Meat Loaf is the man of grand gestures, who managed to sell millions of albums with his bombastic rock music. Meat Loaf was born as Marvin Lee Aday on 22 January 1946 in Dallas. During his student days, he was nicknamed Meat Loaf by his then basketball coach. In 1967, he moved to Los Angeles, where he played in various bands. In 1970, Meat Loaf landed a role in the musical ‘Hair’. The singer attracted the attention of the soul label Motown and subsequently recorded the album ‘Stoney & Meat Loaf’ (1971) together with soul singer Stoney. The album was a huge flop. Meat acted in various theatre productions and got to know pianist/composer and arranger Jim Steinman through his lead role in ‘More Than You Deserve’, which Steinman had written. Shortly afterwards, the heavyset singer could be admired in ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ and his name began to become somewhat known. Meat Loaf helped his old friend Ted Nugent with his album ‘Free-for-All’ and toured America with Steinman.
Together with Steinman, Meat Loaf worked on new material and in 1977 his first album ‘Bat Out of Hell’ finally appeared. With Todd Rundgren as producer and Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band as backing band, Meat delivered an impressive album. Initially, the album seemed to be somewhat ignored, but thanks to his overwhelming live performances (where Karla De Vito replaced Ellen Foley, who was heard on the record), Meat Loaf managed to make the album a huge success. And when ‘Paradise By the Dashboard Light’ also became a big hit in the Netherlands, Meat Loaf’s success seemed unstoppable.
The wait was now for a follow-up. However, Meat Loaf struggled with serious vocal problems and Steinman became so frustrated by the long wait that he decided to sing the album himself, and in 1981 ‘Bad For Good’ was released.
In the meantime, Meat Loaf occupied himself with his old love: acting. For example, he appeared alongside Debbie Harry in ‘Roadie’. In 1981, Meat’s long-awaited second album ‘Dead Ringer For Love’ was released – but the album was nowhere near as successful as ‘Bat Out Of Hell’. Disappointed by the lack of success, a fierce quarrel arose between Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman, which was fought out in court. In 1983, Meat was even declared bankrupt. His career hit rock bottom and his albums ‘Midnight At The Lost And Found’ (1983), ‘Bad Attitude’ (1984) and ‘Blind Before I Stop’ (1986) sold reasonably well, but the former success seemed to be over.
After Steinman and Meat Loaf reconciled again in mid-1992, the long-awaited ‘Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell’ (1993) was released to the surprise of many, showcasing a Meat Loaf in top form. With the captivating ‘I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)’, and the stunning accompanying video clip, he finally scored a massive worldwide hit again. The album sold roughly six million copies worldwide and Meat Loaf was back in full force. In 1995, he released the album ‘Welcome To The Neighbourhood’ without Jim Steinman’s help, and stood high in the charts with ‘I’d Lie For You’.
Death
On 20 January 2022, Meat Loaf passed away at the age of 74.
However, Meat Loaf was not only a singer but also an actor. Before releasing Bat Out of Hell, he appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, alongside Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry among others. It was a musical horror comedy that was initially poorly received but later gained cult status in the United States. Other films in which the singer appeared include Leap of Faith, Fight Club and Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny.
Top 2000
In the 23rd edition of the Top 2000, Meat Loaf is featured with 6 entries:
Sunday Morning Classic: Bat Out Of Hell
On 6 September 2020, Meat Loaf was our Sunday Morning Classic with the album Bat Out Of Hell.
The album contains music of a bombastic and Wagnerian style. When Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf presented this album to record companies, they encountered many problems finding someone willing to produce it. Guitarist Todd Rundgren heard this and immediately decided he wanted to produce the album. Rundgren initially asked for a hefty $45,000 to produce albums, but this was rejected as too high for this project. He agreed to a percentage of the proceeds, which eventually earned him a small fortune. It was decided to record the album in its entirety rather than each track separately. It took some effort to find a label, and eventually that was Cleveland International Records.
The album cover design is credited to Jim Steinman and illustrated by Richard Corben. The album is dedicated to Wesley and Wilma Aday (Meat Loaf’s parents) and to Louis Steinman.
The album was not an immediate hit; it had to grow. Approximately 200,000 copies of Bat Out of Hell are sold each year. Worldwide, more than 43 million copies have been sold. In America alone, that is 16 million and more than 1.5 million albums in Australia (even after the recount of the charts in November 2006, it stood at number 41 on the Australian Recording Industry Association). This made it the fourth best-selling album of all time. It spent 474 weeks in the UK charts, just behind Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, which was there for 478 weeks. On the list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine, this album was ranked 343rd in 2003. It is also one of only two albums that have never been removed from the UK top 200 chart and is thus the longest-charting album in the world.
source: Muziekwereld, Wikipedia and NPO photo: super festivals
