Please watch the video above for the full tribute.
This is my tribute to Meat Loaf the singer and entertainer who has sadly passed away.
In this video, I have focused on how I first became aware of him as a vocalist and the effect hearing Bat Out of Hell had on me back then.
The songs were of hope, that broken hearts would heal, that the love of your life was waiting just around the corner. The words and delivery were cinematic, it felt like my life could be a movie and I might be the star.
I believed him, the lyrics were alive and this is how big rock music could sound. It was bombastic, funny, serious, it made me think all things were possible.
Meat loaf was the voice, Jim Steiman the conductor, all around them guitars screamed and visions of love, lust and zombie bikers lit up the sky literally like a bat out of hell.
Bat Out of Hell became the album everybody had to have. It appealed to music fans of every genre. The lyrics were pure rock theatre but it was your rock theatre and your story. Even if all you had was a bus pass and you had never sat on a motorbike you still could relate to lines like ‘like a bat out of hell I’ll be gone when the morning comes!
All of us have been revved up with nowhere to go and when we did eventually learn to drive and get our first car we hoped that Paradise By The Dashboard Light could be ours as well!
I can imagine Jim Steinman and Meat loaf looking down on us now. Heaven, it seems has waited long enough. Jim Steinman’s timeless lyrics created a world that our imaginations wanted to be in, the vocal delivery and interpretation by Meatloaf put us directly in the songs.
Meat loaf was a larger than life character with a voice to match. He had one of the best rock voices of all time, it was up there with all the legendary vocalists. I remember being in a band when we were looking for a new vocalist and we all said we want someone that sounds like a cross between Meatloaf and Ronnie James Dio.
His performance on songs like ‘For Crying Out Loud’ is so full of emotion that I imagine everyone would want a song performed like that about them
Today play Bat out of Hell, see it as rock theatre, put yourself in the songs, turn it up to 11 and enjoy the ride.
Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine
Thank you for your tribute to Meat Loaf. He was the only one of his kind. The music that he and Jim Steinman did together will last forever.
Hi Laura,
Thank you for watching and your kind comment. I agree the music they leave behind is timeless and for us fans a great comfort. I also think for the family seeing these comments and tributes is also a comfort for them. Phil