Meat Loaf released today in 1977 Bat Out of Hell. It is one of the best-selling albums of all time.
This second studio album was Meat Loaf’s first collaboration with composer Jim Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren. The album sold over 43 million copies worldwide. To this day it sells over 200,000 copies annually. Interestingly, the first single released from the album ‘You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth’ failed to chart when first released. Recording started in late 1975.
Rock n’ Roll came from the slaves singing gospel in the fields. Their lives were hell, and they used music to lift out of it, to take them away.
That’s what rock n’ roll should do – take you to a better place.
The album was excessive in every way. It was big, brash, and loud, just like Meatloaf. Well-timed for the era, punk was rife, and we had scattered the forces of classic rock to the winds. The release was an overblown record full of ridiculous gothic imagery and cod-sexual appetites and turned out to be one of the year’s more forgettable efforts. This was excess: biker anthems with everything louder than everything else.
With Meat Loaf’s operatic vocals of Meat Loaf and the classically trained Jim Steinman, this rock opera went large and they took the music to excess.
There was a connection between the album and Peter Pan. It began life as a 70s sci-fi musical called Neverland, which was an update of the J. M. Barrie story.
The title track was a monumental story of love, death and betrayal, and total epic. ‘Paradise By The Dashboard Light’ epic tale of teen romance and sex was true trailer trash soap opera feels. ‘You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)’ casting men as hapless victims of female guiles, gave us the romanticism of the werewolf with the cynicism of the age. ‘Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad’ was a street ballad, with teenage hormonal frustration highlighted in ‘All Revved Up With No Place To Go’(originally called “The Formation of the Pack”).
The brilliance was inherent in Steinman’s lyrics and the simplicity of Phil Spector-inspired post-60s pop matched by Meat Loaf’s magnificent over the top performance.
The greatest musicians of all time backed this album. Todd Rundgren produced, with Max Weinberg on drums and Roy Bittan on keyboards (both from Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band), Edgar Winter on saxophone on three tracks, and Rundgren’s own proto-metal guitar throughout the album. Sounds of a buzz saw to searing leads and motorcycle revving made this release heavy and epic.
Todd Rundgren was the third choice to produce this album. Both Andy Johns and Jimmy Iovine turned it down. Rundgren thought the album was hilarious, and a parody of Bruce Springsteen. One reason he agreed to work on the project was that Steinman told him that RCA has signed him and Meat Loaf, which was untrue.
Baseball legend Phil Rizzuto did the commentary with two takes for ‘Paradise By The Dashboard Light’. Rizzuto made his name as a player with the New York Yankees, and Meat Loaf grew up as a Yankees fan.
Steinman wanted equal billing with Meat Loaf on the album’s title, calling it Jim Steinman presents… or Jim and Meat. The record company wished to make Meat Loaf the recognizable name. They met in the middle by placing the words “Songs by Jim Steinman” prominently on the cover.
A mega-seller Bat Out of Hell continues to enjoy almost iconic status.
It is vital in any Classic Rock-approved collection. They pushed everything to the limit, and way beyond.
