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Rock N' Roll heroes always create a fantasy surrounding their real lives, and Meat Loaf is no exception to this rule...thus this page is called the "legend". Below is the most accurate "feeling" information we have been able to get....frankly, we think Meat would want it no other way..for us to indulge in our "feeling" when it comes to his reality! |
Marvin Lee Aday acquired the name "Meat Loaf" after stepping on the foot of the high school football coach.....or was it his head was run over by a Volkswagon....or he was in a plane crash when he was just a baby, after which he was stranded in the woods and could only say the words "Meat Loaf", and ended up being raised by wolves....or was it the result of the nurse at his birth commenting on the fact that his "buns" were like "2 perfect meat loaves"...who knows? MEAT knows, and says, while he enjoys making these stories up (or hearing the ones others make up) the real story is simple. When he was 2 his father called him "Meat" because of his size, even then. Later, when old enough to attend school, his classmates added the "Loaf".
Meat decided it was best for him to leave home, so in 1967 he quit college (where he was studying to be an accountant), and moved to L.A., where he formed "Meat Loaf Soul", who later became "Popcorn Blizzard", a group which was quite successful. They opened local concerts for acts such as the Who, the Winter Brothers, Iggy Pop and Ted Nugent (on whose albums Meat Loaf sometimes guested as lead vocals). It was while living in a commune in Echo Park, LA, that Meat met an actor who suggested he audition for a part in the musical "Hair," playing at the nearby Aquarian Theater. 
Meat Loaf got the job (are you surprised??)!! He was cast as Ulysses S. Grant-and so his second career, which runs, to this day, parallel with his singing career, began. While "Hair" was on tour and doing shows in Detroit, Meat Loaf and singer-actress Stoney cut an album for Motown's Rare Earth label. They notched up a minor American Hit: "What You See is What You Get" by Stoney and Meatloaf (sic) hit US:71 in 1971. Stoney soon quit, later to join Bob Seger's band as a backing singer, and Meat returned to "Hair", now playing Cleveland, Ohio. 
That particular touring production folded at the end of '71 in New York, and Meat Loaf was then cast as Buddha in the musical, "Rainbow" [In New York], which ran from 1972-74. He then switched roles to appear in the off-Broadway musical, "More Than You Deserve!", written by Jim Steinman, a precocious and inventive New Yorker, who'd been brought up in California, but had come back to get back to the Great White Way. Steinman also sang, but at the time he was auditioning for his play, as his nose was broken by a female biker and he couldn't utter a decent note!!! When Meat Loaf appeared for the audition, Steinman was amazed by Meat's voice and his overpowering presence and declared "This guy is my voice! He should be singing Wagnerian rock opera!" Meat and Steinman became friends and colleagues.
Meat's adventures over the next couple of years included touring the States with the National Lampoon Road Show, playing the priest in "Rockabye Hamlet" (you guessed it... a rock version of Hamlet!) and singing on Ted Nugent's album 'Free for All'. In 1977, he rejoined Steinman's fantasy and became part of "Neverland" (yes, a futuristic rock version of Peter Pan!!!). 
There, "Bat Out of Hell" was conceived - Steinman's Wagnerian rock opera vision of Meat Loaf himself!! Rarely has this kind of craziness been pulled off so well, and against such massive odds. The project was originally intended for CA Records, but they refused to let Todd Rundgren produce, so Steinman pulled out. The actual recording was financed through Albert Grossman's Bearsville Records (Todd Rundgren's label), who were distributed by Warner Brothers Records. Warner Brother's, however, wouldn't spend enough money on promotions, so Steinman backed off again. Eventually, manager David Sonenberg persuaded the fledgling Cleveland International corporation to play the "Bat Out Of Hell" tapes to Epic. Epic saw the light. What Meat Loaf, Steinman and Rundgren had actually done was to take the metal/hard rock excesses of the early-mid '70s (all of which were getting a bit sluggish) and inject them with the New Wave energy of the late '70s, resulting in one of the most dynamic rock albums of all time (it stayed on the UK charts for an astonishing 400 weeks).
"Bat Out Of Hell" finally hit the US:14 (and stayed on the US album chart for 88 weeks) and UK:9. It was a slow-burning success but became one of the all-time biggest-selling rock albums. It also brought Meat Loaf rock star fame, which he embraced this with his usual overwhelming enthusiasm....sometimes even overwhelming for him! 
At the end of 1978 he fell off stage in Toronto and wound up in a wheelchair for a month. Constant touring temporarily ruined his voice, and so the follow-up album to "Bat", with all tracks except vocals laid down and ready, sat in the studio for months until Steinman, tired of waiting for Meat Loaf's voice to recover, put on the vocals himself. In 1981 Steinman's solo album 'Bad For Good', originally intended for Meat Loaf, became a big hit in Britain and a modest hit in the States. 
Later that year, the real Meat Loaf follow-up appeared: "Dead Ringer", again a close collaboration between Steinman and Meat Loaf, whose busy career now also included three movie roles: "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", "Roadie" (with Debbie Harry) and "Americathon". Non-stop touring with his hit albums and singles ("Dead Ringer For Love", a duet with Cher, was a global smash single), Meat Loaf could do little wrong. His third album, "Midnight at The Lost And Found", hit UK: 1, though in the States his popularity was on the slide. Steinman wasn't on it (he was busy with Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart"), and it was produced by ex-Atlantic engineer Tom Dowd. At the end of 1983 Meat Loaf quit Epic and joined Arista. It's from Meat's later material on Arista that the tracks on this compilation are taken. "Bad Attitude" in 1984 (with Roger Daltrey) hit No. 8 on the UK album chart and contained the hit, "Modern Girl", along with "Surf's Up", "Nowhere Fast", "Piece of the Action" (two UK hit singles), "Bad Attitude", and "Sailor To A Siren". In 1986, Meat Loaf played Gil in the movie, "Out of Bounds", and that September, scored another hit single with "Rock'n'Roll Mercenaries", a duet with John Parr. That track came from Meat's next album, "Blind Before I Stop", recorded in Rosbach, Germany, and produced by mentor Frank Farian. Other tracks from that album included were "Getting Away With Murder", "Rock'n'Roll Hero", "Blind Before I Stop", and "Special Girl". 
"The singer who acts, the actor who sings" - Meat's intense charisma and personal performing power, as well as his huge capacity for work and for play, have earned him the often-spoken title of being "larger-than-life". Nevertheless, Meat Loaf really is. When one considers all the bad times he's had, along with these successes, one can't help but feel that his spirit must be unconquerable!! He was declared bankrupt in the mid- '80s; his act was shattered by the death of his drummer Wells Keily. Meat himself was clinically dead for 40 seconds after collapsing on stage; in Australia he insisted on finishing his tour despite breaking his leg half way through. 
Again, after a long fight with Steinman, but mostly with his own "dark side", Meat followed Bat II with the album "Welcome To The Neighborhood", which although it didn't receive the same attention from the world's media as Bat II did, don't try to tell a loyal fan that it hasn't a worthy place in record collections!!! "Neighborhood" saw a hit single, "I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth)". After the following tour, Meat once more took time out to appear in movies, and guesting in T.V. shows ("Nash Bridges", "The Mighty" and "SpiceWorld"). Also, "Black Dog" is now playing on HBO, and we are looking forward to "Crazy In Alabama" with Antonio Bandaras and Melanie Griffith, as well as "The Fight Club" with Brad Pitt!!! People use to talk of the possibility of a "Greatest Hits" album, others of "Bat III" for the future. Now we know the answers to those rumors!! We all look forward to the release of Meat's "Greatest Hits" album in November of this year!!! |
References credited to the album insert for "Meat Loaf - Rock 'N' Roll Hero", Pickwick Music. It has some solid info on Meat Loaf. All copyrights apply.
Meat Loaf's first album, "Bat Out of Hell," is in the top 5 largest-selling albums in history, selling 30 million copies worldwide, with sales of 16 million in the United States alone. In his career, Meat Loaf has sold more than 50 million albums; won a 1993 Best Rock Vocal Grammy for the hit, "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)"; gone multi platinum with "Bat Out of Hell II"; and added another platinum album to his collection with 1995's "Welcome to the Neighborhood"....and his albums are still selling, hot as ever!! Meat's Latest Musical Ventures include his Greatest Hits CD and The Storyteller's CD.....plus he is currently in the studio with some new writers planning a new CD!!! The Greatest Hits CD was a compilation of many of his greatest hits, with the addition of 3 new songs...to find out more about this cd, CLICK HERE The Storyteller's CD came out after Meat's appearance on VH-1's Storyteller's. Re-mixed by Kasim Sulton, it includes some of the live performances from that show as well as many of the stories to go with them, as only Meat can tell them!!! To find out more about this cd...CLICK HERE Meat has had a growing, prosperous movie career that has included both the Big Screen and TV. Watch for the soon to be released movie "Rustin" and the HBO movie "Blacktop". His career in movie ventures can be found HERE!! Meat has also written his autobiography. "To Hell And Back" is available at most book stores, as well as online at AMAZON and at BARNES AND NOBLE. To find out more about the autobiography, CLICK HERE Last year, Meat toured Europe, and the UK, also visiting such places as Scotland! This was called the "Greatest Hits" tour, and in spite of a bad respiratory infection that cancelled several shows, the tour overall was a grand success!! Then, the US was blessed with the "Storyteller's Tour". Based on Meat's appearance on VH-1's Storytellers, it was unlike any other live concert ever experienced!!! Described as "the biggest intimate experience you'll ever have", the audience interaction, old and new stories, and the new music, all made these shows wonderful, "meaty" memories!!!! |