I grew up listening to Meatloaf – back in the day he was just part of that teenage soundtrack that also included Queen, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Pink Floyd, The Stones and a dozen other bands. It’s interesting to look back now though and see how insular that list was – it was a time when all the real greats were from the UK and Meatloaf was pretty much the only US interloper along with my personal heroes Aerosmith.
It’s interesting therefore reading Mick Wall’s new book how important the UK was to Meatloaf’s career and even debatable whether without the UK record buying public that career would have even taken us past that first record ‘Bat Out of Hell.’
The story of Meatloaf of course is inextricably intertwined with that of Jim Steinman and reading the title of the book you actually feel a little misinformed, as a good third of the book is devoted to ‘the genius of’ Steinman. I came to the book hoping for a tale more from the perspective of Meat but we start really with rather cursory glance at the formative years of both men of pretty much equal weight before rolling out the accolades thick and fast for the Jim. Indeed its pretty clear from the off that Wall has a rather high regard for Jim and throughout the detail of the pair’s fraught relationship you do feel that Wall sides somewhat with the later.
For me it’s an interesting tale and one that I must admit I knew rather little of except that the pair fought and sued each other for years, and its the detail of those years of lost potential that are the most interesting aspect of the story. Imagine if there had been a real follow up to ‘Bat Out of Hell’ imagine if managers and labels have let the pair breathe?
Of course that never happened and while Meat seemed content to release a series of sub-par albums where as time progressed seemingly all of Steinman’s scraps were reworked and redone, Steinman went on his own path to prove that he could do everything without Meat. Neither of curse hit those heights again though ‘Bat Out of Hell II’ was a welcome boost only 16 years after the original.
Wall’s book reads like a potboiler and it is of course a great story to retell, though with so him conducting so many interviews with both artists over the years you might have hoped for a little more on the private lives and motivations of the protagonists – which remain firmly that expect for the embellishments like Steinman eating with his hands which is mentioned more than once.
If you want a great read and a rip-roaring story this is a book that rips along at a fair pace, all short sharp chapters and excellent for dipping into and finding you’ve devoured a big chunk half an hour later. Where it falls away a little is in comparison to the already established literature – Sandy Robertson’s ‘The Phenomenology of Success’ explored the same ground wonderfully and Meat’s own co-written chronicle from a few years back wasn’t too bad either.
If you’re a fan of the music this is well worth picking up even if it does at times seem to gloss over swathes of years in favour of the meatier fare. There’s power, there’s passion, there’s drugs and booze. There’s ‘over the top’ antics and staggering sales figures and there’s Meat’s acting, though I’m not as big a fan of ‘Fight Club’ as Wall seems to be as he adds his own synopsis.
It all sadly ends with a fizzle and a glance back to better days. Meat is ill, Steinman may also be but is certainly reclusive and even with the debacle of the Steinman-less ‘Bat III’ you still feel there’s time for one last chapter and that seemingly comes at the end with the Bat Out Of Hell musical where despite Meatloaf taking to the stage to introduce it finally Steinman has got his way and Meat’s name is nowhere to be seen.
This isn’t your normal rock and roll tale and if you’re a fan of the music this explains a lot – two men who couldn’t live with each other and who could only be at their best when they were, but it seems were both too stubborn to admit it.
