Jim Steinman dies at age 73

[Hellraiser]

Jim Steinman, composer, playwright, lyricist and producer who is probably most known for his collaborations with Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler as well as his work on the musical Dance of the Vampires, has passed away on Monday at the age of 73.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jim-steinman-meat-loaf-songwriter-dead-obituary-1158472/

R.I.P. 

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Hellraiser

[Bobfoc]

He worked on some really popular tracks and albums. This was someone who knew what he was doing.

[METALMAN]

You know, I've never really listened to much of his stuff with the exception of snippets of Bat Out Of Hell (the song, not the album), Total Eclipse of the Heart and IWDAFLBIWDT. But I've definitely got a soft spot for over the top, kitchen sink music - it might be the opera fan in me. Should give him more of a listen sometime.

[Colly]

I'm of that generation where Bat Out of Hell 2 came out when Dad's still listened to that sort of thing (I think it was one of the first CDs we ever had in the house) so he was always a bit of background noise at home. Absolutely ridiculous of course (Andy, listen to Love and Death and an American Guitar, from his solo album after he'd fallen out with Meatloaf, just daft brilliance. Half of that album ended up on later Meatloaf albums or reworked into other stuff) but brilliant in it's own way.

Someone told me yesterday he wrote the theme to Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling cartoon, I'd never heard that before and it's a blatant lift of something he did for Bonnie Tyler...

[Skummy]

58 minutes ago, Colly said:

Someone told me yesterday he wrote the theme to Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling cartoon, I'd never heard that before and it's a blatant lift of something he did for Bonnie Tyler...

It's actually the other way around - he wrote "Hulk Hogan's Theme" for The Wrestling Album, which was then used as the intro theme to the cartoon, and then later repurposed it for the Bonnie Tyler track "Ravishing". Never ashamed to recycle old ideas, was Jim.

He's someone I used to think of as a bit of a joke - there's an old joke about how one sentence never heard in musical history was "I think the melody's a bit too subtle, Mr. Steinman" - and in my more elitist hipster days, when I was really into punk and DIY stuff, I saw any sign of excess and bombast in music as all a bit wank. But as I've got older I've developed so much respect for people who are capable of going entirely over-the-top, but managing to stop at the brink of self-parody, and I love anyone who is just undeniably the best at whatever it is they do. Any artist where you can listen to them and instantly recognise it as them, and I think Steinman is one of very few producers you can say that about.

In the last few weeks before I left Jersey, I would meet a couple of friends for drinks, and start out the night listening to country music and gradually the playlist would get sillier and cheesier as we got more drunk. It was pretty much guaranteed we'd end up with Steinman-era Meatloaf at least once a night, and I'll always associate him with those daft singsongs. 

[gunnar hendershow]

I would have to say Steinman is responsible for so many over-the-top karaoke and sing-along sessions. I definitely agree I used to discredit music like his a lot but as I've gotten older I definitely realized nobody did the absolutely bombastic anthem better. He was a guy who listened to Wagner and Puccini and was like "man this is kind of dour."

Nothing he did was ever lacking in ambition, that's for sure.

[METALMAN]

Gotta say I wish he got a better singer that Meat Loaf though. It annoys me in IWDAFLBIWDT when the Loafster goes I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR LUH

 

WHAT IS LUH AND WHY WOULD HE DO ANYTHING FOR IT (EXCEPT THAT)?

[GhostMachine]

I get the Meat Loaf dislike, but part of me wishes he had done "Total Eclipse of the Heart". Covered it, that is. Not done it instead of Bonnie Tyler.