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| She's just not that into you, Rick! |
by Andy Nowicki
In 1981, Australia-born soap opera star Rick Springfield first burst to the top of the American pop charts with Jessie's Girl, a tune that combined irresistible hooks with raw, emotional ferocity and unexpected pathos.
Given the singer's chiseled good looks and teenybopper fan base, Springfield's songwriting talents tended to go unnoticed; even today, the song is often regarded as a kind of 80s "guilty pleasure," devoid of substance and only fit to be appreciated with a dollop of ironical post-modern smarm. Yet Jessie's Girl has endured through the decades for much the same reason that it first became a hit; in addition to being a catchy-as-hell power pop anthem, it also effectively catches the angst of the alpha male hellaciously hoisted by his own petard, in a manner that elicits both amusement and pity from the listener.
