What are Rick Springfield’s 5 Biggest US Hits?

Many folks would have guessed that Rick Springfield might fade quickly after the massive success of “Jessie’s Girl” in 1981. But instead, Springfield turned into one of the most reliable hitmakers of the decade.

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Springfield ended with a quintet of Top 10 singles to his credit. Here’s a look back at the five biggest US hits of Rick Springfield’s career.

5. “Affair Of The Heart” – No. 9 in 1983

It’s interesting that Springfield was able to enjoy the success he did while mostly staying away from a synthesizer-based sound on his first two albums. After all, synths were generally the order of the day on the pop music scene at the time. He relented a bit on his 1983 album Living In Oz. You can hear it on “Affair Of The Heart”, the album’s lead single. The song starts off with a cold sci-fi vibe. That makes the impact more profound when Rick switches into a more straightforward rock thrust in the exciting chorus.

4. “I’ve Done Everything For You” – No. 8 in 1981

Because of his status as a pop idol, people too often overlooked Springfield’s skills as a writer. The truth is that there are very few of his hits that he didn’t pen himself. “I’ve Done Everything For You” was an exception. Considering Working Class Dog was his first album after coming out of the musical wilderness, it made sense that the record company might want to see him go with at least one cover. Sammy Hagar wrote the song, and he also released the first version of it. Since Hagar’s take only hit (mildly) in Great Britain and not in the US, most assumed that the song was an original when Springfield scored with it.

3. “Don’t Talk To Strangers” – No. 5 in 1982

Springfield, in somewhat cheeky, self-deprecating fashion, titled his 1982 album Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet. It was a nod to predecessor Working Class Dog, an album whose own success was as unlikely as it was overwhelming. Had he not come out of the gate with a strong single for that follow-up LP, who knows how things might have turned out for him? Instead, “Don’t Talk To Strangers” solidified that he was here to stay as a major star. The song takes a paranoid view of long-distance love. Springfield later said he was projecting his own infidelity on his then-wife with the lyrics.

2. “Love Somebody” – No. 2 in 1984

A few months before Prince managed the feat with Purple Rain, Rick Springfield tried the whole pop musician as music star bit with the film Hard To Hold. The film flopped. But it didn’t much slow down his pop prospects. “Love Somebody”, the lead single from the movie’s soundtrack, made sure of that. Years earlier, Springfield had recorded a tongue-in-cheek song called “Bruce” that nodded to people confusing him for Springsteen. With its thrilling opening and stirring chorus, “Love Somebody” comes as close as Rick ever managed to following the Boss’ template.

1. “Jessie’s Girl” – No. 1 in 1981

After recording Working Class Dog but before releasing it, Springfield took an acting gig on General Hospital as a fallback plan. That shows that even he didn’t much believe in what this song was about to do. The quiet-to-loud dynamics predate grunge by a good decade. We bet you can quote several phrases from the lyrics verbatim. (Our favorite: “The point is probably moot.”) And he smashes a phone to dust in the video. What’s there not to like? Quite simply, it’s hard to imagine the identity of 80s music taking shape the same way without “Jessie’s Girl”.

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