Meat Loaf

:This article is about the singer. See meatloaf for the article about the meat dish.

Bat Out of Hell

Meat Loaf and Steinman started Bat Out of Hell in 1972, but didn't really get serious about it until the end of 1974. Meat Loaf decided that he wasn't going to do any more theater and concentrate only on the record. Then, the National Lampoon Show opened on Broadway and they needed an understudy for John Belushi, a close friend of Meat Loaf. He and Belushi had become friends in 1972 when they were doing Lemmings at the Village Gate. It was at the Lampoon Show that Meat Loaf met Ellen Foley who would end up singing "Paradise By a Dashboard Light" with him on the Bat Out of Hell album.

Related Topics:
1972 - 1974 - National Lampoon Show - John Belushi - Lemmings - Ellen Foley

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After the Lampoon show ended, Meat Loaf and Steinman concentrated on getting a record deal. They were rejected by every record company they approached. The record didn't fit into any of the moulds that record companies insisted that every album and artist should fit into. While doing this, Epic asked Meat Loaf to replace Ted Nugent's lead singer, Derek St. Holmes, on Nugent's album Free For All. Finally they performed the songs for Todd Rundgren who decided to produce the album. In addition to producing the album, Rundgren played lead guitar on the album. They then shopped the record around but still had no takers until Cleveland International Records decided to take a chance. On October 21, 1977, "Bat Out of Hell" was released.

Related Topics:
Ted Nugent - Derek St. Holmes - Free For All - Todd Rundgren - Cleveland International Records - October 21 - 1977

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His first gig in support of the record was opening for Cheap Trick in Chicago, Illinois. The audience started out hostile, but by the end of the show he had mostly won them over. Their next stop came a couple of days after the release of the album in New Jersey. The show was a complete sell out and people were lined up to see it hours before it started. Things really started to take off after Meat Loaf appeared on Saturday Night Live as the Musical Guest on March 25, 1978. The huge success of the album caused a rift to open up between Meat Loaf and Steinman. Steinman started to resent the attention that Meat Loaf was getting.

Related Topics:
Cheap Trick - Chicago, Illinois - New Jersey - Saturday Night Live - March 25 - 1978

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During a May show in Ottawa, Meat Loaf fell off the stage and broke his leg. The injury caused the cancelation of the rest of the tour. To deal with all of the pressure, he started to do cocaine. It all culminated with a nervous breakdown where he threatened to commit suicide by jumping off the ledge of a building in New York. Then in December of 1978, he went to Woodstock to work on Bad for Good with Steinman. It was at the Bearsville studio that Meat Loaf met his future wife, Leslie Edmonds. They met and were married within a month. Leslie had a daughter from a previous marriage, Pearl, who has followed in her step-father's footsteps and become a singer. In the middle of recording his second album, Meat Loaf lost the ability to sing. His doctors said that physically everything was fine and that his problem was mental. Steinman decided to keep going with Bad for Good without Meat Loaf.

Related Topics:
Ottawa - Cocaine - Nervous breakdown - Woodstock - Bad for Good - Bearsville - Pearl

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Just as it looked like life was going down the tubes for Meat Loaf, he managed to get the part of Travis Redfish in Roadie. The movie had cameos by Debbie Harry, Roy Orbison and Hank Williams, Jr., but still was a box office flop. To keep his sanity, Meat Loaf played a tremendous amount of softball. Over time, Meat Loaf got his singing voice back by getting off drugs and playing softball.

Related Topics:
Roadie - Debbie Harry - Roy Orbison - Hank Williams, Jr. - Softball

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