TV Tattler: Celebrity Interviews

Rick Springfield Dishes About Returning to 'General Hospital'

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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.