Total Eclipse Of The Heart

[delicatemoth]

Jim Steinman, a man who could make musical gold from the outer limits of ludicrousness, has died at 73. As yet there is no word as to whether he was riding a huge motorbike and cackling like a demon.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Ah man. That's sad, no one did overwrought camp like Steinman (not since George Morton and the Shangri-Las anyway.) RIP

[Benjm]

That's a shame. I listened to This Corrosion and Dominion the other day and they sounded great

[ursus arctos]

What Amor said. A rather singular talent.

May Phil Rizzuto be there to announce his arrival on the other side.

RIP

[delicatemoth]

"Whenever a goth dies, they join the choir on 'This Corrosion'"

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Somebody somewhere must have been tolling a bell.

[Ray de Galles]

So sad about this, Steinman was an absolute genius and has long been a hero of mine.

A friend who knows how much I love his work rang me to tell me as I was on the way home from a game so at least I had the chance to blast out some of 'Bat...' in tribute, though I'm not sure the M3 in a family car was quite what Jim was picturing.

[Various Artist]

Oh no, clicked on this thinking it might've been Bonnie gone (which would've been a shock on its own), but stunned and gutted to find it's Steinman. The man created some of the most absurdly, stupidly, brilliantly, heroically OTT rock music of all time, and was utterly unashamed about it.

The collaborating with Meat Loaf was of course a match made in heaven/hell/post-vital destination of your choice, but his work with Ms Tyler and the Sisters is equally indicative of his singular talent. RIP Jim.

Everybody'll queue up to quote stuff from the likes of Bat Out Of Hell, of course, so I'll just leave this with a couple of lines from the equally magnificent sequel:

Somebody told me so
Somebody told me, now I know
Every night in my prayer,
I'll be praying that the good boys go to heaven but the bad boys go everywhere

[Uncle Ethan]

Loved his work. One of the best gigs I've ever seen was Bat Out of Hell at the WACA. One of the best docos was the making of Bat Out of Hell with Todd Rungren showing how he did the motorbike crescendo on guitar. Steinman's own album was fun. God Speed! Speed us Away!

[Various Artist]

I've mentioned before on here, one of the most joyful little moments I've ever seen in a music documentary was one where Meat Loaf was talking to camera about the making of Bat Out Of Hell while sitting at a mixing desk and manning the sliders to demonstrate the elements individually.

He faded down all the tracks bar Rundgren's guitar there, when talking about how the latter came in and produced the aforementioned motorbike crescendo then went seamlessly into the solo all in one take, so that we could hear just that. Meat's face was an absolute picture: you could tell how even though he must've broken down the workings of that song umpteen times, when he was actually listening along to what Rundgren did there while he talked about it he was sitting wreathed in a sort of disbelieving smile and clearly just marvelling at it anew.

[G-Man]

Steinman was indeed a mad genius, and it didn't ever get more gloriously mad than with "Love And Death Of An American Guitar":

It used to be part of Meat Loaf's live set in 1977, as an intro to "All Revved Up With No Place To Go", it seems: https://youtu.be/TcbSfYaFNIs?t=63

[Patrick Thistle]

I hope he's in Paradise. Whether that's by the dashboard light or not.

[Snake Plissken]

I've mentioned before on here, one of the most joyful little moments I've ever seen in a music documentary was one where Meat Loaf was talking to camera about the making of Bat Out Of Hell while sitting at a mixing desk and manning the sliders to demonstrate the elements individually.

He faded down all the tracks bar Rundgren's guitar there, when talking about how the latter came in and produced the aforementioned motorbike crescendo then went seamlessly into the solo all in one take, so that we could hear just that. Meat's face was an absolute picture: you could tell how even though he must've broken down the workings of that song umpteen times, when he was actually listening along to what Rundgren did there while he talked about it he was sitting wreathed in a sort of disbelieving smile and clearly just marvelling at it anew.

It's a great clip.

[Jah Womble]

Everyone thought him a total hack back in the day, but the passing of time has been kind to his legacy.

RIP, of course. Whatever else he may have been, Steinman was undeniably a ‘singular talent’.

(I assume that the heading represents ‘cause of death’?)

[Snake Plissken]

Is "hack" the right word though? To me it means "dull, predictable, middle of the road" and the only predictability about Steinman was it was going to be ridiculously bombastic and overblown and silly and daft and when in the right mood, absurd fun. His critics seemed to take it more seriously than he did.

[Jah Womble]

I think that’s correct, but I can remember Tom Verlaine describing him thus in a really vitriolic interview c 1982. My guess is that he felt Steinman dusted off the same formula week-in, week-out - whether working with Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply or yer man Loaf.

Edit: But sure, Verlaine isn’t ‘everyone’.

[Snake Plissken]

I kind of get what you are saying, but everyone has a style or a formula.

Found the interview BTW - http://www.thewonder.co.uk/pdfs/-Tom...19,%201981.pdf

[Jah Womble]

True, but I think that the divide between ‘cool’/‘not cool’ is a lot less-pronounced now than it’d have been in those post-punk years. (Even a new-wave diehard like muggins here can now see the mad inspiration in Steinman’s work.)

Well done on finding said interview. Gratifying to know that I was once again correct in my recollection!

[Ray de Galles]

I think that’s correct, but I can remember Tom Verlaine describing him thus in a really vitriolic interview c 1982.

Tom who?

(I assume that the heading represents ‘cause of death’?)

Steinman died of kidney failure after a long illness, sadly.

[delicatemoth]

Tom who?

Bloke out of Television, an American post-Velvet Underground band. I suspect his comments were professional jealousy.

Listening to 'Floodland' now. Contacting Steinman was the best idea Andrew Eldritch ever had.

[Eggchaser]

I used to sing "You Took The Words Right Out of my Mouth" to my daughter as a lullaby. It's a great song.

[Various Artist]

It's a great clip.

Awesome, that's the one! My recollection of Meat's slack-jawed amazement, even decades later on re-hearing it, was I'm glad to say completely correct. I'd forgotten Rundgren and Steinman both appeared immediately prior to that too, Jim's take on it is brilliant there as well. Nice one Snakey.

[Various Artist]

Steinman was indeed a mad genius, and it didn't ever get more gloriously mad than with "Love And Death Of An American Guitar":

It used to be part of Meat Loaf's live set in 1977, as an intro to "All Revved Up With No Place To Go", it seems: https://youtu.be/TcbSfYaFNIs?t=63

Love And Death And An American Guitar also reappears in its entirety on Bat Out Of Hell II, remixed and renamed but essentially unchanged, as the track Wasted Youth – still voiced by Steinman. Why they felt the need to change the title I have no idea, though this way it does serve as an intro to the following song, which actually begins with a chant of "Wasted youth! Wasted youth!"

That following song itself has perhaps the sine qua non of Steinman titles: Everything Louder Than Everything Else. It could've been his manifesto.

[Satchmo Distel]

Meat Loaf is the same age (73). I'm pleased that we all know to spell it as two words (never Meatloaf). Bat Out Of Hell held the record for most weeks on the albums chart for a studio album for a long time but Rumours went past it and now we have streams being counted that will keep Adele and Sheeran on the chart for a ridiculous length of time.

[Artificial Hipster]

Bloke out of Television, an American post-Velvet Underground band. I suspect his comments were professional jealousy.
.

It's not that I don't like the latter but 6 Music would be improved no end if just occasionally they played Bat Out Of Hell rather than Marquee Moon.