Meat Loaf

views updated

MEAT LOAF

Born: Marvin Lee Aday; Dallas, Texas, 27 September 1947

Genre: Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993)

Hit songs since 1990: "I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)," "Original Sin," "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)"

Meat Loaf became a 1970s superstar when he combined rock opera bombast and arena theatrics, particularly on his signature hit "Two out of Three Ain't Bad." He was a memorable performer thanks to this melodramatic style and overpowering 250-pound presence.

Born into a gospel-singing family, Meat Loaf first worked as a singer and occasional actor. His mother died from cancer when he was quite young and his father became an alcoholic. In 1967 he quit college where he was studying to be an accountant, and moved to Los Angeles to form a rock group known alternately as Meat Loaf Soul and Popcorn Blizzard. The band gained a following while opening for rockers the Who, the Stooges, and Ted Nugent.

Meat Loaf won a part in the West Coast production of the musical Hair. At an early 1971 tour stop in Detroit, Michigan, Meat Loaf teamed up with a singer/actress cast-mate named Stoney to record his first album Stoney and Meat Loaf on Motown's Rare Earth imprint. (This was later re-released as Meat Loaf (Featuring Stoney) in 1979.) The album met with negligible success but the pair scored on the hit single "What You See Is What You Get," which peaked at number seventy-one on the Billboard pop charts later that year.

After Meat Loaf moved to New York, he appeared in the off-Broadway musical Rainbow in New York, which ran from 1972 to 1974. He then switched roles in another off-Broadway musical, More Than You Deserve, written by producer, composer, and classically trained New York pianist Jim Steinman, who was impressed by Meat Loaf's powerful vocals and stage presence.

Meat Loaf landed the part of Eddie in the theatrical production in 1975 and later the movie version of Richard O'Brien's cult piece The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The next year he followed that up by singing on one side of Ted Nugent's album Free for All. Meat Loaf joined up again with Steinman on the National Lampoon Road Show tour and later as Steinman worked on a musical update of the Peter Pan story titled Never Land. But it was on the pair's masterpiece album, Bat out of Hell (1977) that Meat Loaf reached his critical zenith. A teen opera penned by Steinman, the music was elevated into rock lore thanks to producer Todd Rundgren's pop focus and Meat Loaf's over-the-top vocals and theatrical stage presence. The album went platinum by the end of the year, with several hit singles, including "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," "Two out of Three Ain't Bad," and "You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth."

A sequel was planned but never released as Meat Loaf was unable to record due to physical exhaustion and other problems relating to nonstop work, including film appearances in Americathon (1979) and Roadie (1980). Frustrated, Steinman released his own solo album Bad for Good (1981) to minimal success in England. Meanwhile Meat Loaf followed with Dead Ringer (1981), which included Steinman tunes and featured Cher in a duet on the title track. But gone was producer Rundgren and his pop skills. Making matters worse, almost four years had transpired since the original smash, and so the album barely dented the charts. One tune "I'm Going to Love Her for the Two of Us" peaked at number eighty-four on the Billboard pop charts.

In 1983 Steinman filed suit against Meat Loaf and none of his songs appeared on Meat Loaf's subsequent album, Midnight at the Lost and Found (1983). That and Meat Loaf's subsequent albums, Bad Attitude (1984) and Blind before I Stop (1986), fell flat. Shortly afterward, Meat Loaf filed for bankruptcy as he went into physical and psychological rehabilitation.

In 1993 Meat Loaf hooked up again with Steinman to produce Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell, the long awaited sequel. The album features the original story and the usual bombastics. It produced the hit single "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" while the album peaked at number one in October 1993.

Meat Loaf then went solo again and released Welcome to the Neighborhood (1995) and Rock 'n' Roll Hero (1999) but by then the appeal of his melodramatic flair was old hat. As a team Meat Loaf, Steinman, and Rundgren struck lightning when they combined absorbing lyrics, pop sense, and over-the-top singing. But the magic of the original Bat out of Hell came in its camp silliness and gothic and operatic flair, an approach that did not have a long shelf life.

Spot Light: The Bat Is Back

It was highly improbable, but Meatloaf soared back on the national scene with his hit single "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" from the direct sequel to his pompous masterpiece Bat Out of Hell (1971). Few rock artists have been able to resurrect the zenith of their careers to such an incredible degree. Putting their differences behind them Meatloaf and Jim Steinman reunited for Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993), which peaked at number one in October 1993. All the basic elements were there—confused teen hero, histrionic singing, and arena sound. Familiar themes of youthful angst and struggle were plentiful in titles like "Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back," "Out of the Frying Pan (and into the Fire)," "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer," and "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)."

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Bat out of Hell (Epic, 1977); Dead Ringer (Epic, 1981); Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell (MCA, 1993); Welcome to the Neighborhood (Virgin, 1995).