Great one, Ellen! Creative approach, too.....I've never seen "MeatLoaf" on an RSO label! I never knew he recorded on anything but Cleveland Internat'l/Epic! I knew he did stage work, and I saw the "RHPS" movie. I bet Clive was ticked he let THAT one get away, but everyone who believed in the project deserve mega credit....from Popovich to Todd. If you saw/heard all that walk in, it'd be a dubious sell job, no doubt!
There was nothing else like it at the time. It was so much more theatrical than rock dared allow itself to be....even more bombastic than Alice and Bowie, and anyone else who thought they were anything close to "theatrical"!
Agree completely. Who would have taken that risk except someone who was driven by innovation rather than money? Todd admits in his autobiography that he's taken risks and spent substantial sums on new technology, learning how to do computer coding and designing products early on. I think he just relishes a challenge even if it has a price tag attached.
I didn't know all that about Meat Loaf's background either. Quite a talented guy who had the musical experience and the music and acting chops and really went for it. Theatrical doesn't do him justice. I think his melodramatic brilliance is what has translated globally and wracked up the phenomenal sales. So agree with you, he took it beyond even Alice and Bowie!!!
Unquestionably one of the greatest albums of the 1970s. Steinman wanted to make a record that sounded like a movie- Rundgren produced it like a film director with a great eye for staging and camera movement.
Love this album! My friend Michelle and I did our own lip sync version to Paradise by the Dashboard Light at my high school graduation party. It was recorded on videocassette until my mother accidentally taped over it! Oh well, it was a great memory!
Omg, how fun is that! That would have been a blast to watch -- and to post as one of your memories in your graduation year.
You've made me remember that I first saw Meat Loaf in the Rocky Horror film in downtown Chicago, I think in summer 1981. Of course at midnight. That was a blast.
I remember how big Rocky Horror was at that time. Not sure if I saw it then or a couple of years later but, yes, midnight was the time to see it! Where did you live in Chicago in '81?
One of my very favorite rock 'n' roll stories, and well re-told, Ellen! Clive Davis is in the pantheon of Suits headed by Dick Rowe of Decca - 'the man who passed on the Beatles.' And Todd, vindicated by his own creative genius & sense of humor was able to launch many 'uncommercial' projects of his own thanks to the unexpected revenues from "Bat Out Of Hell."
"So the two of you should go back to the drawing board, ’cause there’s some talent here, but I just think it’s so wrong and so misdirected"
can only be topped by:
"Sorry Mr. Epstein, guitar groups are on their way out. . ."
Thanks, Hugh, and thanks for the Dick Rowe example, which I hadn't heard.
Clive does name Meat Loaf as one of the artists that "did slip away from us." It clearly was a regret, but as you know he picked up Whitney who generated one hit record after another, and unlike Meat Loaf (in his view) she definitely looked like a star! (I think he was in love with her.)
Great one, Ellen! Creative approach, too.....I've never seen "MeatLoaf" on an RSO label! I never knew he recorded on anything but Cleveland Internat'l/Epic! I knew he did stage work, and I saw the "RHPS" movie. I bet Clive was ticked he let THAT one get away, but everyone who believed in the project deserve mega credit....from Popovich to Todd. If you saw/heard all that walk in, it'd be a dubious sell job, no doubt!
There was nothing else like it at the time. It was so much more theatrical than rock dared allow itself to be....even more bombastic than Alice and Bowie, and anyone else who thought they were anything close to "theatrical"!
Agree completely. Who would have taken that risk except someone who was driven by innovation rather than money? Todd admits in his autobiography that he's taken risks and spent substantial sums on new technology, learning how to do computer coding and designing products early on. I think he just relishes a challenge even if it has a price tag attached.
I didn't know all that about Meat Loaf's background either. Quite a talented guy who had the musical experience and the music and acting chops and really went for it. Theatrical doesn't do him justice. I think his melodramatic brilliance is what has translated globally and wracked up the phenomenal sales. So agree with you, he took it beyond even Alice and Bowie!!!
"Will he offer me his love?" "Yes!"
Unquestionably one of the greatest albums of the 1970s. Steinman wanted to make a record that sounded like a movie- Rundgren produced it like a film director with a great eye for staging and camera movement.
Very perceptive comment, David. I hadn't thought about it that way, but that's exactly what it feels like.
Love this album! My friend Michelle and I did our own lip sync version to Paradise by the Dashboard Light at my high school graduation party. It was recorded on videocassette until my mother accidentally taped over it! Oh well, it was a great memory!
Omg, how fun is that! That would have been a blast to watch -- and to post as one of your memories in your graduation year.
You've made me remember that I first saw Meat Loaf in the Rocky Horror film in downtown Chicago, I think in summer 1981. Of course at midnight. That was a blast.
I remember how big Rocky Horror was at that time. Not sure if I saw it then or a couple of years later but, yes, midnight was the time to see it! Where did you live in Chicago in '81?
I lived in Evanston, at Northwestern for a year and throwing some great parties with my flatmates. Loved going into Chicago -- wonderful city.
Ah! No doubt!
One of my very favorite rock 'n' roll stories, and well re-told, Ellen! Clive Davis is in the pantheon of Suits headed by Dick Rowe of Decca - 'the man who passed on the Beatles.' And Todd, vindicated by his own creative genius & sense of humor was able to launch many 'uncommercial' projects of his own thanks to the unexpected revenues from "Bat Out Of Hell."
"So the two of you should go back to the drawing board, ’cause there’s some talent here, but I just think it’s so wrong and so misdirected"
can only be topped by:
"Sorry Mr. Epstein, guitar groups are on their way out. . ."
Thanks, Hugh, and thanks for the Dick Rowe example, which I hadn't heard.
Clive does name Meat Loaf as one of the artists that "did slip away from us." It clearly was a regret, but as you know he picked up Whitney who generated one hit record after another, and unlike Meat Loaf (in his view) she definitely looked like a star! (I think he was in love with her.)
To think this epic masterpiece was that close to never seeing the light of day....
Crazy. If not for some persistent artists and a risk-taking producer...