where they don't care what you're going through. You know, go talk to this radio guy. Go do this interview, because they need you to keep.

[Rick Springfield]

I need you to keep producing.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I want to talk about Zoot. How do I know. Not know about Zoot? I went on my Zoot deep dive, and I was shocked because I'm. I'm. I love kind of psychedelic rock and. And I'm listening. I'm like, how have I never heard of Zoot? It was really good.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it was. There was. It was a. A teen band that I joined after they'd had, like, some pop hits, you know, and then Led Zeppelin was on the horizon. And because I'm a guitar player, I said, you know, dude, we gotta change this thing.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Do you still have the white sg?

[Rick Springfield]

I do. I. I do. It's.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I think that guitar sounds good.

[Rick Springfield]

It's amazing. I use that on. I still use it.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Really?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. I bought that was my first good guitar. Because usually, you know, when you're young and you. You want to trade up, get a better guitar, you got to sell the one you have, right?

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

So. But that one was the first American guitar I had because I grew up in Australia and England, but when I was looking for guitars, I was in Australia, and you couldn't get Gibson Offender. It was just a fry out of the.

[Unknown Interviewer]

What was. What was the common brand in Australia Then?

[Rick Springfield]

We had the German ones, Hoffner. We had famous framers. My first guitar was a framer. Yes. Hot frame is Hollywood.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So. Yeah, so I, you know, I'm doing my research on you, and I see this band, Zoot, and it was like, think, think, think pink. Think suits.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, that was a teen thing.

[Unknown Interviewer]

And you. And you guys all wore pink.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it was horrible, dude.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Now, at some point, you burned the pink outfits on television.

[Rick Springfield]

Is that true? You have dived deep. Yeah, it was.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I couldn't find footage of the burning of the pink outfits.

[Rick Springfield]

I know. Yeah, it was. We got into so many fights backstage because there Was no security back in the 60s, you know, so people would.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Just wander back and.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, the guys would wander back and just start swinging, you know, and we'd. I said, we've got to get rid of the pink. So what we'll do is we'll take a photo of us naked looking over our shoulders, but we'll burn it. So, you know, I'd have original pink suits, you know, high contrast, so you can't really see. Of course they printed it, you know, a full color. And my mom went, oh, my God, Richard. But it was. It was a good transition, you know.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, shocker. Cool story. So I was texting today with Sean Lennon dropping a name, but I was texting with him and I said I was going to interview you. And I was talking about Zoot. And he said he was in this really cool band that I've never heard of. And I said, oh, by the way, they covered Eleanor Rigby. And like five minutes later he's made. This is great.

[Rick Springfield]

That is so wild, you guys.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Really good band. I'm shocked because I'm a bit of a, you know, I like 60s snob. I like a lot of that music. So the fact that I never heard the band was shocking to me.

[Rick Springfield]

Um, yeah, we, we, we. We had got some interest over here from emi, but we had a manager that was scared to lose us. So he said, you're not out of your contract. You can't sign. So it was a. They call it like the super group in reverse. Because I came over here and had a career. The bass player formed Little River Band. The singer went on to become a big TV star in Australia. So we kind of went our different directions and did, yeah. Other things when we, you know, been given a lot of. Because of the. Especially to the Pink thing. But I can. I arranged this version of Elna Rigby, thinking, how would Hendrick play El Rigby? You know, and.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, because when it goes to the other part, it goes to this kind of weird, almost dissonant kind of riff.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, dude. Which I'd never heard Black Sabbath at that point. And my. A couple of my band members have heard it. And I said, that's very Black Sabbath. And I. I'd never heard Black Sabbath at that point, but it is the devil's interval. You know, he beats like that. And. Yeah. So I arranged this thing just for us to play live because I wanted something to really punch a bit. And it was. They started playing. The live version became a hit. Oh, my God. And it was so stuff that would Never happen now.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So, you know, it's hard sometimes. And I. Fortunately, I haven't read your book yet. I really want to read your book. Not even Reach Dark. I've made a lot of money off of being Dark, so the Dark's not a problem over here. But the reason I'm asking is because I'm a little unclear on the order. Did somebody start seeing that you had a solo career opportunity on your own, or did that come after the band broke up? Or how was that progression?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, Zoot was. We broke up in 70, and I had this. I was going to join another band. I always saw myself as a guitar player in a band. I love playing guitar, and I didn't really think I had much of a voice, so I. And I'd started writing in. In Zoot and record. They were recording my songs, so I was very interested in writing. But there was this one woman who was a radio. Was a tv. Sorry, a magazine writer. And she was very hot on me being a solo artist. So she kept pushing me and pushing me, and I finally. I've got a song here. I'll record it. And that became a hit. And then I started thinking called Speak to the Sky.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Speak to the Sky.

[Rick Springfield]

It's a country kind of, you know.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, but it was that kind of time. Mungo Jerry.

[Rick Springfield]

Exactly. It was absolutely. We got a little. That. Yeah, we were doing heavy stuff in the Zoot by that point, and my mom, God bless her, said, why don't. Why don't you write a nice song? So I wrote the. And my dad had gotten very sick at that point, and it was kind of a song to him, you know, about praying that things are okay back, you know, when we all believed in all that. I guess.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Hopefully we still believe.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So you end up doing a record in London.

[Rick Springfield]

I got a deal with. Actually, I was trying to get to America, and it was so freaking hard. I couldn't get in. They wouldn't let me in. Right. I'm just writing myself. And then I said, well, maybe I'll go to Canada and sneak over the border. And they wouldn't take me. So I said, maybe I'll go to Mexico and sneak over the border that way. And I couldn't get in. And finally there was this guy whose records I used to buy when I was a kid. An Australian artist called Robbie G. Had hooked up with Steve Bender, who was the director of the Elvis Presley comeback special.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

And Steve saw a photo of me and heard some songs and said, let's bring this guy Over. So it was again manifestation. I wanted to. I used to see America in the clouds, you know. And I want to go to America. I want to be in America. And so Steve brought me over and got a record deal. It was, you know, the 70s assign anybody. Got a record deal. Went straight to London to Triton Studios and cut a record. My first solo.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Wow.

[Rick Springfield]

With Del Newman who'd done all the strings for Cat Stevens. And it was. And Robin Jeffrey Cable actually who had been Elton's guide. Madman across the Water. All the first Elton stuff had. Had been Robin Jeffrey Cable engineering. He'd had a terrible car accident and woken up and didn't know who he was. And they said yeah, you've got the number one album Madman across the Water. And he said who's Elton John? And he. So he was recuperating brain damage and everything. Came over. Came to Trident and recorded out my album with me and was just brilliant. I mean amazing sounds.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, this, this. The tones on the record are really good for a first record.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Especially back then.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, yeah. He was.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But you had a lot to do with that, right?

[Rick Springfield]

I mean I'm the sonically. Absolutely. Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

But. But I became very good friends with him and he came over here and. And I lost touch with him. But. But he was a very troubled guy because of that. Because he'd had so much, you know, and then this. It had all gone away.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah. I saw some crazy story where there were twin brothers and one lost his memory. And you know, it was like similar story where he didn't know who he was.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Unknown Interviewer]

And the guy was like, I'm your twin brother. And I was like, I don't know who you are.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. Stuff started back but not. You know, he always had something.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Wow.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So lovely.

[Rick Springfield]

D. Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So how do you end up in America from that doing a record for was cl.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, Steve was based here. Steve Bender was based here. And of course being, you know, their company was based here. So I went to London to record, then came back and. And just had a two year battle trying to stay in the country. That's where I met Elvis actually. Was on a plane going back to Australia to renew my visa for the 40th time because they wouldn't give me a green card. You know, we kept. Used to take all these magazine articles to the. To the consulate. Yeah. And they go, no. So. So I'm on the plane going back to Australia to renew a visa. And Elbus was there sitting in the plane. Plane stop to Hawaii and he does before the plane landed, you know, now when you get on, a celebrity's like, got a hoodie on or glasses and sitting like this. He came back and signed autographs and took photos with everybody. I was in the back of the bus, of course, at that point. And I said, you know, I said, yeah, Steve manages me because he had a great relationship with Steve over the. Over the special.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

And Steve had been very encouraging and said, you can do this. You know, Colonel wanted him to be. To be a Christmas special with a, you know, an ugly sweater and just horrible sitting. And Steve. And I know the Colonel was very angry with Steve for trying to. He felt like he was trying to. Why?

[Unknown Interviewer]

Anybody. Anybody pointing Elvis in the wrong direction.

[Rick Springfield]

So I had a little conversation with him, which was great. And I hadn't been a fan at that point. I wish I'd taken a photo, you know, because I've seen people from that flight. Because he had his blue suit on. I recognized.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Oh, my goodness, the look.

[Rick Springfield]

They took photos with him. But I. I had a girlfriend in Australia at the time, so I just said, you just signed this autograph for my girlfriend. He did. And of course, customs stole it on the way through. Australian Customs. Bastards.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I once had a run in with Australian customs because I had forgotten that I had some broccoli in my back.

[Rick Springfield]

Broccoli is. You can't have broccoli in Australia.

[Unknown Interviewer]

The woman said, I can't do an Australian accent to save my life. But she said, you understand, this is a very serious offense. You could be fined up to 300American dollars. I said, it's broccoli.

[Rick Springfield]

Sorry, mate.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Exactly.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. You can't bring that in.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Exactly. It sounded very much like that. So you do the second album, your second album, which is Comic Book Heroes.

[Rick Springfield]

Heroes.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Cool album. I was listening to some of it today. It didn't quite do what they wanted it to do. Is that accurate?

[Rick Springfield]

It was the only good review I think I've ever gotten in Rolling Stone.

[Unknown Interviewer]

They said, friend of a friend of Elvis.

[Rick Springfield]

Yes. It said, sounds like teenage David Bowie. They said, was. It was the review of the album, which I. You know, whatever. But, I mean, everyone's got, you know, the opinion.

[Unknown Interviewer]

It did have a little bit of a. Kind of a glam.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, well, I was very into Bowie. I was very into T. Rex and all Slade and all English bands. You know, I missed kind of the. What was America? Was that like. Was that getting to the Poco stuff and. Oh, yeah, I missed that.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Completely Southern. That's. I don't know what They. I always called it cocaine rock. You know, it just sounded like a lot of people doing a lot of cocaine and they had lost their ears and everything was kind of dull and super mellow. And this is an insider joke. But, you know, it was very. What's the word? It's not neve, it's the API. A lot of API going on. See, I knew you'd get that joke because you're a studio nerd.

[Rick Springfield]

Like that. That's a very in joke.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, right. So, yeah, so because, you know, and you know, we're all aware of how people perceive us, you know, you know, I. Of course, when you burst out of the world with your success, you know, that's you. That's where you begin in most Americans. But you know, this whole kind of rich musical thing, and I knew some of that, but I was listening to it obviously knowing I was going to talk to you. And it's like, it's very interesting because it's like if that was your story, you know what I mean? Like, people be like, oh, check out this guy who. You know what I mean? You'd be like something that. The indie writers.

[Rick Springfield]

The cult thing.

[Unknown Interviewer]

The cult thing.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So is that. I'm trying to find the right question. What was your aspiration at that time?

[Rick Springfield]

I thought the whole comic book thing was really hip and. And avant garde and there was viewed as very teen, you know, the drawings and everything and. But the thing is, I'd been Stephen and Robbie because I was. I'd come over here and the teen magazines had glommed onto me, right. And I'd never seen a teen magazine in Australia. There was one magazine called Go Set and that was it. You know, there was no, like nothing that catered to the teenager. And I came over here, I said, wow, I'm doing a lot of interviews with all these people and, you know, talking about my music and why I'm over here. And these stories started to come out like, is Rick Springfield Too Tall to Love?

[Unknown Interviewer]

Well, the answer is. The answer is yes.

[Rick Springfield]

Yes, certainly from a 14 year old that they were aiming at, you know, that. I mean.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So you're saying you walked into a business model that you weren't aiming at and no concept. What was the business model you were in aiming at?

[Rick Springfield]

I was a singer, songwriter, I.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But did you want to be like an Elton John type or did you want to be a rocker type or. Yeah, you were just trying to figure out who you were.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I was a guitar. I'm a guitar player. Yeah. And I always fronted with the guitar, and that was. It was. I was still kind of caught up in. I mean, the kind of. The softer rock, like. Like T. Rex and that kind of thing was what I was aiming at. I kind of left the Zeppelin stuff behind with the Zoot, and I was focusing on kind of more poppy stuff. I thought that was my. You know, just what I. I mean, you write what you feel, you know, you don't. I only ever once wrote a disco song because I thought I should, you know, and it was horrible. So. But you write just what you feel. And that was what I was feeling at the time. And the weird thing is it didn't do very well. But that ended up getting me the record deal with RCA that. That started. You know, my career was. It was a Working Class Dog album. The guy, Ed Dejoy, I went to meet him after I'd been turned down by pretty much every company in America, and he said, I really like comic book heroes. I went, what? Say what? Where'd that come from?

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

And so he. He signed me based on that.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay. So at the end of the day.

[Rick Springfield]

It was a positive thing.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah. Even though it didn't sort of sequentially line up the way you want it. Yeah. So you're in America now, and I know it's not this simple, but, you know, suddenly there's. Then it's your acting. Can you. Can you explain to me how you. Because I totally get up to the point of, like, I'm trying to make it. I'm trying to figure out who I am and the way the music business treats people like us and that whole thing. But that's suddenly like, you're on $6 million, man.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, that was that.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Because you just needed money, or it was. Picked you out of a.

[Rick Springfield]

No, it was. My brother had been an actor in Australia.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

And there was one TV show, and he was so good. He'd been on about four times. And as a younger brother, you're kind of going, I could do that. So I. I was between record deals, and I was. I'd been poor, you know, pretty much continually since I'd been over here. And I left Steve and Robbie because they would. They kept pushing me this team direction. And I had a girlfriend at the time who's saying, you know, that's not who you are. You gotta drop them. So I got. I left them, and Robbie sued me for 250. A quarter of a million dollars. $250 million.

[Unknown Interviewer]

What was the basis of the.

[Rick Springfield]

Of the suit that they put money into it. And I'd kind of just walked away. Steve was awesome.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Steve just said, was that spiritually true or financially true?

[Rick Springfield]

It was. They put some money in, for sure. Um, but they'd also taken any advance I'd had. Um, I never saw any money. It was just, you know, they pay the rent and stuff like that.

[Unknown Interviewer]

The old school thing where they give you a salary.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, exactly. So I. I didn't know how much I got to signing with Columbia. I didn't know how much I got for signing with capital. Um, I was. Signed all the contracts totally without a lawyer in Australia. Clueless.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah. But that's kind of how the. I'm not defending, but that's kind of how the business was back then. You're lucky to be here. We got those speeches in the 90s. You're lucky to be here. You know, I was.

[Rick Springfield]

We can.

[Unknown Interviewer]

We can easily replace you.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, exactly. And I was very lucky to be here because it had been a tough journey trying to get here.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

Everyone had been going to England from Australia because it's a commonwealth country and you can get in. It was very difficult to get into America.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Wow.

[Rick Springfield]

But, yeah, so I'm pulling money out of my piggy bank to go buy a Swanson's Happy Meal, and Robbie's gonna sue me for a quarter of a.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Million dollars that you don't have.

[Rick Springfield]

And so it was. It shut things down for quite a while.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Oh, because you were contractually kind of locked up.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, he wouldn't let me. I couldn't tour. I couldn't.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So that explains why you're like, I need another gig.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

And I met his wife, his ex wife on the walking just down Hollywood Boulevard. And she said, why don't you come to acting class? I started going to acting class, and I loved it. Got lucky with a couple of shows and started to make money enough to kind of. For rent and food.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I did skip over one small thing that I have to go back to. This is jog your memory. Do you believe you believe in magic?

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, geez.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I believe that I do Yes, I can see I believe that it's magic if you're. If your mission is magic? Your love will shine through okay. If there's a. If there's one thing. But I like this song. I wouldn't be doing this to you. I didn't think this was a really cool song.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh.

[Unknown Interviewer]

If there's one thing that the world needs? It's a magic singing song. And I'll teach it to the whole world. And make them sing along Love is magic it's so easy it's if it's not. And it's not hard to do because everybody wants somebody to give a little magic to.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, geez, this hurts.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But that's a good. That's a good song. Now you did this cartoon.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it was another. I had a lot of kind of weird sidesteps in my career at the beginning. And because I'd been on all these teen magazines.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So that was part of them trying to.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. ABC went to all the teen magazines. Who is in 1973. He said, who's going to be the next David Cassidy? They all said me, which thank God it didn't happen. It would have been a very short career. I was actually up for. To replace David Cassidy and the Partage family at one point, which is very strange. And thankfully that didn't happen either. So they said. And we got together. It was great. We got together with Disney artists from Fantasia and they started talking about Yellow Submarine and let's do something really different. And you'll write a song for every episode. And after it got through the ABC mill, it was just another Xerox piece of it that was already on, you know, with the same. Same funny voices and the same storyline. And I was kind of locked into it. And I enjoyed writing the songs, but I wanted them to be real. It was a kids show, really, you know.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So what was the name of show again? I should write Mission Magic. Mission Magic. Yeah. And there is an album. If you go like on a stream, use this. You don't like that dvd, too, is there.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Are. Are you starring in this series?

[Rick Springfield]

I. They drew me and I did. It's my old accent. So talking like this, you know, it's. Ms. Tickle was my. The woman who would get me. I was in this magic land. Right. And Miss Tickle would look through this mirror with all those ST students and they'd come through and I'd help them with the bad guy. As you do. Yeah, well, absolute garbage. But it was. I mean, actually, Quentin Tarantino came up to me at a party, said I loved Mission Magic.

[Unknown Interviewer]

See, you never know who you're going to.

[Rick Springfield]

That's probably why he's so old. Six years old.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So $6 million man. Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Wonder Woman twice. The early version of Battlestar Galactica was called slightly different Rockford Files. It's kind of not a bad resume.

[Rick Springfield]

No, there were some good shows. There was a lot of crap. But the scripts now are so wonderful for tv. And then they Were just. He just knew they were going to be bad. You know, there was the same stories, very predictable. But I was just feeling excited to work.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Like, you know, you're in this cool band, you go to England, you make a pretty cool record, you come to America, you make another cool record, and then you do the mission magic thing, which I kind of got. The songs are good, and then suddenly it's like, he's a TV actor. It was like, it's a little bit like, huh, huh. Yeah, so it makes sense. So how did you eventually extricate yourself out of the. Out of the contractual.

[Rick Springfield]

He finally settled. Robbie finally settled. Luckily, it was just before Working Class Dog, which had, you know, Jesse's girl.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So you were stuck in that thing for that long, Was that four years?

[Rick Springfield]

Five years? Longer than that, actually. And he. He said, I don't think there's his. His. He had 100% of my writing. Right.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You don't own any of that stuff then?

[Rick Springfield]

No, I do. No.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Oh, did you got it on?

[Rick Springfield]

He came to me and said it was about to end, but the album was going to come out and all those songs would have been 100% hit. So he came to me and said, I don't. I don't hear any hits on this record. So how about I give you 50% of it all back and we go on for another year and a half or two years or something. I said, yeah. So I ended up with, you know, half of what I should have had a whole lot. But he could have had all of it.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

But I ended up with it all later on anyway. But, you know, did you have to.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Fight to get it back?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, a little bit, but. But a lot of it was. Had run out, you know, one of those.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

And, you know, you can. But it was. It was just very serendipitous, you know, because.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Well, that's. 1981 is an interesting year.

[Rick Springfield]

Yes, it was.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You're on General Hospital. Interesting sidestep again, which, by the way, I was also watching, which is I. There was a girl in my school that. That I had the hots for, and.

[Rick Springfield]

She was a fan of the show.

[Unknown Interviewer]

She was a fan of the show. So it was a way to get in good graces with her. I started watching the show so I'd have something to talk to her about.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, my God.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

Did you get hooked or not?

[Unknown Interviewer]

No, no, she. She. Eventually, she. She did work at a chocolate shop. So the one advantage was I got a lot of free chocolate, but no, I never got anything More than the chocolate.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. So General Hospital, that age, you probably want more.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Your album, Working Class Dog, right, Comes out, your song goes number one. We all know the song. It's been stuck in my head all morning. Because the minute you listen to it, it's like it doesn't leave. I saw the reference to it said one of the slowest climbs to a number one song ever was the fifth biggest song in all of 1981. And you won the Grammy for best Male Rock Performance. It's quite a year.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it was. It was. It was a big surprise. I started a. I signed onto the show because rca, I'd finished the record and RCA didn't know what to do with it because ballads and disco were still on the radio.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So just because I love to pull these things apart a little bit, because it's like everybody watching knows the song, right? And it's like the Hollywood movie thing nobody believes, but we all know how the movie ends. It's a happy ending in this regard. So nobody hears that that's going to be a hit song. Like nobody, but nobody.

[Rick Springfield]

No. Keith Olson was the first one to point it. Well, actually, yeah. Joe Gottfried, who owned Sound City, I was doing the album with, producing myself with Bill Drescher. And Joe, who owned Sound City, went to Keith Olson, who'd. He'd done Foreigner, he'd done Fleetwood Mac, he'd done At Benatar, Big producer. And he said, would you do two songs with Springfield for this album? And Keith had, on my first album had been an engineer and his job was to cut out all the clicks for the drop ins on my first album.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Because in the old days when you would punch in, you had a little bit of a click on the track, right?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. And he cut out all the clicks on that album from all the punch inside. So we, you know, kind of kind of knew each other from then. But he said, yeah, I'll do it. Let me hear the demo. So I had. I've always done real extensive demos, you know, back with the Tak 3340, you know, and I had cushions for drums and an old bass that I plugged straight in. And the original Pig Nose, you know, the one they handmade and then four Waste Oberheim. And I did all my, you know, bounce around and do backgrounds and all that. So I took my demos over to Keith and he's listening and I played Jesse's. God, I just thought it was another song. That's. That's the one. And it had a big long solo in it because it was still coming out of the 70s, you know, where there were solos.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

So I'm playing a solo on it and he's going, yeah, cut that sucker.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But it's amazing that he heard that.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, he did. And it was a. You listen to the demo and it's pretty much the song. Yeah, it's all. All the parts are there and everything but that. And then he brought in Sammy. Sammy Hager song about done everything for you. And I'm gone. Oh, dude. There's more songs. Because I was very. I was very confident of this record. I felt like I'd hit.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

Something. Three minutes.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You were right.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. And I. But, you know, it worked out and this. I've done everything worked out. It was. It was a hit too. But.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

But yeah, Keith was the first one to. And he said, you don't need General Hospital. I said, I'm going to take this show because I have had three failed albums. You know, I don't know what's going to happen. He said, you don't. It's a good album. You don't need to do General Hospital. I said, there won't be any cross. You know, they're old ladies. Watch the show. They won't know there's even a record out. And.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But I was watching that.

[Rick Springfield]

No, but then it blew up. So I had no. I thought it was soap opera. I thought only blue haired ladies.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I. Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

And it became the number one show in America. And. And Gloria Monty, who hired me for the show, came up six weeks later and said, I hear you're also a singer. And I go, I am not singing on this show. I've already, you know. Oh, thank you. I've already gotten enough crap. You know, because they used to have a stations here and they played Jesse's Girl because it was, you know, it was the first kind of one of the first guitar bass songs coming out of disco and. And ballads. You know, there was that Benatar and there was. They were playing AC DC on. On K Rock, but there wasn't a lot of guitar. You know, there was a Cars, but there wasn't a lot of guitar based stuff. And they didn't know what to do with it. And they kept holding it and holding it and holding. Which is why I took General Hospital because I thought, oh man, it's gonna be another failed, you know, project. But yeah. So worked out crazy.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah. Because, you know, I remember when that song first came on the radio and I liked it a lot and I don't normally like Music like that. And I was. Even when I was a teen, I was a bit of a rock stop. I was listening to Sabbath and Queen.

[Rick Springfield]

Sure. And it's very pop, although it's guitar based.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But I remember thinking like, oh, this is cool, because it's like what I like about guitar rock. And I know that it's pop, but it doesn't feel like lame in a sellout.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Unknown Interviewer]

It had the right combination of factors.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it does. And that's why I think it's lasted.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, it holds up very well as.

[Rick Springfield]

A song and production like that, which is.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

I think if I'd done it, it probably would have had heavier guitar. But I think the. Where the guitar sits is great.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Well, that's that time. You know, a lot of those records. Cleaner guitar.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So, okay, so now you're an overnight sensation, right. You got a number one song, you're on this massive TV show. Like, where does that all go? And by the way, not to be maudlin about it, in all due respect, your father also passed away in 1981, and that's a pretty intense year.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it was yin yang for sure.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So where are you at in all this?

[Rick Springfield]

You know, I'm incredibly excited because the song's getting some attention and then my brother calls up and says, you better come home. You know, Dad's on his way out and it's still hard for me to talk about.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Well, no, it's okay to at least be in the room with you. When my band was massive in 96, my mother was dying of cancer and I was in this weird situation where I was touring and coming home, see my mom as she's withering away. So I understand the emotion of it all because I lived it.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it's very odd that things happen like that.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You know, life is very interesting. Right. It's always a mystery to me how these things kind of, you know, because that's what I said in terms of your life. 1981 is one for the ages.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. I'd gone to a party just before that started and had my tarot cards read with Siddharth. And the woman said, that is the most amazing reading I've ever done. And I always had a lot of confidence in myself.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Did you think she was trying to pick you up?

[Rick Springfield]

No, no. I always had a lot. I've always had a lot of faith in myself, you know, that I. I knew I wouldn't have stuck it out for 10 years in America. When everybody else in Australia would come over and then go home. I Knew I knew something was going to happen. And I said, was it just a feeling? Yeah. And it was a validation that, yeah, okay, maybe it's going to start now. I mean, you know, but yeah, I've always had a guy came to me when I was 17 years old trying to sell me insurance at home and introduced me to a book called Think and Grow Rich, which is by Napoleon Hill, which isn't about necessarily about getting rich. It's about.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Is it a positive part of attention and power? Positive power thing.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But it's also power of positive thinking.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, but it's not just Norman Vincent Peele. It's very spiritual. He talks very spiritually. And it's a very deep book. The thing is a bullshit title because it's a really deep book, but it's also very old speak. It's written in the 20s and I lived by that book. I had CDs later on, but I had read the book 30, 40 times and it was just. It told me about visualizing. It taught me about visualization where the only difference between us and the animal is that we can visualize a different future for ourselves. And that's what this is about. It's the whole basis of all the Tony Robbins stuff and the secret and all that is all based on same idea. Seeing where you want to be and believing it with all your heart and soul.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay, so to follow the thread, if you've manifested this moment. Okay. How did you deal with the moment? Was it. Was it what you hoped it would be?

[Rick Springfield]

I was. Took long enough. Seriously, I mean, it was exciting, but it was. Oh my God. It was exactly like I thought it would be. You know, the people trying to be your friends and, you know, the girl attention and the excitement and the hearing playing a riff. And I used to went and saw the Kinks when I was young and. And everyone lit up and I'm. Oh God, I'd love to. Yeah, I'd love to have that.

[Unknown Interviewer]

And you've got it. Yeah, there it is. Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

So that kind of stuff. And. And then, you know, my dad. I went to my brother called me up that morning, got up and said, dad's gone.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Oh my goodness.

[Rick Springfield]

And. And I had to go to General Hospital and I said dad would want me to go. He wouldn't want me to shirk that. So I went and it was brutal. I do a scene and I go. I didn't tell anybody. I didn't want anyone to know, but. And then I'd go off to the corner and I cry for A while, you know, and then come back and do the scene. And I finally went to Gloria and said, my dad died, I gotta go. And she let me off for a couple of days. So I flew home that night, you know, and took care of it and then came back and went back on the show and it was. It was. I remember flying to Florida to do some radio thing and a radio guy there still, Scott Shannon still remembers it. He said it was amazing that you did it, but I was lying on the floor of the plane with my stomach in knots like this, you know, I pushed it down to try and get on with things. But is it.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Because obviously it's your father, but did you have a particularly close relationship?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, very close.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Is he your hero or.

[Rick Springfield]

He didn't understand my music, but mom said he would play a working class dog on the wreck. I sent him an advanced copy and he said, this is gonna do it. This one's gonna do it. Because he died twice. He died when he was 51 from blood loss of an ulcer. And they brought him back, but he'd been out for like 15 minutes. So he came back almost like as a five year old kid, you know, and this is a dad that was in charge. He was a lieutenant colonel in the Army. Amazing human being. And so. So he'd sit, you know, as. He was kind of childlike toward the last, like 10 years and he.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Because when he was. When he was dead. Yeah, but he lived it. Something would do with his brain or.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, brain damage, because he didn't. It was out. He was dead for like 10 minutes. So he got. He had brain damage from lack of oxygen.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

We didn't know if he'd come back, but he. He didn't. You know, he came back a little, but he was always very young in his, you know, where he lost all his stress lines and, you know, so maybe there was a positive thing to it, but he. I can imagine him sitting in the chair. Yeah, this is gonna be the one.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But I. I'm just trying to understand. And again, I'm saying it from a response.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I may. I may be glossing over because of.

[Unknown Interviewer]

No, what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, is. Is why does. Why do you think it still hits you so hard now?

[Rick Springfield]

Because I shoved it down.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay. Because you didn't deal with it then.

[Rick Springfield]

I didn't deal with it.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Is it because you were so busy and it was like, there's all the shining lights that you always wanted.

[Rick Springfield]

Everything I'd wanted and I Felt like God, God was fucking with me almost, but also felt like I was being taken care of too. I mean, yeah, it was, was a very mixed bag in my head and yeah, it still really affects me.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, I get it. God bless. Yeah. Because I think what's hard for almost anybody to understand is when you're standing in that moment, in this case, you're in the zeitgeist, you're on television, your records being played and you had put in your 10 plus years, you're aware, like this moment doesn't last.

[Rick Springfield]

I was very aware and I could.

[Unknown Interviewer]

It'S not like you just get off a train and like, hey, I'll get back on this train in a year from now. You know, that train's going to be longer on the track. And, and, and by the way, and I don't know what if you were. There's also the predatory part of the music business where they don't care what you're going through. You know, go talk to this radio guy, go do this interview because they.

[Rick Springfield]

Need you to keep, yeah, they need you to keep producing, you know.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

And I did, you know, I, I, I didn't have any fears about doing a second album. I know sophomore Tinks kind of thing. I just launched.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I can't imagine you would at that point because you've, you'd been through it.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, it was, it upsets me that I am still so upset over it. I had wrote a song called My Father's Chair that I still do and it still affects me, you know, doing it, playing it live.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

Sometimes I can just get through it, but other times it still affects me and it's, you know, part of a softness in me that I, well, don't love.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Well, there's nothing wrong with that. You've talked. And again, I, I've got to read the book, but I know you've talked about mental health issues and stuff. So is, is, explain this to me. Do you feel you've had mental health issues your whole life or it was circumstantial? Circumstantial?

[Rick Springfield]

No, I've been with me my whole life. I, I tried to hang myself when I was 16 in my garden shed. And I was failing at everything. I, all I wanted to do was play guitar, discover guitar when I was 13 and, and that's all. And I was, wasn't, I wasn't that popular with the girls. You know, I was passionate about girls, but it wasn't that popular. I had, I wasn't in the clique. At school I was always on the outside, see, because mainly a lot of the problem was that we moved. My dad was in the army, so we moved every two years. I knew that when I'd make friends, I'd be saying bye to him in two years, you know. And I had no roots, which is why I've lived in the same house for 40 years now. And we moved to England when I was a kid and I discovered Guitars and Girls over there. And then three years later we're back in Australia and it was whipped around from school to school and so I always left me on the outside.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Sure.

[Rick Springfield]

I was never in the clique, you know.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

And also the adhd. So I lose my track. Help me, help me.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So under the stress of the moment, did you feel you were handling the. Because again you're, you're in mourning over your father. You're having this intense singular life experience. I've never had a number one song. I mean, that's a unique experience. No, I haven't. I mean, I haven't had a number one album.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, that's not bad.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But what I'm trying to say is how do you feel you handled that sort of period, that 81 on period? Because you've had plenty of time to think about it.

[Rick Springfield]

I, I handled it fairly well. I was never, I never turned into a prick, you know, I mean, I was, my dad was great in the army. He was the only, when he retired, is the only officer where enlisted men came to his send off. You know, he was firm, but he was a good, A good human.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

And I've always treated my band and crew like that. And on the road they would always leave other, other tours to come with me because they knew it was going to be affair. They'd be respected and treated well and we'd have fun, you know. So I, I tried to maintain, I not tried, I did maintain that I took advantage of, you know, the offers, of course, like we all did.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yes.

[Rick Springfield]

You know, when, especially when you're a kid that was never sure how girls felt about you and suddenly they're turning up.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay, so you, you'd resisted being the teen heartthrob. But like my memory of that time is like you were definitely like, you know, sex symbol would be the way.

[Rick Springfield]

It was a heartthrob thing. I get that. Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

How did you feel in all that? Did that feel strange to you or.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it's never something I've been like, yeah, I get it. You know, I mean, who does that anyway?

[Unknown Interviewer]

But I don't know.

[Rick Springfield]

But. But I did take advantage of it, obviously, like I said. But it was never something that I was comfortable. I'm never comfortable when people would talk about whether they liked the way I looked. You know, it was.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Because it was. It was very much in those times about your looks.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. You know, and it was annoying really, a lot of the time. I mean, Huey Lewis said to me, you, you would have been bigger if you weren't so good looking or something like that, you know. But I. I get what he's saying. It's like Peter Frampton thing, you know, where he was so cute that a lot of people kind of when the second album came out, they went, well.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

I don't know. I mean, that's. My perspective is probably way off.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, we live in such a different time now.

[Rick Springfield]

Totally.

[Unknown Interviewer]

The media then was different. But if you were able to break through with that media in those times and you were typecast, for lack of a better way to put it. Like, the cool thing for me as a fan was, is I liked your music, so I didn't care what anybody thought about your looks.

[Rick Springfield]

Musicians are like that, though.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I mean, honestly, I'm sure you meet them. Like we were talking before we started the interview about Dave Grohl. Like real musicians like your music because you're really good. So it's like you being cute doesn't mean anything to us.

[Rick Springfield]

Right, Exactly. And we're not afraid to say, oh, I like this band, I like this song. Because we understand it on another level and how difficult it is to do something like that.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Oh, yeah. And to be overly clear about it, I mean, you were writing and producing your records. You weren't some creation.

[Rick Springfield]

Right. And I think a lot of people thought I was because I came out out they. To them. I came out of the Soap Opera and AOR stations, you know, back in.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Well, remember John Travolta had a recording career at one point. There was a lot of that. The guy from Dukes. Dukes of Hazard.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Remember he had a John Schneider, John Snider.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Who else were you saying?

[Rick Springfield]

Bruce Willis had a record. Don Johnson.

[Unknown Interviewer]

That's true.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. So. And. And they actually. My. I. Ford's a type of person they look for in soaps. From then on, a guy who could sing as well, which is where Ricky Martin. They got Ricky Martin and a couple of other.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Because it became like a marketing model.

[Rick Springfield]

You know, but it was purely by accident.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

But yeah, I was talking about the suicide thing that Was kind of very messed up because I was serious, you know, And I. And it's always on my shoulder. I. It's weird, just some dark part of me that I just can't, I have to deal with, you know, it's just something.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Do you feel you've navigated it at this point in your life?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I, I, I, I could, I slip back sometimes, but it's. I feel like it's always there.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But is there, is there a thought attached to the thing that plagues you? Like, you know, some people say I'm not good enough. Yeah, it's worthless unworthiness.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it's worthlessness.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So a lack of self worth.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Where do you think that comes from?

[Rick Springfield]

Probably just growing up where I grew up. And I was always, like I said, I was always the outsider. I grew up in army groups, you know, where my parents, friends were going, what's wrong with Richard? Why are you letting him play guitar? Everyone else was going into service jobs. Always felt like the black sheep. But the main thing that triggered the suicide attempt was just. I was failing, I was failing in school. I discovered the guitar. All I wanted to do was stay home and play guitar. I was kicked out of 11th grade because I wasn't attending school. I wasn't popular, I wasn't successful with girls. And every arena that I was, everyone was being successful in. I wasn't good at that, good at sports.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You know, I've spent enough time in Australia. It's a tough culture.

[Rick Springfield]

Yes, it is a very tough culture. Very tall poppy syndrome. You get big enough, they'll cut you.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah. And, you know, obviously there's a lot of, kind of comparative culture between the UK and Australia, for obvious reasons. But for some reason, Australian culture feels even a little bit more harsh.

[Rick Springfield]

It is.

[Unknown Interviewer]

And that's to me as a. And I love Australia. So do I. I love playing there. The people are great to me. But when you're there, there's a certain tone that sometimes as an American, where we kind of fake. Nice.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You know what I mean?

[Rick Springfield]

How long you sign, Mike? When's the tour of you gone home? After it.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. It was, it was difficult. It was a bully state for me. I was always getting, we're always getting picked on. Every time we go to a dance, it'd be, we have to fight our way out. You know, there's, there's, it's the only place I've ever been where. In the bathrooms, all the pubs, there's. If your mate gets into a Fight. This is what you do. You know, there's just. It's. It's the nature. I mean, I was over there. I've never toured as a solo artist over there, which is very weird.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Wait, stop. Hit the brakes.

[Rick Springfield]

What? Yeah, because we do a world tour and we'd end up in Japan, and by the time we're done, I'll go, I just want to go home. I couldn't, you know, and so I never toured. I did one thing, a countdown spectacular where, you know, you get out, you go on, and you do three songs. And that was like 10, 15 years ago and almost a couple of flights in.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Were your records successful there?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So there was a demand for you to go there.

[Rick Springfield]

What's that?

[Unknown Interviewer]

There was a demand for you.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, they. They were. Yeah, they. We actually had a tour booked, and I got the Meryl Streep movie, the Ricky and the Flash, so I canceled it. And I. There was a lot of people upset over that, too. I'm kind of viewed. I. I don't know if I think I'm viewed as an expat there. Expatriate.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You know, the guy who left.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. I have an accent, you know, which I picked up because of acting. I didn't want to have to worry about the accent because I. I would hear English or Australian people that weren't very good at the act. American accent. And I thought it would mess with me while I'm trying to get, you know.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

Relate to the part. So I just learned the accent and living amongst the people, it became a natural thing. First time I went back to Australia, I was in a club and a guy goes, oh, Rick Springfield. How you going, mate? Yeah, I'm good. I'm just over here for a couple of weeks. He goes, you're with your own people now, mate. You don't need to talk like that. So it was, I think, welcome home.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Welcome home.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, welcome home, fucker.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, right, so.

[Rick Springfield]

But I do love Australia. I have friends there and I love the country. I miss the country very much. You got married in Australia?

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay, there. See, that was the. You gave me the segue. I was looking for.

[Rick Springfield]

Another.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Another interesting year you got married. And that same year you did Hard to Hold, which kind of starts your movie. Your movie thing. I know you're not a big fan of the movie. I believe you call it a piece of.

[Rick Springfield]

Yes, that is probably when I read the original script. I threw it across the room. This is garbage.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Before we jump into how much you hate the movie. Was the sell job hey, you've built yourself up now. We can transition you over to this movie career.

[Rick Springfield]

No, I wanted to do movies. I saw myself as an, I see myself as an actor, musician. It's the same, comes from the same place. It's just a different skill set.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

And, and I.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So nobody was pushing you towards it?

[Rick Springfield]

No, no, no, no. I wanted very much to do it. I left General Hospital to pursue a movie career and to have more time to tour.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

So, yeah, absolutely. It was, No, I wasn't pushed. I was just, it was a bad choice of movie, I thought, you know, and I thought. But I was at the point where I said, I can, I can make this work.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

You know the point where you get to where you think, okay.

[Unknown Interviewer]

From the New York Times.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Dripping sweat with the backstage lights glinting off his jeweled belt in his single earring, James Roberts escapes to his dressing room, collapsing beside the Space Invaders machine. He's drained, he's exhausted. He's a very famous rock star, and he has just whipped another adoring audience into a lather. Hard to hold is a movie for anyone who thinks this sounds like real behind the scenes rock and roll ambience, and for anyone who thinks Rick Springfield is a real rock star.

[Rick Springfield]

Wow.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I thought, wow, that's interesting.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So, you know, because again, it's trying to understand the nuance of you're standing in these spots at particular times. Of course, with hindsight being 20 20, we could say, oh, you should have done that, you should have done that. But if it was me and somebody came along and said, I am willing to back you in a real Hollywood movie.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it was, it looked like kind of the right thing.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You know, I did Peter Frampton in the Sergeant Pepper. That didn't exactly.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, they're not actors, you know, I mean, I, I, I, I consider myself an actor and I'm, I'm better now than I was then, but I was better, I was a fairly seasoned actor at that point.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Had you, had you had any acting training?

[Rick Springfield]

What's that?

[Unknown Interviewer]

Did you ever have acting training?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, yeah, I was in that class for, like four years.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

Before I even went out to try.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I just didn't know if you were like a savant who was just good at much of stuff.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, but honestly, the class was. A lot of classes are poor. There really are a lot of, it's really just about, you know, being, being there and, and they give, the classes, give you all this mental bull.

[Unknown Interviewer]

What's method acting and all that stuff?

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, no, Method's great. I mean method is really you, you take time and, and sit with it and imagine all this stuff is happening. And when you know, like you ever been driving along the road and you get an angry thought and you start thinking about it and suddenly you're pushing the accelerator. That's, that's method acting. That's start. Nothing's really happening other than up here.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I see. Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

So you, you create all this stuff inside you and that's, that's what method acting is. But there are other schools where they, they, they try and put it on paper and you gotta have a goal and, and, and you're trying to think this while you're trying to talk to somebody and it's just bullshit.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

So it's almost like you have to unlearn a lot of the stuff you learn. Initially I have to jump past this. I'm watching Wall Street Loving review was an acting class.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I bet. So explain this part to me because I only saw a note somewhere about it takes a mental health break. 1985. Is that accurate?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Because again, big record follow up did in your estimation good. The follow up record to the big record. Right?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. No.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Music career is great.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

TV show. Now you're doing movies. So why do you. Why do you say I need to stop?

[Rick Springfield]

Because I'd moved to Malibu and I had this big beautiful Spanish house and.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You'Re married and you got.

[Rick Springfield]

And I got married to the woman I really wanted to marry. I just had a kid and it was what I thought I had wanted. And there was. And there was one afternoon I was walking around the pool and I felt just as low as I've ever felt. And I realized at that point that this wasn't going to heal me because I'd always thought along all along. Yeah. Hit records, fame, money. I'll be more than I am. I'll be better. But after the initial rise, it was still me. And still me and my. And that's, that's.

[Unknown Interviewer]

What was it? Because I'm trying to find the right words. Is. It's, it's, it's. It wasn't what you wanted? It didn't fix the problems.

[Rick Springfield]

No, it was what I wanted. Very much what I wanted. But I thought that it would fix the problem with me.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

My. What was happening inside.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So it was magical thinking.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. And I.

[Unknown Interviewer]

If this thing happens, all this other.

[Rick Springfield]

Stuff, you know, which we. I mean, you know why we get divorced and marry somebody else is because we think it's all going to change.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, I learned that lesson too. Okay, so when you stop, are you just. Are you just in Malibu looking at the ocean, thinking, what do I do now?

[Rick Springfield]

Or I found a therapist, Jungian therapist who'd learned from Carl Jung. He got. He'd been a doctor and he'd seen all these patients dying and doctors covering stuff up. And he said, this is not the way I want to live. He's a very successful doctor. He lived in Beverly Hills, Mercedes, kids in great schools suddenly cut it all off and went to Zurich with his wife and learned under Carl Jung. And he was amazing. I started to see him. I saw him for about five years and it didn't heal me, but it doesn't heal you. But you start to name the demons that are chasing you.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So what were the points of existential crisis.

[Rick Springfield]

Initially? It's self worth. I just felt just so worthless. I felt like I didn't. This wasn't. What I had was bull. What I gained was meaningless. It wasn't.

[Unknown Interviewer]

It wasn't because of the work that you had done and you felt embarrassed or something. It was. You hadn't gotten out of it what you thought you were.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, okay. Yeah, no, I. I felt like I wasn't. I wasn't worthy of Was luck. It was just, you know, and now I'm almost like, look. Like he said. When I went in one day, he said he looked like a homeless person. And I did. I had like the scratch with beard and I looked like my hair hadn't washed. And I just, I didn't. You know, I was just. I went down, way down. And it was. I had to because I was so, so depressed. I remember watching myself on. On an MTV interview where I, you know, just played a big arena thing and she's interviewing me and I'm sitting there like this. Yeah, the. Is that all about, you know, to see it like that? It was so I. I pulled the plug, you know, I just.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Were you getting pressure? I mean, you tell, you know, I know how the business works. You tell your manager or whatever, hey, I'm gonna. Were they like. Do they say you'd need to take time or. They were like, no, they.

[Rick Springfield]

They were nervous about it. You know, they. They start saying, give us one more.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Year, you know, one more year of driving yourself insane. Now you could take a break.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. And I said, no, I can't. I gotta do this now because there's nowhere for me to go. You know, it may seem kind of melodramatic, but it was really.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Sorry to interrupt you, but having Experience. I, I totally get it. I, I, because just, I don't know you, but I totally get it. Yeah, I totally get it.

[Rick Springfield]

And, and people would, you know, you.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Probably wouldn't be here if you hadn't stopped.

[Rick Springfield]

Exactly. I, I'm, I know that for sure.

[Unknown Interviewer]

See, that's, that, that's the salient point.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Live to fight another day, you know, something we say here in this culture retreat gathering. Yeah, exactly.

[Rick Springfield]

And I, you know, people would, would go, they'd go, why are you depressed? Why? Look at, you know, you got the.

[Unknown Interviewer]

World on a string and everything should be so great.

[Rick Springfield]

Understand that it's, it's still me getting up in the morning and looking at myself and going, see, that's why that's.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Such a powerful message. And I've done some interviews about mental health stuff. Similar dynamics is for people to hear that success doesn't solve those problems.

[Rick Springfield]

Success, a lie. It's something we must, you know, as human beings. We must achieve, you know, we must. There's all that thing, Leave your mark, you know, leave our legacy.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Well, it's even at the root of procreation.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah, I want to leave.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, exactly.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I want to leave the. Let the family go on past me.

[Rick Springfield]

Right, right. And then you have dogs, some form of hubris, and your name doesn't exist anymore.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Well said. So obviously jumping around, but just trying to make the points. No albums between 88 and 97.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. I wrote an album actually out of my therapy sessions called Rock of Life that was basically about my first son and how it shook me and changed me. And that's actually one of my favorite albums because it had one hit off it that didn't really do much.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But when did that come out in this?

[Rick Springfield]

88, I think it was.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So that was the last album you did before you were like.

[Rick Springfield]

No, I, I took, I did therapy 85 to, like, 88.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

Then started writing because of the therapy.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

And then did that album and then took more time off. But then I got an acting gig that was a TV series called High Tide that was with a, a guy I'm still friends with, a Canadian who actually is. Is on the 18th season in a show called Murdoch Mysteries. And we played brothers, surf brothers that were also cops. And we went to New Zealand to shoot the first season.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Is this a Down Under Base series?

[Rick Springfield]

Yes.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

No, no, it's a World Worldwide series, but only if you're an insomniac or a night watchman.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

They played. It was like, big in Brazil. It was Big in Germany, and it was like 3 o' clock in the morning in America. But it was work and it was fun. The scripts were pretty good. It was Tim Meneer, who actually is now in charge of American Horror Stories.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

So it was this. Initial scripts were good, and we were excited about it, and it was. We thought it might be a big hit. And then we did a second season in San Diego and then a third season here in, you know, Rockslard. And what's that up there?

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

And then a folded, and that kind of took all my time. I said, you didn't know where I was because.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So did you make a conscious decision to stop doing music or you just got busy and you went, I got busy.

[Rick Springfield]

I got busy doing.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Because, you know, if you look at it on paper, it seems like, okay, he takes a mental health break. Yeah. Right. I mean, it's unusual.

[Rick Springfield]

You know, I felt like I was kind of being. Being active. You know, I was in a career that I enjoyed.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But when people would ask you, why aren't you doing music? Or when's the next record? What would you say?

[Rick Springfield]

I just said, I'm. I'm working right now.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So you didn't feel you'd abandoned music?

[Rick Springfield]

No, I didn't. I was writing all the time.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

And I never stopped writing. I mean, I do, you know, I binge write. I. I will write for three months and then won't write for six months, that kind of thing. I'm not the 9 to 5 guy or write every day kind of guy, but I, you know, was getting paid well. It was a successful show in certain areas. I felt like I was, you know, still pursuing a path. Not. Not the main path, but I was still on a path.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

But I knew I'd get back to music eventually, and that's, you know, really what happened.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, it's just. It's. It's. How can I put it? Your arc is very unusual. You know what I mean? Because you came in as a guitar player, you get dragged into pop land, you know, then you go through this whole thing where you've got to kind of figure it out. You get in a contractual squabble, you end up being an actor and successful. Right. And then it all kind of. It all converges at the same time.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. Which is.

[Unknown Interviewer]

And within seven years of it all converging, you know, your dream of music is kind of set aside. And again, I understand your explanation. I'm not arguing. It's just. It seems odd in. Considering the arc. It's very unusual.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it is an unusual path, for sure. And I. I can't really explain it other than I've always just looked at what's in front of me and decided, y' all do that or. No, I won't do that. I. I'm not the. The. Although I, you know, talk about manifestation, that it's end result that I manifest, it's not. It's not the steps to those end result.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So I'm curious, you know, how this culture works. It's like my joke. My joke is I walk through the airport and people go, hey, are you the rat in the cage guy? Right.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

The identifier.

[Unknown Interviewer]

And I've done plenty, and so have you, but you. There's that guy in the airport that's like, hey, Jesse's girl. How's Jesse doing?

[Rick Springfield]

You know, it's.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You've heard it all.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So how have you. How have you navigated. I mean, it seems fairly balanced from the outside. I mean, you've stayed working, you released a ton of music. You just have a new song out that I just listened to. So how have you balanced all that? I mean, has it been tough for you to navigate? Let's call it the public version of your reality versus your actual reality?

[Rick Springfield]

Not really, because I have a very. I think I have a fairly accurate view of the public's idea of me.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You know, does that not bother you? You know what I mean? But it's like, is that. Is there anything you feel like you need to correct or amend or.

[Rick Springfield]

I'm not big on the legacy thing, you know, all that kind of thing. I just. I've. I've been through a. Had a lot of, you know, when I first. Jesse's Joe first came out, I got a lot of crap from, you know, critics hated me. And so I'm used to all that kind of thing, and it doesn't bother me. And so someone's odd opinion. I understand they got their life right here, and they just wouldn't need a box to put these people in. Yeah. So that they don't need to think about it too hard, you know, and they pick the obvious identifier, the thing that they first. First heard, you know, that identified you with them, and that's. They're comfortable with that.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

So I. I don't, you know, this, like, have a new record out, and you go on a talk show and they play Jesse's Girl. I'm going to play the new record, by the way.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I love the new record. Lose Myself.

[Rick Springfield]

Lose Myself. Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Great.

[Rick Springfield]

Good.

[Unknown Interviewer]

I was like, I mean, it sounds like a 25 year old guy having a great song.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, thanks.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Very youthful, you know, but not purposely so. It's like it's just in you.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

It comes out in your music. So I was very impressed by that. Although I do have to laugh because I'm thinking, okay, so the, the most famous song of yours is about you being obsessed about this girl. So back to the lyrics. You're the perfect drug at the imperfect time. Before you crashed in my life I was doing fine. I fall into you and everything fades away. You burn, you burn through the world I knew Now I want to stay. And I want to lose myself. And I'm going to lose myself. I, I should be past this shit, but it still turns me on.

[Rick Springfield]

Yep.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So you're still here.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I think it's great just being truthful, you know. Yeah. I mean, I'm 75. And you think, well, you should, maybe you should be. Have more of a view, you know, a better view. But I'm, you know, there's still this stuff still. I still have to, you know, pick up a guitar and start around.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But it, but I'm saying it's in your music. I hear it.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

You know, I guess what I, I guess what I'm after if, if it's like a metaarch, you know, because every interview is almost as like trying to create its own little movie. Like, here's the beginning, here's middle end. So, you know, America has a way of categorizing people and saying, oh, he does that, she does that. And I think you've repeatedly kind of broken this image, but it doesn't seem something you're trying to do. It's just a, it's a, it's a result of just who you are.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Most people would be calculated about it.

[Rick Springfield]

You know what strike me as a calculated.

[Unknown Interviewer]

That's what I'm saying. That's what's sort of refreshing about you and our mutual friend, you know, he told me that about you and that's why he wanted me to talk to you, because he, he thought I would find that refreshing. And I do. Because, you know, success in America as, you know, it's. It's a very singular thing. And we've both been blessed enough to have success in America. It really is, you know, it's the top of the hill as far as, if you want to have success. So. And there's been a lot written and a lot sort of broken down about how should you know, some snobby critic at the New York Times view people like us if we don't sort of fit into their perfect little model of value. And I think what's interesting about streaming services and stuff like that is they're changing the idea of value.

[Rick Springfield]

How do you mean?

[Unknown Interviewer]

Well, people, if they like music, they just find it.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So my first reaction when I heard your. Your song Lose Yourself was I added it to my master playlist. I was like, I love this song.

[Rick Springfield]

Boom.

[Unknown Interviewer]

It doesn't matter who or if I. If. If I found that song from you from 82 or 2024. I'm just adding it to this playlist because I was like, this great song. I want to hear it again.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I know. I do that, too. Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Right. So that's what I'm saying. We're living in this world of shifting value. No people outside us will no longer be able to define what our value is. So I think that's kind of cool, and I think you're a great testament of that.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, okay. I get what you're saying.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah. It's like guitar player to guitar player, because I'm a guitar player first, too. It's like once you're a guitar player, you never stop being a guitar player. Right. And music has taken us all over the world and done all this crazy stuff.

[Rick Springfield]

I sometimes look at the piece of wood with six wires.

[Unknown Interviewer]

That's why I want to know if you still have the white sg. Right.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. Right, right, right.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So that's kind of what I'm trying to say is I think it's cool that you've just done it. You've just done it your way, and the world's kind of swung back to you in its own time.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I. I mean, I think I. I don't. I mean, I think everybody who's successful are certainly from. You know, like, I'm not sure about now with all the game shows and all that shit happening, but we come up through, you know, the clubs and the ranks and.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yes. Musicians first.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. And we learn and we, you know, take the knocks and. I mean, I would play in places in Australia where I had to turn the guitar around like a club and beat people off the stage because they were fights and, you know, some of these people that come up now, they have no idea of. And I don't know if they're. I mean, it doesn't matter because they're. You know, there's some great songs out there, but. But you've. You find out. You find your Roots and who you are musically, I think coming up that way, coming up the slow way through. Through the clubs and all that kind of thing. Maybe it's an old view, but. But. But that's who you. How you form who you are and what you want to write about and what you find important.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah. So last thing. How do you. How do you. Our mutual friend, he was talking about seeing you live, and he was talking about where you did the song about your father's. My father's chair.

[Rick Springfield]

My father's chair, yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

And he said it was a very emotional moment.

[Rick Springfield]

He's very hooked into his dad, too.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Sure. But. But I. He was expressing how emotional it was for him to hear you do this song live. And he knows what that song means to you. And he said he was getting annoyed because there's people going, you know, hey, take. You know, come over.

[Rick Springfield]

You're gonna play Jesse's Girl.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Yeah, that. Whatever. You don't understand this. The simplicity of what I'm after.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, that's. It's. You know, I've. I've been through a bit of that. But, yeah, I mean, I. I think of, you know, being in a club in Florida in 1976 with my then band and playing a song, and there were. There's two people sitting there, and there was one over there, finished the song, and nobody clapped. And I went, guess you guys didn't like that song, eh? So, I mean, compared to that, there's another. I'm okay with someone, you know, I get pissed off at times, you know, And I've actually kind of said, okay, this song's for you motherfuckers who were talking through my dad's song. And, you know.

[Unknown Interviewer]

But see, you reminded me of being in a Club in 1988. And the people were all the way over there at the bar, about eight people, and they were paying no attention. They were paying no attention to us, and they were just talking. Cause they were trying to pick each other up, drink their beers. And I remember thinking, I never want to be in a place where they can talk over the band again. And so at the next rehearsal, I said, for now on, we will never stop playing. And so we were in the habit where we would play and then we would just feed back between songs. Just don't have songs, so they couldn't talk.

[Rick Springfield]

That's great.

[Unknown Interviewer]

So.

[Rick Springfield]

And play loud. Turn it up to 11.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Absolutely.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

All right, Last nerd question.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay. What amps were you playing back in. In those days.

[Rick Springfield]

In Zoot, I had a thing called An M and R, which was an Australian made amp we had. You know, like I said, the American stuff was very expensive, so you know, the local guys would build stuff. I had an M and R. Never heard of. No, no, Fair, fair. You know, good sound though, with good raisin. But. But I had my. You know, my Gibson was. My. My SG was my first good guitar. And actually in the. No use. Mainly Marshalls. You know, we had a horrible moment where we used pv. Solid states that didn't break up and they were just painful as hell. But.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Synthetic fuzz.

[Rick Springfield]

What's that?

[Unknown Interviewer]

It's synthetic fuzz. Yeah, that's. You know, it's just like fuzz. Yeah, it's a. It's. It's a drawn wave. The sound of Lynyrd Skynyrd though.

[Rick Springfield]

What's that?

[Unknown Interviewer]

That's the sound of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Oh, it is. All three guys played peevies.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh my God.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Next time you hear Sweet Home Alabama, that's peavey.

[Rick Springfield]

Really?

[Unknown Interviewer]

That's the sound.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, kudos to them for making it sound good. I couldn't get it to sound good. And then. Yeah, just use Marshalls and had for a while had an old harmonizer between two amps. Oh, you did dial it down, you know, to get a thicker sound. That's what I used on board and clack.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Okay, last question. Existential union question. If you had it to do over again, would you do it the same?

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, no, I'd probably want to do it differently. Why would I want to do it the same?

[Unknown Interviewer]

I don't know. That's why I'm asking.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, no, I'd.

[Unknown Interviewer]

What would you change? But you had a pretty cool life. Yeah, but it hasn't been easy. At every step along the way, I.

[Rick Springfield]

Made a lot of good choices. I made some bad choices personally, you know, in my life. I would probably. I'd probably tour the world more.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Australia.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I worked Australia. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, no, I mean, I'm. I'm not satisfied because I think. Satisfy. Satisfied. Then you retire and you die. I still have drive. I still have, you know, things I want to achieve, mountains I want to climb, all that kind of thing. Songs I want to write that are better and, you know, I'd better just do more of what I love to do, basically. And. But yeah, there's. There'll be some things I'd change, but if I could nitpick, I'd. Sure I'd be freaking putting nothing major.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Would you still do the. Is it hard to hold?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, no, I'd probably. You know what? I was. I was up for the right stuff, and I. And I turned that down going, I turned down. Going to. To check to, you know, read for that, because I got hard to hold. So I'd probably go, you know what? I'm gonna read for the right stuff in Cardo. All right.

[Unknown Interviewer]

Thank you. Thank you, Rick.