Take the Rick Springfield/'Victoria's Secret' challenge!

Reading about Rick Springfield’s comeback CD on People.com yesterday — apparently his disc, Venus in Overdrive, debuted at No. 28 on Billboard’s Top 200 this week — I had to do a double take when I got to the mortifying title for his lead single, “What’s Victoria’s Secret?” I kid you not, dude rips off his own guitar line from “Jessie’s Girl” while delivering groaners such as “You show me that face/ Is it really what it claims to be?/ Show me that brain/ Is it really based in fantasy?/ Oh it’s vanity.” This is actually worse than the time several years ago when I saw Springfield sporting a fluorescent orange jumpsuit while playing a gig at Minneapolis’ Rib Fest. (I was there for the ribs, if you must know.)

So here’s my challenge to you. Play the embedded clip of Springfield performing “What’s Victoria’s Secret” on General Hospital, then share with your fellow PopWatchers how many seconds (or minutes) you’re able to tolerate before hitting the “stop” button*. I listened to all 3 minutes and 45 seconds, because that’s what I get paid to do, but my soul started begging for mercy at the first hint of falsetto (at the 1:08 mark).

* ‘Fess up if you stopped playing “Victoria,” but promptly went ahead and clicked that link to the YouTube clip of “Jessie’s Girl.”