RIP Meat Loaf

[Tamas]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/21/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-singer-dead-at-74

[jimmy olsen]

Sad, loved their songs.

[The Brain]

I very nearly loved him. RIP

[Admiral Yi]

RIP Loaf.

Was thinking t'other day how wonderfully outdated the lyrics to Paradise by the Dashboard Lights is now.

[Agelastus]

All I can say is R.I.P.

[Josephus]

Sung many of his songs poorly at pubs back in the day. 

[mongers]

 


But what a life. 

[Grey Fox]

RIP

Lots of famous early boomers dying this January. The next years won't be easy on that front.

[celedhring]

Many drunk renditions of "I'd do anything for love" when I was in my 20s. RIP 

[Maladict]

RIP Mr. Loaf

[crazy canuck]

Don't be sad - Great music and success but not immortality - 2/3 ain't bad

RIP

[Caliga]

Don't be sad - Great music and success but not immortality - 2/3 ain't bad

R.I.P. Meatloaf.  Loved that guy's music.

[ulmont]

I'd have more sympathy if he wasn't a Herman Cain Award nominee.  Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

https://old.reddit.com/r/HermanCainAward/comments/s9elvm/his_name_was_meatloaf_prominent_antiva_antimask/

[Savonarola]

RIP

My favorite story about him is that when Todd Rundgren first heard his songs he assumed that they were supposed to be a parody of Bruce Springsteen.

[Sheilbh]

RIP.

I shared this with some friends this morning. There was a thing on Tumblr a while ago in British media circles where they'd basically match a great album with someone who hasn't heard it before - for example former leader of the Liberal Democrats and well-meaning Christian rambler Tim Farron listening to Straight Outta Compton. They'd do a quick summary of the album/artist and then get the take of their guest (who had to listen to the album three times). It was quite fun.

And their intro to Meat Loaf is wonderful:
https://ramalbumclub.tumblr.com/post/141663897114/week-61-bat-out-of-hell-by-meatloaf

One favourite story:

Right, what's next?

During a job interview for a parking attendant in a theatre, a nearby casting director asks Meat Loaf if he can sing and offers him a part in the musical Hair. The show is a huge success and he finds himself on Broadway singing that Aquarius song.

It's also around this time that he meets Jim Steinman - a slightly weird fella who wore leather gloves and had a portfolio of REALLY long songs where people lost their virginity to spine tingling baseball commentary.

We'll come back to him in a bit.

Next, Meat Loaf gets offered a part in a new musical called The Rocky Horror Show. Again, it's a massive success and EVERYONE came to see the show - John Lennon, Elvis Presley, and Keith Moon to name a few. In fact Moon was so taken by Rocky Horror that he was a regular at the theatre, sitting in the front row with 9 bottles of champagne on the stage - one for each member of the cast.

The musical then gets made into a film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but bombs on its release. Meat Loaf then appears in a Shakespeare musical called Rock a Bye Hamlet, which sounds like the worst thing ever, and decides to quit musicals for good.

Instead, he went back to that Steinman fella and started working on those REALLY long songs.

What happens next is my probably my favourite bit in the whole story.

Rather than doing what normal bands do, i.e. record a demo tape, Meat Loaf decided it would be a good idea to perform the songs live in front of label executives. Typically this would involve Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman on piano, and a singer called Ellen Foley going through an early version of Paradise by The Dashboard Light.

The record labels hated it as soon as it started and were further appalled when they got to the bit in the song where Meat Loaf and Ellen Foley started to make out with each other RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM!

It's some image - a 25 stone man in a frilly shirt getting off with a slim blonde, whilst some weirdo sits in the corner playing the piano with his leather gloves on.

Unsurprisingly, they didn't get a deal.