Day 14 – A Song No One Would Expect You To Love
“Love Is Alright Tonite” – Rick Springfield
Today I’m supposed to write about a song that is supposed to be surprising that I like. It might be that I’m too close to the subject matter, but this was one of the hardest days in this whole exercise. Anybody with some passing knowledge of me knows that I like The Ramones and most punk music, The Beatles and a fair bit of rock and roll, and both of those bands cover a large swath of musical styles. Delving a little deeper into my musical psyche, those that get to spend a few hours around me know that I like certain rap (Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Public Enemey) and heavy metal (Motorhead, Judas Priest, Megadeath) bands. Since I have several thousand CDs, is it surprising that I’m not adverse to some country (Willie Nelson, Hank Williams) blues (B.B. King, Muddy Waters) or industrial/techno (Kraftwerk, Nine Inch Nails)? Bob Dylan? Sure. Elton John? Yep. Madness? Absolutely. U2. No surprise there.
There are a number of lesser known acts that I could pick for today’s exercise, but there’s no real surprise if you haven’t heard of them before. Cui Jian is a Chinese rock and roll legend, and one of the most powerful performers I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness. Johnny Clegg from South Africa, Shonen Knife from Japan, or some local bands like The Gits or Sicko. There’s no point in picking a song from them because it’s not a surprise.
So I asked around, and two people who are close to me and know my musical taste quite well both mentioned Rick Springfield. My wife, who has known me for 18(?) years still doesn’t understand why I like his music. A very good friend of mine also mentioned that it seems as if Rick Springfield’s music doesn’t typically fit in with what I usually listen to.
I’ve never hid my enjoyment of Rick Springfield’s musical work. While I was a closet Duran Duran fan for many years, I never felt the need with Rick Springfield. I don’t know why. But, since two people who know me well both say that Rick Springfield is something they don’t see me liking, I guess I have to go with it. I picked “Love Is Alright Tonite” instead of “Jessie’s Girl” for a couple of reasons. Everybody knows “Jessie’s Girl” and since it was his biggest hit, it’s the obvious choice. Most people, however, forget he had a string of other hit singles.
Here is a song from the same album (“Working Class Dog”) as “Jessie’s Girl” and is a great example of not only his output at the time, but also of many early 80s rock/pop acts that I have an affection for, such as The Greg Kihn Band, The Knack, The Romantics, etc. it also helps that “Love Is Alright Tonite” was a chart success, landing on his greatest hits albums. Besides, “Love Is Alright Tonite” seems to capture a lot of what Rick Springfield is about, it’s a pretty rocking number, and the lyrics are about love, about taking things one day (or night) at a time. No, it’s not a deep song, lyrically, and musically it might by rather simplistic, but it’s fun, has a good groove, and I like it.