'Jessie's Girl' rocker back in the limelight

He's a former teen idol and actor, but don't put Rick Springfield in the same musical category as Keanu Reeves, Russell Crowe or Hilary Duff.

Springfield was a rocker long before he became soap-opera heartthrob Noah Drake on General Hospital -- and he remains a rocker long after.

He recently opened a world tour at an intimate club in Santa Clara, Calif. The tour has attracted attention from his strong cult following, which includes Europeans and die-hards across the United States.

The 54-year-old musician is proof that success can do as much harm as good. Although he had great sales and critical reviews two decades ago, with a string of albums that peaked with the 1981 smash Working Class Dog, these days he's often stereotyped as a vapid former teen pop star. Yet he has put out solid, inspired albums recently, ones that come close to the no-limits-pop of Cheap Trick or the Vines. But they have been all but ignored in the mass market.

His latest release, Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance on Gomer, his own label (named for his dog), is the kind of deep, introspective and searching album once released by bands that believed pop music demanded more than a hook for a car commercial. The album title, he says, comes from the "four stages of healing."

On Perfect, he sings that even if people "have perfect body, perfect skin, there is no perfect anything." On Jesus Saves, he notes wryly that "Jesus saves white trash, baby, like you."

So what does a guy with perfect teeth, a 20-year marriage, two teen-agers and a house in Malibu, Calif., have to complain about?

"I was always a pretty dark kid," he says via mobile phone from Malibu. "Family life is always light-years from idyllic. There's always a ton of bad stuff."

The singer says he and his family have been in therapy, working things out. "The truth is, I've never had a perfectly happy day in my life. There are great times and down times every day. I used to pursue why, but I don't know. I don't know anyone who is truly happy."

Like Lucinda Williams, Springfield says he can't create good music if he's happy. But unlike the Louisiana singer, he doesn't break up relationships in order to keep writing.

"I don't bother to look inward when I'm feeling good," says the singer, whose biography recalls his getting beaten up a lot as a youth in Australia. "All my favorite songs, even Jessie's Girl and Don't Talk to Strangers, came from a darker place, someplace unfulfilled. I could never write Don't Worry, Be Happy."

Springfield was born Richard Springthorpe outside Sydney, Australia. A poor student, he was playing rock professionally at 15. In 1969 he went on a tour that took him to Vietnam to entertain the soldiers amid battles all around.

In 1970 he recorded a heavy-metal version of the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby in a style that isn't much different from what he's doing today.

His career shot up and down in the 1980s. Jessie's Girl hit the top of the charts in 1981, the day MTV made its debut. He is sometimes considered to be the last rocker to have a hit that wasn't influenced by the TV network.

Springfield has revived his career lately with the help of the Internet, which has allowed him to reach out directly to fans.

He spent the past two years doing a Broadway-style show at the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas; he says the current back-to-rock tour is a rebellion against that.