Nov. 29 -- Rick
Springfield is a very naughty boy. He was expelled
from his high school, he prefers Nine Inch Nails to
Franz Ferdinand and he's still lusting after his
best friend's girl after all these years.
It's actually been 25 years since he ruled TV and
radio with his sexy turn on 'General Hospital' and
his mega-hit song 'Jessie's Girl.' But when
Springfield returns to 'GH' Dec. 2 to reprise the
role of Dr. Noah Drake, you'll wonder why he stayed
away so long.
Springfield spoke with AOL Television editor Sandy
Deane about his return to soaps, his latest album,
his rebellious streak and his wildest fan ever.
How did your return to 'General Hospital' come
about?
They actually called up my agent and said, "Would
Rick be interested in reprising his role for a
couple of episodes?" He called me and we both went "woah."
It seemed like something that I'd like to try and
check out and see what happened with it.
So you don't know how long your run is going to
be?
I don't know, I think we're just short-term checking
it out to see. They want to see what it does for
them and I want to see how I feel about it and if it
has any impact anywhere.
How are they going to explain your absence on the
show?
When I left the show, the character was transferred
to Atlanta. That was the end of Noah Drake's first
stint on 'General Hospital.'
And he's been in Atlanta all this time?
Well, no, he's spent time in certain areas of New
York, which is where they find him. One of the
regular characters on the show (Jason) needs a great
neurosurgeon, and one of the doctors (Robin) tries
to track me down, thinking I'm the one that can save
her friend. The good news is she finds me, but the
bad news is she finds me in a bar.
So he has a bit of
baggage coming back?
He has a lot of baggage which is great; it makes it
really a lot of fun to play because he was pretty
much a bright shiny happy person with a bit of an
ego on the last show.
What was it like coming back to the set after so
long?
Well it was a little weird. It had moved, so it
wasn't the same studio that I used to go to, so I
didn't really have that déjà vu.
Is it difficult getting back to the daily grind
of filming a soap opera?
Yeah, it is. The speed with which they film, that's
something that takes a while to get in the swing of
because you're shooting a whole episode in a day.
Will you be singing on the show?
No, absolutely not. It seems to cross the cheese
line a bit too heavily. Certainly, I don't want to
mix the identities. Noah Drake isn't Rick
Springfield; you have to be very clear about that.
Do you prefer music or acting?
Well, music is a 24-hour-a-day thing for me. I've
always considered myself a songwriter before
anything. Since I've been back [on 'GH'], I realize
how much I miss acting.
How did you choose which songs to cover on your
latest CD, 'The Day After Yesterday'?
It was songs that I've just kept in the back of my
mind that I'd love to do at one point. And I wanted
to pick songs that weren't too overplayed. Like when
people have heard 'Life in a Northern Town,' they've
gone, "Oh yeah, I love that song."
But you did put one original song on the album.
How did 'Cry' make the cut?
It's a song that I had written around the late '80s
but it never fit on a record. It seemed to really
work with the rest of the songs.
When will you get back to your touring schedule?
We're mixing a DVD we shot earlier in the year, then
in December we're going to Japan to do some shows,
and then Austraila.
What bands are you into right now?
I've always liked the heavier stuff. I've always
loved Tool and System of a Down, Korn and Nine Inch
Nails. I listen to that more than say, Franz
Ferdinand, although I appreciate great pop, I always
have.
Do you watch a lot of TV?
I'll watch any show on the History Channel. I would
have been an Egyptologist if I had had the
schooling, but I got kicked out of high school.
Why did you get kicked out of high school?
I basically stayed away for like half a year. I was
a terrible, terrible teenager. If I had kids like
me, I would have freaked out. I was the worst.
Puberty hit me very hard and I basically had no use
for school once I discovered the guitar.
Girls still swoon at the mention of your name. Do
you have any wild fan tales?
One of the weirdest ones was this girl who hooked up
with us in the early '80s who claimed she was the
heiress to the Marriott hotel chain. She started
traveling with us and getting us all these free
Marriott hotels everywhere. Then about six months
later, the FBI came looking for her for all the bad
checks she dropped to pay for all these rooms we
thought we were getting for free. Boy, she had us
all fooled.
What exactly was so special about Jessie's girl
anyway?
I don't know if as a girl I would have remembered
her any more than another one that I was hot for and
never got. It was just one of those things that I
just knew was pointless heat, nothing would ever
happen and it's a horrible feeling.
Unrequited love?
Totally. More than that, unrequited lust [which] is
worse.
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