How Rick Springfield Is Remaining Relevant, and Selling Out Venues

Rick Springfield managed to evade the plight of many ‘80s stars, many fading into obscurity after a series of mishaps. The singer of the hit track “Jessie’s Girl”, Springfield continues to release material and tour several decades later at the age of 63. He is far from the stereotype of a lingering flame in the music industry, but there are notable factors that have made Springfield a durable name in music. One of the most prominent is Springfield’s lifelong relationship with music; doing anything else would be abnormal to him at this point. Springfield has been active in music ever since he formed a band at age 13. Six years later, he was performing music for a living, including a tour in South Vietnam playing for Australian troops with MPD Ltd. A lifelong commitment like that is one reason why he’s still producing material in 2013, and has only taken a few years off since starting in 1962.

In addition to being accustomed to playing music ever since he was a teen in the early ‘60s, Springfield’s veteran status and decade-spanning chameleon methods also help explain why he remains relevant. Any film that seeks to invoke ‘80s nostalgia seems to involve “Jessie’s Girl” or a similar-sounding Rick Springfield track, and that marketing value does plenty of PR on its own. Springfield’s greatest reign was in the early ’80s, particularly with back-to-back albums Working Class Dog and Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet in 1981 and 1982, respectively. Although he still thrives off the success of those, both culturally and commercially, his re-emergence in 1999 marked a period whose success was relatively independence of his previous touching stones. That year was a big one for Springfield; 1999’s Karma marked his first release in ten years, and he resumed touring shortly after its April release.

Karma is a solid example of an artist who keeps their pulse on pop culture, despite being away from the spotlight for several years. This habit is another reason Springfield has maintained his running success. While not exactly being dependent on his ‘80s material, the release of Karma coincided with Springfield’s realization that ‘80s nostalgia was alive and well among the younger generation, especially in 1999 as youth sought additional trends in music beyond boy bands and crusty alternative. The advance orders for Karma exceeded 100,000 copies, and with generally positive reviews it resulted in resurgence for Springfield. Karma was led by single “It’s Always Something”, a tribute to his father who passed away prior to the release of Working Class Dog in 1981. “There’s still a lot of things going on in me that pertain to him and my relationship with him,” Springfield said about the track, an example of his sincerity and reverence for the past, the latter a matching behavioral aspect among his listeners.

A sporadic acting career, with roles on everything from Showtime’s Californication to his reoccurring guest role as Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital, has also elevated Springfield’s recognition among contemporary audiences. Still, it’s his music that resulted in his re-emergence in 1999, which helped propel him to a string of releases throughout the ‘00s, his most recent in 2012 with Songs for the End of the World. Although his most recent efforts fail to chart significantly, Springfield still sells albums and attracts audiences with a sound that invokes nostalgia, but also one that finds success in sincerity and sentiments of familial loyalty. His musical and acting career combined, Rick Springfield is certainly one of the most durable musical figures of the ‘80s with an impressive diversity of success.