Day 28: Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell
Album cover courtesy of Cleveland International/Epic Records
I’m ashamed to admit that I know more about Meat Loaf’s acting work than his music. I’ve seen Rocky Horror, Fight Club and the cinematic masterpiece that is Spice World: The Movie, and yet I could only name about three or four of his songs. I had to fix that ASAP, especially after finding out that Bat Out of Hell is one of the bestselling albums of all time. Who would have thought?
Meat Loaf’s rise to the top as a musician wasn’t exactly straightforward. He had released an R&B record as a part of a duo called Stoney and Meatloaf, as well as being in a band that opened for acts like The Who, Alice Cooper and Iggy & The Stooges. Meat Loaf and the composer Jim Steinman were both touring in the National Lampoon show, having replaced Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, when Steinman played him some songs from his Peter Pan-themed musical called Neverland. One of the songs was “Bat Out of Hell.”
The pair decided that they wanted to develop the songs into an album that sounds like a movie, so they embarked on working on the songs and getting a record deal. It took years, and they were often brutally rejected. No one really got what they were doing, until they played the songs for Todd Rundgren, who rolled on the floor laughing and said “I've got to do this album.” Rundgren then produced it, financed it and played on it.
It's one of those albums where you really need to focus on the lyrics to fully enjoy it. The storytelling is so vivid that it’s more reminiscent of something you’d find in a book than in a song, with the lyrics setting a scene and telling a story that flows together from song-to-song. It is, however, also very clearly made tongue-in-cheek and with a hefty dose of humour. Rundgren even saw the album as one big elaborate spoof of Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run.
I thought it would be darker than it is, and while the protagonist does die in the first song, it’s more fun and horny than dark and moody. “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” is about losing your virginity in a car, and “You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth” is about having your first kiss. Lots of the eight songs on the album seem to revolve around being young and experiencing love and/or lust that is heightened by your youth, with “All Revved Up with No Place to Go” being among the best of them.
It’s a camp little rock opera that takes you on a journey. I’ll give it a very reasonable 7.5/10. I can appreciate a bit of the ‘Loaf. I’m glad I listened to it, but once is probably enough.