― Sean M. Hall (Sean3), Monday, 5 May 2003 23:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― di smith (lucylurex), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 00:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 00:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 00:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 00:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 00:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 01:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 01:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
See, that's the point! Multiplied that way the end result is much much better than either factor!
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 01:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 01:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Sean M. Hall (Sean3), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 01:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
At last! Somebody understands!
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 01:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 03:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 03:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 03:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 04:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 11:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 11:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
"Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)"
― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 14:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 16:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 17:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― s woods, Tuesday, 6 May 2003 17:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Little Big Macher (llamasfur), Tuesday, 21 October 2003 02:13 (twenty years ago) link
― paulhw (paulhw), Tuesday, 21 October 2003 02:27 (twenty years ago) link
― queen G of copacabana, Tuesday, 20 April 2004 09:52 (twenty years ago) link
― CRW (CRW), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 10:10 (twenty years ago) link
Cryin Out Loud fucking rules
― Treeship, Saturday, 27 December 2014 03:39 (nine years ago) link
RIP :(
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Friday, 21 January 2022 08:07 (two years ago) link
Came here to post this.
https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1553542/Meat-Loaf-dies-cause-of-death-bat-out-of-hell-singe-age-health-latest-news-updates
RIP.
― Someone left a space telescope out in the rain (Tom D.), Friday, 21 January 2022 08:08 (two years ago) link
One of those artists who emerged fully formed with their debut album and spent the rest of their career trying to match it. Nothing he did after was a patch on Bat, but that album is some legacy.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Friday, 21 January 2022 08:50 (two years ago) link
Ah man. RIP big fella.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Friday, 21 January 2022 09:24 (two years ago) link
I recall seeing him at some UK festival appearance in the mid-80s where he'd broken his leg a week or so before (he seemed very accident-prone), but since The Show Must Go On he spent the set hobbling around with his leg in plaster, dodging flying bottles of piss and having a go at the crowd for engaging in bottle fights rather than listening to his overwrought Broadway rock. Is this thread C or D? I'm erring towards Classic!
― the great replacement bus service (Matt #2), Friday, 21 January 2022 09:46 (two years ago) link
I remember the bottles of piss incident from the music press at the time. I think it was '89 Reading festival? Before it had a more yoof-centric revamp.
― calzino, Friday, 21 January 2022 10:07 (two years ago) link
yeah looked it up it was Reading '88 and Bonnie Tyler was getting bottles of piss hurled at her as well!
― calzino, Friday, 21 January 2022 10:26 (two years ago) link
No this was an earlier piss-related incident, there was a lot of it about in the 80s!
― the great replacement bus service (Matt #2), Friday, 21 January 2022 10:43 (two years ago) link
aaaanyway, farewell Mr Aday, I had some joy and entertainment from your work
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 21 January 2022 11:11 (two years ago) link
Brian and Edgar, play him out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ud0tLwcfG4
― peace, man, Friday, 21 January 2022 11:51 (two years ago) link
he had been around a bit before bat out of hell. https://www.discogs.com/release/1498858-Stoney-Meatloaf-Stoney-Meatloaf
― Thus Sang Freud, Friday, 21 January 2022 12:00 (two years ago) link
I'm no expert on Meat Loaf, but has there ever been a performer so well known for so little? More or less one huuuuuge album made him an icon for decades.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 January 2022 13:36 (two years ago) link
He sold a lot of records in the UK!
― Someone left a space telescope out in the rain (Tom D.), Friday, 21 January 2022 13:53 (two years ago) link
I'm sure those other albums sold in the US, too! Just not as much as that debut. But, for example, I saw a headline just now, "Legendary singer and actor Meat Loaf dies aged 74." Legendary? After "Bat," did anything really expand his "legendary" status? If he had not released "Bat," would anything he did afterwards, music or movies or whatever, have earned him "legendary" status?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 January 2022 14:06 (two years ago) link
"I Would Do Anything For Love" seems to be equally his signature song along with Bat, in the UK at least. "Midnight at the Lost and Found" less so.
― the great replacement bus service (Matt #2), Friday, 21 January 2022 14:11 (two years ago) link
I think if you asked 10 random ppl on the street to name a Meatloaf song it that would be the majority pick
Bat Out of Hell II sold 5 million copies in the US alone
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 January 2022 14:23 (two years ago) link
Still #4 on Wikipedia's biggest-selling albums ever:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums
I still think of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" as his signature song, but I think you're right, it'd be the #1 for most people.
― clemenza, Friday, 21 January 2022 14:43 (two years ago) link
https://www.tmz.com/2022/01/21/meat-loaf-dead-dies-singer/?fbclid=IwAR03QLbNW2OR9DGBNI6mKA8gtZswDSnGTFlpq2tpN4-6PAoF_DXWXh0TooU
guess I know what the "won't do that" refers to now
― they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Friday, 21 January 2022 14:58 (two years ago) link
sry for fbclid
and "Paradise" only peaked at #39!
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 January 2022 15:02 (two years ago) link
"2 out of 3 Ain't Bad" still my favorite ballad ever, or one of them
but "Life is a Lemon (and I want My Money Back)" is the sleeper best song
― they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Friday, 21 January 2022 15:04 (two years ago) link
Fuck. RIP Meat LoafMeat Loaf was such a great partner for Steinman’s ott lyrics - like there’s no one else who could sing or write something like Bat Out of Hell the way Meat Loaf sang it or the way Steinman wrote it. V sad over this newsThe sirens are screaming, and the fires are howlingWay down in the valley tonightThere's a man in the shadows with a gun in his eye And a blade shining oh so brightThere's evil in the air and there's thunder in the sky,And a killer's on the bloodshot streetsAnd down in the tunnels where the deadly are risingOh, I swear I saw a young boy down in the gutterHe was starting to foam in the heatOh, baby you're the only thing in this whole worldThat's pure and good and rightAnd wherever you are and wherever you goThere's always gonna be some light,But I gotta get out, I gotta break out nowBefore the final crack of dawnSo we gotta make the most of our one night togetherWhen it's over, you know,We'll both be so aloneLike a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comesWhen the night is over, like a bat out of hell, I'll be gone, gone, goneLike a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comesBut when the day is doneAnd the sun goes downAnd the moonlight's shining throughThen like a sinner before the gates of Heaven I'll come crawling on back to youI'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ramOn a silver-black phantom bikeWhen the metal is hot, and the engine is hungryAnd we're all about to see the lightNothing ever grows in this rotting old hole,And everything is stunted and lostAnd nothing really rocks, and nothing really rolls,And nothing's ever worth the costWell I know that I'm damned if I never get out,And maybe I'm damned if I do,But with every other beat I've got left in my heart,You know I want to be damned with youIf I gotta be damned, you know I want to be damnedDancing through the night with you/Well if I gotta be damned, you know I want to be damned,Gotta be damned, you know I want to be damnedGotta be damned, you know I want to be damnedDancing through the night,Dancing through the night,Dancing through the night with youOh, baby you're the only thing in this whole worldThat's pure and good and rightAnd wherever you are and wherever you goThere's always gonna be some light,But I gotta get out, I gotta break out nowBefore the final crack of dawnSo we gotta make the most of our one night togetherWhen it's over, you know,We'll both be so aloneLike a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comesWhen the night is over, like a bat out of hell, I'll be gone, gone, goneLike a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comesBut when the day is doneAnd the sun goes downAnd the moonlight's shining throughThen like a sinner before the gates of Heaven I'll come crawling on back to youThen like a sinner before the gates of Heaven I'll come crawling on back to youWell I can see myself tearing up the road, fasterThan any other boy has ever goneAnd my skin is raw, but my soul is ripe,And no one's gonna stop me now, I'm gonna make my escapeBut I can't stop thinking of you,And I never see the sudden curve until it's way too lateAnd I never see the sudden curve until it's way too lateThen I'm down in the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun,Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike,And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bellAnd the last thing I see is my heart, still beating,Breaking out of my body and flying awayLike a bat out of hellThen I'm down in the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun,Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike,And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bellAnd the last thing I see is my heart,Still beating still beatingStill beating still beatingBreaking out of my body, and flying awayLike a bat out of hellOh, like a bat out of hellOh, like a bat out of hellOh, like a bat out of hell (I'll be gone when the morning comes)Oh, like a bat out of hell (I'll be gone when the morning comes)Oh, like a bat out of hell
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 21 January 2022 16:11 (two years ago) link
I didn't realize he was still alive.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 21 January 2022 16:13 (two years ago) link
he is definitely deserving of legendary status.
rip even though bat out of hell tortured my ears in my youth.
― stirmonster, Friday, 21 January 2022 16:16 (two years ago) link
Oh wow, RIP to the dude, even though I have a complicated history with his music. Loved the original Bat Out of Hell when I was a kid, played the shit out of a cassette copy my parents had. But the sequel came out when I was in high school and represented everything I hated at that age, so I turned on him when "I Won't Do That" became ubiquitous. Revisited it about 10 years ago or so and found the OTT approach weirdly charming. Definitely an interesting cat.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 21 January 2022 16:46 (two years ago) link
had no idea he was a COVID denier, so RIP and fuck you.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 January 2022 16:59 (two years ago) link
"You got paid?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyeyqSFdMhg
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 21 January 2022 17:03 (two years ago) link
Meat-Loaf-dies-cause-of-death-bat-out-of-hell
― Piven After Midnight (The Yellow Kid), Friday, 21 January 2022 17:11 (two years ago) link
His family doesn't appear to be vaccine skeptics:
Meat Loaf’s daughter Pearl Aday posted on Instagram on Jan. 7 ago that several of her friends and family had recently tested positive. “We are not sick, but we have too many friends and family testing positive right now, positive but doing ok,” she wrote. “Thank their respect for science that they’re all vaxxed, otherwise they’d be way worse.”
Also in one of his rants opposing masks, it seems that he believes N95's do work, complaining that he was angry at the airlines for forcing people to wear "paper" masks which he believed were comparatively useless. (They're not useless - catching, say, sneeze or cough droplets does make a substantial difference, but to be fair they are less effective than N95's, something already made clear in the medical community with regards to airborne viruses long before COVID.) But he called people enforcing the policies Nazis and complained it was a power grab so he's basically that kind of guy.
― birdistheword, Friday, 21 January 2022 17:29 (two years ago) link
Also, pretty consistent Republican - red flag - and former Trump TV apprentice/pal, so ...
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 January 2022 17:41 (two years ago) link
Yeah, it seems to be a familiar situation. I know plenty of families dealing with elderly Fox News viewing members who keep spouting this shit, i.e. the ones everyone's most worried about due to age and health concerns, and yet they're also the only ones being jerks about the whole situation. In most cases they manage to get them vaccinated, but it depends on the family dynamic. (The NY Times profiled one evangelical Trump-loving nut in I believe Virginia who harangued her family into not getting vaccinated even after her elderly father almost died from COVID.)
― birdistheword, Friday, 21 January 2022 18:16 (two years ago) link
My friend who worked at MTV in London shared this out today - https://vimeo.com/134303457
― Maresn3st, Friday, 21 January 2022 18:19 (two years ago) link
This was mentioned over in the Rolling Obit thread...
pic.twitter.com/7aOahATwmR— SNL Hosts Introducing the Musical Guest (@snlhostsintro) January 21, 2022
The whole episode is streaming on Peacock.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 21 January 2022 21:01 (two years ago) link
I have a deep fondness for Meat Loaf. A story:
I was up at the hobo museum near Mt. Shasta where we were to be caretakers later that year, but it was late September and the first cold weather of the season had moved in. I just happened to be around working on some projects and taking time off work. Two friends stopped by for the night on their way out to the coast to trim weed, and there were some other folks around. I'd say altogether, there were about 9 or 10 of us on the property, all punks and old train bums and problematic tweaker types.
We were in the old barn, everyone gathered by the stove or playing pool while Mikey and Mike worked on some carpentry project. We were all drinking beer and Evan Williams, and a few people were smoking PCP and getting real lit up.
In the midst of all of this, there was a sort of torrid love affair coming to an end between my friends Grizelda and Cody. They'd been on-again-off-again for years, and they were both extremely loaded, as was I, when "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" came on the barn's enormous and loud stereo. We were sort fooling around, dancing, and then Cody said to Griz, "Heeler time," and the two of them sort of herded me into a corner, sort of playing it off like it was a dance, and I sort of played along. In the meantime, Meat Loaf was just belting it out, yknow, everyone was singing along drunkenly, the dogs could barely keep their heads up because it was 2:30 am and they'd been running around all day.
In any case, I tried to escape the corner, but they kept triangulating around me, sort of dancing menacingly but also in a weirdly desirous way, sort of like predators stalking prey. We were dancing for a while in this way and I was getting more and more uncomfortable, because while I found and find both Griz and Cody to be pretty hot, I didn't want to get involved in some weird sex shit with them...and they were also high as pterodactyl dick. Eventually, the song ended, and I sort of rushed through them to see my friend Jenn to her cabin.
Loved the song before, but now it's sort of branded into my memory because of this strange incident, which even at the time seemed like something from a dream or a nightmare, and now seems like it happened in a different lifetime.
"GLOWING LIKE THE METALON THE EDGE OF A KNIFE"
Indeed.
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Friday, 21 January 2022 21:23 (two years ago) link
that is a great memory tabes <3when an old high school friend turned 21 she had a big party at this old school campground with cabins & a mess hall so we could stay overnight & party til dawn etcShe was a drama student & had an older brother who was also an ex drama student, but he was way older than all of us, he was probably 30 or 35 at the time. huge guy, built like a wrestler - he was the nicest, coolest dude. He also instilled my friend, probably since she was born, a love of Meat Loaf so both of them loving a performance, they pulled 2 chairs into the middle of the hall & acted out “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” lipsnced word for word right down to the play by play interluudeit was awesome, i never forgot it (it also occured to me later that it was weird to perform THAT song with your brother? lol.)
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 21 January 2022 22:18 (two years ago) link
I was up at the hobo museum near Mt. Shasta where we were to be caretakers later that year
this is a great first line for a novel
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 January 2022 22:58 (two years ago) link
yes, would read!
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 21 January 2022 22:59 (two years ago) link
Also a great opener for a Bizarre World early Springsteen track.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 21 January 2022 23:15 (two years ago) link
White House dodges on critical question: https://t.co/SJwDP42Gsr— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) January 21, 2022
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 22 January 2022 04:08 (two years ago) link
Meat Loaf
― frogbs, Saturday, 22 January 2022 04:32 (two years ago) link
Insane Clown Posse
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 22 January 2022 05:07 (two years ago) link
RIP Meat Loaf. You’ll never use siqqq album art to trick children into listening to showtunes again. pic.twitter.com/TSUBSJjgbq— Joe Thrashnkill (@JoeThrashnkill) January 21, 2022
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Saturday, 22 January 2022 06:19 (two years ago) link
Yeah, I heard his music way the hell after seeing those album covers, and definitely went, "Huh?".
That said, was listening to "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" today, and am thinking about how it's sort of the prototype for the '80s Hair Metal Power Ballad.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 22 January 2022 06:25 (two years ago) link
really feeling For Crying Out Loud today
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 22 January 2022 06:38 (two years ago) link
https://www.loudersound.com/features/meat-loaf-a-flying-wheelchair-and-the-greatest-story-ever-told
― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Saturday, 22 January 2022 10:29 (two years ago) link
That first cover definitely reminded me of the "Psychomania" movie.
It's a matching cover for the LP title, but has nothing to do with the song itself.
― Mark G, Saturday, 22 January 2022 10:56 (two years ago) link
1/ Didn't come with this straight away so I didn't feel like I was shitting on Meat Loaf, who I kinda rooted for despite his music and, well his entire career being the avatar example of Sludge, as described by @timmidyett and co-author Tom Kipp here https://t.co/lheEsFKDL9— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) January 22, 2022
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 22 January 2022 14:12 (two years ago) link
Ridiculous article
― The sensual shock (Sund4r), Saturday, 22 January 2022 16:05 (two years ago) link
The thread or the essay? I didn't read the essay but the Albini thread is funny.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 22 January 2022 16:09 (two years ago) link
The essay
― The sensual shock (Sund4r), Saturday, 22 January 2022 16:18 (two years ago) link
xp He could have done it in 3 or 4 tweets
― Rockin’, and rollin’, and whatnot (morrisp), Saturday, 22 January 2022 16:19 (two years ago) link
(also – "Didn't come with this straight away..."; he waited an entire day before sharing his red-hot Meat Loaf story?)
― Rockin’, and rollin’, and whatnot (morrisp), Saturday, 22 January 2022 16:29 (two years ago) link
LMAO, yeah it took a long detour into his work (or inability to work), but it created an unpredictable build-up that made the story funnier.
― birdistheword, Saturday, 22 January 2022 17:29 (two years ago) link
Unrelated to Meat Loaf, but my next big writing project is indeed a novel set in the Mt. Shasta area.
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Saturday, 22 January 2022 21:42 (two years ago) link
The essay on sludge linked to by Albini contains one troubling line.
It speaks of Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" as a choogle.
My understanding from ilm is that the only entity that has ever choogled is CCR. Could it be that this is a non-Creedence instance of chooglin'?
― umami dearest (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 22 January 2022 21:52 (two years ago) link
lol i also noticed that
― mookieproof, Saturday, 22 January 2022 21:58 (two years ago) link
I was annoyed that a guy who apparently reveres 50s music didn't trace that staccato piano intro he describes to New Orleans / Fats Domino.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 22 January 2022 22:38 (two years ago) link
Mississippi Queen is more of a thud than a choogle. Only CCR ever truly choogled. And to get back to the topic at hand, Meat Loaf didn't even try to.
― the great replacement bus service (Matt #2), Saturday, 22 January 2022 22:57 (two years ago) link
Mississippi Queen is without a doubt butt rock, but it does not choogle. Or boogie, for that matter. Meat Loaf doesn't choogle, either, and he's not butt rock, but I'm pretty sure he does occasionally boogie. Unless I'm thinking of Rocky Horror.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 22 January 2022 23:23 (two years ago) link
I dunno what you call Mississippi Queen but whatever it is it fucking rules
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 22 January 2022 23:27 (two years ago) link
"Mississippi Queen" is one of the great cowbell songs, and CCR is one of the great cowbell bands.
― henry s, Saturday, 22 January 2022 23:36 (two years ago) link
I don't think a cowbell has ever featured in a Meat Loaf song. Except maybe the ones he sang for Ted Nugent.
― henry s, Saturday, 22 January 2022 23:37 (two years ago) link
I knew I could count on this board to defend the semantic borders of choogleville
― umami dearest (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 23 January 2022 00:10 (two years ago) link
I'm not a fan of the guy's music, but he's been a good presence in some commendable films:
I don’t keep pictures from films around home. But I have this one in my office in a frame bc it makes me smile every time. It’s engraved ‘Love and Hugs, Meat’ it sums him up well. He was so funny. And gentle. And warm to everyone. A sweet soul. RIP Meat Loaf pic.twitter.com/aMrIgXByEc— Edward Norton (@EdwardNorton) January 21, 2022
― birdistheword, Sunday, 23 January 2022 00:19 (two years ago) link
'i would do anything' is kind of a great* song but i ruined it for myself by making the opening piano bit the ringtone for when my mom calls
― mookieproof, Sunday, 23 January 2022 01:05 (two years ago) link
(basically whenever my mom calls i instantly assume something awful has happened)
― mookieproof, Sunday, 23 January 2022 01:06 (two years ago) link
There's a lot RONG with the "sludge" piece but RIP Meat Loaf so I'll focus on this:
Lyrically, misbegotten approximations of personal detail in Sludge are so epidemic and easy to demonstrate, it is nearly a trivial point. To wit: I remember every little thing As if it happened only yesterday Parking by the lake And there was not another car in sight And I never had a girl Looking any better than you did And all the kids at school They were wishing they were me that night And now our bodies are oh so close and tight It never felt so good, it never felt so right And we're glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night I can see paradise by the dashboard light "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"Written by Jim SteinmanPerformed by Meat LoafSteinman's tropes are self-evidently not autobiographical. They lack either fine detail or plain-spoken restraint—hallmarks of a prototypical non-Sludge Everyman like Bruce Springsteen, who is well-schooled in the art of either elevating a cliche or letting it lie. Steinman cannot be bothered with meaningful minutiae, and he cannot resist making everything ABSOLUTE. EVERY little thing. NO OTHER CARS. NEVER had a girl. ALL the kids at school. NEVER felt so good. NEVER felt so right. The bid for mass communication is as obvious as skywriting, and it is surfeited by the overwhelmingly bombastic arrangement and production of the album (Bat Out of Hell) (sold 25 million copies) (still big...in Belgium).
I remember every little thing As if it happened only yesterday Parking by the lake And there was not another car in sight And I never had a girl Looking any better than you did And all the kids at school They were wishing they were me that night
And now our bodies are oh so close and tight It never felt so good, it never felt so right And we're glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife
Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night I can see paradise by the dashboard light "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"Written by Jim SteinmanPerformed by Meat Loaf
Steinman's tropes are self-evidently not autobiographical. They lack either fine detail or plain-spoken restraint—hallmarks of a prototypical non-Sludge Everyman like Bruce Springsteen, who is well-schooled in the art of either elevating a cliche or letting it lie. Steinman cannot be bothered with meaningful minutiae, and he cannot resist making everything ABSOLUTE. EVERY little thing. NO OTHER CARS. NEVER had a girl. ALL the kids at school. NEVER felt so good. NEVER felt so right. The bid for mass communication is as obvious as skywriting, and it is surfeited by the overwhelmingly bombastic arrangement and production of the album (Bat Out of Hell) (sold 25 million copies) (still big...in Belgium).
The point of the song is that it flips these cliches on their head - it's a flashback to when the boy wasn't thinking about minutiae or nuance, he was completely riven by hormones and made a promise he didn't mean - and the punchline is that now he's trapped in a miserable marriage with someone he can't stand and "praying for the end of time". Attack it for being campy as hell in its comic melodrama but it's not delivering cliched bombast straight like a Bryan Adams ballad might.
― The sensual shock (Sund4r), Monday, 24 January 2022 01:13 (two years ago) link
it’s v dumb to decry it for lack of autobiography or meaningful minutiae steinman is pure text, no subtext. his entire ouevre is “And Then I Kissed Him” performed by a brass band AND symphony orchestra with a smokemachine & live dovesi mean, it’s as-advertised. whatever it’s lacking was never promised & that is 100% of it’s appeal, for me anywat
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 24 January 2022 01:22 (two years ago) link
*anyway
Well yeah, also not all songwriting needs to be confessional insight.
And they're obviously demonstrably wrong about this repeated claim, with regards to a lot of the artists they cite as sludge (Boston, Journey, Toto, Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins):
Sludge artists enjoy success that is by definition transient, if in fact they enjoy it at all. In 1971, Grand Funk Railroad was the most popular American rock band. In 1978, Foreigner's Double Vision vastly outsold the Rolling Stones' Some Girls (the Stones' best-selling album to that time), and in 1981, Foreigner's 4 outsold Tattoo You. In 1983, Journey was the most popular American rock band. Yet in 2003, these acts' once-stunning success has vanished, except in the memories of the diehard loyalists most deeply affected by their generalized profferings. None of these three bands retain major-label record deals. They have failed to enjoy the continued prosperity of Aerosmith or KISS—...If the popularity of specific Sludge acts is abjectly fleeting, however, the hold of Sludge in general is fast through time. Today, acts as diverse as Oasis and Linkin Park, to name the first two that occur to me as I type this, unwittingly fly the Sludge banner. In a few years, no one will pay any attention to either one of them, and new Sludge acts will have taken their place. The Sludge act has a brief shelf life...
If the popularity of specific Sludge acts is abjectly fleeting, however, the hold of Sludge in general is fast through time. Today, acts as diverse as Oasis and Linkin Park, to name the first two that occur to me as I type this, unwittingly fly the Sludge banner. In a few years, no one will pay any attention to either one of them, and new Sludge acts will have taken their place.
The Sludge act has a brief shelf life...
― The sensual shock (Sund4r), Monday, 24 January 2022 01:33 (two years ago) link
Trudge bands.
They sell loads, they trudge around doing tours, they get megarich but seemingly are level headed enough to decide one day: Hey, am rich enough - time to stop trudging.
So, they jump off the trudge and settle for the low-key.
And one day they are less famous. And they are pleased.
Of course.
― Mark G, Monday, 24 January 2022 15:56 (two years ago) link
clearly this is a different usage of the word 'sludge' than I'm used to.
unless Steinman/Meat Loaf had an album that sounded like Yob
― they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Monday, 24 January 2022 15:59 (two years ago) link
Just skimmed it, but that "sludge" essay seems like a good answer to the question "what was rockism?"
― o. nate, Monday, 24 January 2022 16:02 (two years ago) link
I feel like you have to move in certain circles to think people don't still like Foreigner. I would venture to say the singles from Double Vision and 4 continue to be more popular than the singles from the Stones albums they outsold. When was the last time you heard "Start Me Up"?
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 24 January 2022 16:10 (two years ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/24/warm-loving-generous-but-he-had-demons-inside-the-life-of-meat-loaf
― Tapioca Tumbril (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 24 January 2022 16:13 (two years ago) link
I would venture to say the singles from Double Vision and 4 continue to be more popular than the singles from the Stones albums they outsold.
100 percent I hear those Foreigner singles more often on the local '80s oldies stations than "Start Me Up" or "She's So Cold."
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 24 January 2022 16:21 (two years ago) link
Real Gone reissues Stoney & Meatloaf:
https://realgonemusic.com/collections/cd/products/stoney-and-meatloaf-everything-under-the-sun-2-cd-set
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 3 May 2022 21:19 (two years ago) link