"But through relentless touring and a 1978 appearance on NBC’s 'Saturday Night Live,' Meat Loaf found an audience, making 'Bat Out of Hell' an enormous, if unexpected hit.... Its signature tune, 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light'... was an ornate melodrama about a teenage make-out session... more than eight minutes long and [it] even contained a long segment narrated by Hall of Fame baseball player and broadcaster Phil Rizzuto, describing a batter rounding the bases and sliding into home. (Rizzuto said he didn’t realize his description was meant to be an elaborate sexual metaphor.)
His musical secret, Meat Loaf said, was that he approached every song like an actor preparing for a role. 'I can’t sing unless there’s a character... Because I don’t sing. It’s almost like being schizophrenic — I don’t sing, the character sings.'
Early in his career, the long-haired, 300-pound Meat Loaf was openly mocked by critics — and even by [his collaborator Jim] Steinman, who once called him 'a grotesque, bloated creature, who stalked the stage like an animal but acted as if he were a prince.'"
From WaPo's very lengthy obituary, "Meat Loaf, whose operatic rock anthems made him an unlikely pop star, dies at 74."
This wasn't my kind of music, but I can admire his work from afar. People loved him in "The Rocky Horror Show,” and he had a very interesting role in "Fight Club."
And he's got a great Donald Trump connection — "Meat Loaf, should I run for President?"
Later, "You look in my eyes: I am the last person in the fucking world you EVER want to fuck with":
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67 comments:
The album was drek...catchy, but drek.
I appreciate the Trump connection. Like Trump there was always a bit of tongue in cheek with Meat Loaf.
Farewell Meat…or, Mister Loaf.
Never got Meat Loaf's musical appeal. Just never got it. But he seemed like a nice enough guy in any interviews I ever saw of him. Although I was probably just clicking through them.
Anyway, he made the most of what he had. Really, he blew up way past what he had. Good for him.
Paradise was(IS!) a pretty awesome song.
The Actual song is Very Short (i think it doesn't really start until "I couldn't take it any longer")
Or, at least not until "Stop Right Now!"
Everything before is just warmup (baseball term) or prologue
The Really Good Park is the "So Now I'm Waiting For The End Of Time" part. There's about 1 minute of song left then (including the fade out to black)
In 1978 I was in college and "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" was a sexual anthem. A real breakthrough song.
One of my former girlfriends is in a community theater group. A few weeks after the show they have a "prom." The women all loved singing to "Paradise" and acting out the song. I guess the women had been in that position in high school and college. They weren't going to go all the way unless they had a promise of marriage.
Meat Loaf had a powerful voice. RIP.
Trump: "Now, you would definitely vote for me?"
Meat Loaf should've told Trump: "I won't do that!"
His father said he looked like ground chuck when he came out, so he had the nurses put "MEAT" on his name tag. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/meat-loaf-name_n_5849f39ce4b0e05aded337bf
From what I recall the album was a show-tunesification of rock. Like taking the music of Broadway and applying it to rock instead of the other way around, like Grease and Rocky Horror. I think I was more familiar with the sequel from the 90’s. That “Anything for Love” song was huge.
His name was Robert Paulson.
R.I.P. Mr. Loaf…
I didn't think we really needed odes to teenage sexuality, but at least we had -- or thought we had -- a unified culture back then. Meat Loaf could be a former high school football player from Texas and an LA rock/movie/theater star. When he lived in tony Westport, CT, his daughter was ridiculed in school for wearing the wrong kind of blue jeans, so Meat moved the family inland to a more blue collar town, where they fit in better. Today Meat Loaf would be forced to choose a side -- what's it gonna be, boy? -- and would anybody really be better off for it?
Not a fan of his music, but appreciated his work as an actor.
RIP, Mr. Loaf.
I'm surprised he lasted this long.
The chorus of 'Two out of three ain't bad' is an all-time classic.
From videos I've seen, the big man really put it out there on stage and you got your money's worth, so good for him.
Maybe an example of someone willing themselves to succeed against pretty heavy odds...
He seemed like a good guy.
I saw Meat Loaf in concert in the late 90s. It was before his big comeback and he was opening for the Allman Brothers. Most of the people there could not give a shit about Meatloaf but he had one or two hard core middle age women that were whooping it up during the concert. I thought it was pretty hilarious at the time. I will always remember him for that show and his role in the Rocky Horror picture show ("Meatloaf again?"). RIP
I loved some of his work and have some of his songs on my oldies greats channel. Some of his videos were operatic. He had great vocal command and was one of the few people who could nail the national anthem. Heard his performance at the all-star game back in 94 which opened my ears toward him and then discovered his music upon further research.
"Paradise By The Dashboard Light" said in one song what Bruce Springsteen has been less effectively blathering on about his entire career.
I hope Freddie Mercury and Meat Loaf are yukking it up right now.
Bat out of Hell was such a huge part of High School.
What an extravagantly weird (but harmless) guy. He made the world a very slightly better place.
As a famous poet said at Joe Biden's inauguration:
For there is always meatloaf,
if only we're brave enough to see it
if only we're brave enough to be it
Meatloaf was a human being and a sincere artist. People like those things.
Rip meatloaf! We go way back. In 1980, we met at the copy machine in the brill building, at broadway and 49th, famous venue of music producers and film editors. As the low man on the totem pole for a documentary producer, I had been dispatched to salvage whatever information and reels could be retrieved from the negative cutter’s loft, after he killed himself. Shot himself right there at the cutting table. I had to step over the blood stains. And then I met meatloaf, at the copy machine in the common area. One of those things seared in my memory, hadn’t remembered until now.
When Meat Loaf first hit it big I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal about the marketing behind his shows and albums. I found it really interesting how they integrated the shows with pushing the album in individual markets without the muscle of a major label. But my favorite part was that the WSJ style guide said first mention, use the person's whole name, subsequently it's Mr. so and so. So throughout the article they called him Mr. Loaf. Which I found hilarious, and I think it's funny that it's turned up here, too. RIP Mr. Loaf
Sometime in the early 80s. Toronto. My wife and I go to visit an old girlfriend of hers in an apartment. There is nothing special about the place, but this young woman was really very beautiful--no offence to my better half. Somehow the friend started to talk about her problems with men--they wanted more from her than she was prepared to give, and they wouldn't leave her alone. Then she said something like: there's a song that says it better than I can. On a beat-up old portable record player she plays a 45 (I won't stop to explain to young people): "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad." She said she had played this many times, and it was very powerful for her.
It is sad to hear of the passing of Meat Loaf, but to start off knowing that my taste in music is not like Robert Cook's has made my day.
Covid.
TMZ reporting that death was due to COVID.
If that isn't true, medical records and treating physicians can clearly and conclusively address the reporting. And at the same time, they can speak to whether the patient had been fully vaccinated, and boosted, and if so when.
Other media now picking up on the reporting of other sources, interviews, etc., where Meatloaf had expressed some vaguely articulated criticisms of vaccine and masking requirements.
Howard said...
Covid.
That would be Hell Out of Bat, wouldn’t it? Or, Hell Out of Lab Leak.
His musical secret, Meat Loaf said, was that he approached every song like an actor preparing for a role
The album was written as a musical play. There is a really informative "behind the scenes" documentary on Bat Out of Hell. It's on Amazon Prime, I think, or Comcast On-Demand. Maybe available on YouTube.
I sorta liked "bat out of hell" but it needed more "Bat".
Meatloaf was another person who was almost killed by Record Company gatekeepers. You wonder how many good singers weren't able to break through like meatloaf.
Classic Albums - Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell
https://www.amazon.com/Meat-Loaf-Hell-Classic-Albums/dp/B07JQ4FX56
A behind the scenes look at the making of "Bat Out of Hell" with writer Jim Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren providing most of the commentary, along with Ellen Foley, Karla DeVito and Meat Loaf himself.
John Althouse Cohen said:
“ Trump: "Now, you would definitely vote for me?"
Meat Loaf should've told Trump: "I won't do that!"”
Thread Winner! Well Done Sir!
I was going to say something like “He was Not good looking, he was Not a good singer, but he made it in that industry all the same. Two out of three ain’t bad? Doesn’t quite work tho…
I have to say I’m appreciating these comments and reminiscing about good times in the years Meatloaf was successful. Loved the music. Sad day.
Always wondered why Todd Rundgren produced this record, but I'll bet he made a ton of money from it.
For those who are interested:
Youtube link of his Star Spangled Banner performance. You can see he put his whole self into performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDSZxUlGZnA
Meat Loaf was discovered by Jim Steinman on the stage in a show that Steinman wrote.
Always wondered why Todd Rundgren produced this record
The roar of the motorcycle was created by Rundgren on his guitar.
I don't think it was a good idea to challenge Gary Busey to a fight. It looked like Busey, a good-old-boy from Oklahoma, was more than happy to accomodate him.
And now, Louie Anderson has died.
2 celebrities who are known for being quite fat have died...
'2 celebrities who are known for being quite fat have died...'
Co-morbidities...
Get on a treadmill and cut the doughnuts.
Co-morbidities...
Get on a treadmill and cut the doughnuts.
74 and 68. Did pretty well without.
Great lyrics I remember
“Ain’t no doubt about it, we were doubly blessed
We were barely 17 and we were barely dressed”
I think that’s the way it went…
Meat Loaf was a novelty act. He was rather like KISS: bombastic, and with little to say. That scene from Celebrity Apprentice looks studied to me - unserious, and done purely for ratings. All this ranting and cursing over tubes of paint? If he was 20 and drunk, it would be a bit understandable as a dominance display. With his greying hair, Meat Loaf’s cursing and threats looked pathetic and weak.
That's the key -- it was an act.
Meat Loaf had a stage persona and in real life was entirely different.
"2 celebrities who are known for being quite fat have died..."
...known for being quite fat? That's what they're known for? Meat Loaf had lost quite a bit of weight, I think, some years ago. Anderson died of cancer, not sure his being overweight was all that relevant.
Fat people (even if formerly fat) and smokers, especially if white and male, can be dismissed so easily.
Apparently Meat Loaf was also anti-vax and anti-mask. So known for that as well.
Obesity is a co-morbidity to diabetes, auto immunity, heart sludge, strokes, Alzheimer's, cancer, colds flu and pneumonia, ED, low Testosterone, kidney failure, etc, etc
Why do you think most Rockstars live so long?
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses, driving 15 cars
The girls come easy, and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny, 'cause we just won't eat
It's comforting to know the breadth and depth of why a celebrity died. It is so people can say oh I'm not fat I'm not a drug user I didn't smoke yada yada yada. It's another variation of whistling past the graveyard.
Skipped all comments to say only that the guy was completely overrated. I could only shake my head at some of my friends' admiration for whatever talent they saw in him.
P.S. Speaking of fat people, there is also Andre Leon Talley, the fashion guy who was famously friends with Anna Wintour until she ruthlessly cut him out of her life. He was super fat. Died a few days ago of a heart attack but with Covid related complications.
No word on his vaccine/mask position.
"Bat Out Of Hell" is such a wonderful and strange record. Steinman's one of a kind flamboyant showtune glitz/hard rock hybrid. Rundgren: A Wizard, a True Star (at least in the production booth) at the boards. And then Meatloaf himself: utterly unique, with a hair-raising voice and that instantiated male id stage persona.
And then the performance in Fight Club, in a role that had to be perfect or the whole thing falls apart. A monster that you never feel anything but compassion for.
"Fat people (even if formerly fat) and smokers, especially if white and male, can be dismissed so easily."
I'm not dismissing him, just putting him in the category of celebrities whose fatness is part of their fame. There are lots of them: Lizzo, Roseanne, Oliver Hardy, Fatty Arbuckle, Jackie Gleason, Oprah, John Goodman, Santa Claus, lots of opera singers ("It ain't over until the fat lady sings")...
No disrespect intended... but I do think being fat is a risk factor for many diseases.
I wish I was so cool as to be above liking pop music like some of you guys.
But I'm not, so when the local stations play 2 out of 3 ain't bad the next few days I'll be happily singing along in the car and loving it.
'74 and 68. Did pretty well without.'
These days, not so great.
'Meat Loaf was a novelty act. He was rather like KISS: bombastic, and with little to say.'
KISS has got to be the absolute worst musical group in the history of music to be successful.
There talent to success ratio is approaching infinity.
They are truly, mind-bendingly awful.
If you are a KISS fan, I don't want to meet you or know you.
Ask me what I really think.
Dave Begley said...
In 1978 I was in college and "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" was a sexual anthem. A real breakthrough song.
One of my former girlfriends is in a community theater group. A few weeks after the show they have a "prom." The women all loved singing to "Paradise" and acting out the song. I guess the women had been in that position in high school and college. They weren't going to go all the way unless they had a promise of marriage.
The thing I liked about Meatloaf was how he managed to hide a very moral interior under a very skanky exterior.
What's the message of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"?
To girls: Don't believe guy's bullshit
To guys: Don't think with your dick, it can get you in big trouble
How about "2 out of 3 ain't bad"?
He could lie to her, but he's not going to. No matter how much better off it would make him
It's so much better than a clean exterior, with a skanky interior
Since moderated comments are a pain in the ass to deal with, I want to thank our MEGaTroll for reminding us, once again, why moderation is so often necessary: some people -- or rather one particular woman in this case, is too fucking stupid to give up commenting even after literally thousands of her comments have been deleted, and can't stop demonstrating why they are always deleted by writing really stupid and vicious ones whenever she can (though not for long). Trying to win some kind of 'ultimate loser' contest?
re: Wet Willie
They are name-checked in Charlie Daniels' song "The South's Gonna do it Again."
..."old brother Willie's gettin' soakin' wet..."
Meat Loaf had the personality adaptation used by most super big and tall men. He was gentle and non threatening. Those guys have to act that that way or be rejected on sight. But it is a hard act. I had several clients and business men like him. My impression is that their high wire act made everyone stare at them like they were acrobats on a high wire. Trump understood.
Other fat funny people: John Candy, Chris Farely, Robert Morley, Victor Buono, Belushi
Non-funny fat poeple: Orson Welles, Sidney Greenstreet, Laird Cregar,
Rocky Horror introduced him to a wide audience.
I love, love, love Meatloaf's version of "Visions of Johanna." 48 minutes of intimacy. How can one man stand it??
So, China killed Meatloaf, with financial support from Tony F ?
I was one of the forty million people who bought that album. I wasn't any kind of fan, but he hit a walk off home run in Game Seven of the Series with that record. He did seem to have a knack for catching the frothy wave of the zeitgeist. He didn't have that much of a movie career, but he was in two cult favorites....I wonder if he was a rock star so much as a person who portrayed a rock star. He looked excessive, but his personal life wasn't all that excessive. He ate too much. By rock star standards, that's kind of chaste.
In a desultory, off and on way, I'm watching After Life with Ricky Gervais and Emily in Paris with Lily Collins. After Life features bleak people who have bleak things happen in their relentlessly bleak lives. The exceptions to the bleakness are the weather and the pleasant little village in which they flounder and gain weight. There aren't that many sunny days in England, but every day in this little village is sunny. If I were suffering from PTSD, I would move to a little village in England. Everything in the background looks comfy and cosy and suitable for Hobbit reunions. It takes a lot of the sting off the bleakness......Emily in Paris features absurdly attractive people in absurdly fashionable clothes doing glamorous things against picture postcard Paris backgrounds. It's far more of a fantasy than GOT or Witcher. None of the characters are bothered by gravity or death or pimples. It's pleasant to think that life, even for rich, young, beautiful people, could have so many happy days....The series glamorizes glamour, and that's probably a heavier lift than honey glazing bleakness.....Here on my planet it's going to be cold tomorrow and then later on we'll get a slanting winter rain. Not much you can say for winter rain. I don't think even ducks like it.
@William - thanks for the reviews.
It would be well into the 90s when the song would get played at a Christmas party (Catholic University, so yes, it was a Christmas party) and we started the sing along. The men all knew their part, and the women did their's as well. Paired up and screaming at the top of our lungs.
The younger folk just stared at the older folk, wondering what the hell just happened.
That whole album had life.
Wa Street Blogger: I agree. His Star Spangled Banner was great!
Just sang the song with meaning.
No special flourishes.
I like the song that way.
(Though still not as good as Whitney!)
I never really cared for Loaf's music, although PBTDL is a nostalgic favorite. I just don't get into theater rock*. . . .Alice Cooper did much the same thing, except for a few songs (saw Cooper just this past Spring, he does a benefit concert every year in my community).
* Meaning it's sort of meant for a musical stage production.
I don't know from rock music; but a girl I was in love with liked his Bat Out of Hell album very much (which titillated me, this peek into her hidden naughty side), and that got me interested in the album--that, and the album-cover art, which is still, to me, one of the greatest pieces of album-cover art. Eventually I came to enjoy the music, even if it's still not my cup of musical tea.
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