Meat Loaf has died

[Baddar]

He was 74.

I heard a lot of his music growing up, mainly due to my two older cousins who were really into him. I still have a Spotify playlist of his that I go back to from time time time. 

[Lint]

True story, Meat Loafs "Bat Out of Hell II" was the first CD I ever owned.  I've always liked Meat Loaf, he was a good old just plain rock and roll singer.  This honestly really hurts me...

 

[Chris2K]

Really sad about this one, I love his music and he always seemed like a very entertaining and nice guy, even if sometimes it was hidden behind some bizarre anger.

 

I'll definitely be belting out some of Bat out of Hell on the way home tonight.

[DFF]

A big loss in the rock community. One of the earlier rock artists I got into, and I'm glad I got to see him live a few years. Even though he was clearly beyond his best, he still put together an excellent production with spot on backing singers etc and on the few songs where he really went for it, he still had some of the old magic. 

[Colly]

31 minutes ago, Lint said:

True story, Meat Loafs "Bat Out of Hell II" was the first CD I ever owned. 

I think it was probably a lot of people's, literally because it came out around the time that CD players became affordable, it was definitely one of our first too. 

His stuff is utterly ridiculous in terms of song structure, but somehow incredibly catchy and "pop", and I loved him growing up. Most of it still holds up brilliantly, and he always came off well (though I'm wary someone may tell me he has questionable politics).

A good few years ago there were rumours he was inexplicably going to buy a house in Wolviston, which is a little village 15 minutes walk from me. Completely bizarre but I think it had some legs, he weirdly outed himself as a Hartlepool fan once...

[Colly]

There we go. Local press at it's best.

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/local-news/village-rocked-by-rumour-3845585

[Skummy]

45 minutes ago, Colly said:

His stuff is utterly ridiculous in terms of song structure, but somehow incredibly catchy and "pop", and I loved him growing up. 

That's really it, that his songs were utterly bombastic, ridiculous, and lacked any real "pop" or commercial sensibility, but worked regardless - "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" is preposterous, and should not work as a pop song at all, but somehow it does. 

He was never someone I got massively into, but "Bat Out Of Hell" was one of those albums that absolutely everyone seemed to own, and in the last couple of years, before I left Jersey, I'd often end up in my mate's café after closing time with a few cans of cider, and at some point during the night we'd almost always end up sticking some Meatloaf on and just reveling in how utterly ridiculous and audacious everything about it was.

After Jim Steinman died, I listened to a lot more of his stuff than I ever had before, and what Steinman said about his music holds equally true for everything Meatloaf did without him - if you don't go over the top, how are you ever going to know what's on the other side?

[RazorsEdge]

Bat Out Of Hell is an album that I remember listening to very early on in my life as it was one of my dad's, and by association my, favourite albums. A big loss.

[Hobo]

We had a Meat Loaf best of in my house when I was growing up. I liked to listen to it from time to time.

I always really had a soft spot for music videos for "I'd Do Anything For Love (but I won't do that)" and "I'd Like For You (And That's The Truth)" (which I think are both directed by Michael Bay).

[gunnar hendershow]

Meat Loaf had no business getting as popular as he did but to his benefit he came of age at a time when record labels would try and make anything and everything work. Such over-the-top music.

Weirder yet was that he basically vanished off the radar for a decade only to come back like he had never left in the 90s. A case of an artist being discovered by an entirely new generation.

We've lost him and Jim Steinman in less than a year.

[Bobfoc]

Hating Meat Loaf's music seemed like the cool thing to do in a lot of circles, but I always had a fondness for the audacious nature of it. His best songs seemed to have such a grand scale to them.

"I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram on a silver-black phantom bike" is one of my favourite song lyrics because someone I knew mistook it for "I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram on a Cilla Black fan on a bike".

[GhostMachine]

Dammit! 

 

 

[MalaCloudy Black]

I think "Bat Out of Hell II" was the first album I ever saw the cover to and thought "wow, this is sick, awesome" 

 

Suppose I'll listen to some Meat Loaf while I get ready for work this morning, then.

[VerbalPuke]

Bummer. I like Meatloaf, as everybody said his stuff was bombastic but it worked. Some of it felt like a Baptist church guy belting out love songs, but then I feel like it has elements of do-wop and 50s rock.

Really a bummer.

[fourstarfizzle]

One of my early memories is Bat Out of Hell's cover art, we never had many albums at home, but that always struck me as 'holy crap' artwork,  it was different from all the other stuff (mainly my mums Celine Dion and Gloria Estefan albums). I'm glad I gave this a listen when I was kid as it was so different to everything else, and I think it set me off early on to always try a bit of everything musical, or purely based on bad ass album artwork!

[gunnar hendershow]

6 hours ago, Colly said:

There we go. Local press at it's best.

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/local-news/village-rocked-by-rumour-3845585

 

[DFF]

Been working my way through the albums today. Bat is obviously an amazing all time great debut, there's a bunch of so-so albums then I got to Blind Before I Stop - what a cracking, underated 80s synth pop record! A gem! 

[Hobo]

 

ii cant say im surprised tbh

[King Ellis]

25 minutes ago, Hobo said:

 

ii cant say im surprised tbh

I would do anything for love but I won't do vax?

Low hanging fruit joke aside, can't say I've listened to a large portion of his catalogue outside of the obvious big hits but those are amazing. Love a good power ballad like Anything for love... and on top of that you have the amazing video with all this sort of gothic, beauty and the beast type vibe.

I liked that story that did the rounds when Steinman died about how much ML wanted to sing It's All Coming Back To Me Now, moreso for some of the tellings that seemed to paint Meat Loaf as some sort of petulant teenager throwing a wobbler because he couldn't get what he wanted. It just amused me.

[GhostMachine]

47 minutes ago, Hobo said:

 

ii cant say im surprised tbh

I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Take A COVID Shot)