R.I.P. Meat Loaf

[Big Magilla]

Freudian slip. Fixed!

[Sonic Youth]

If Meat Loaf were his real name, it would have had to have been born to, let's call them John and Betty, Loaf, who forever whatever unearthly reason chose to name him Meat, he would be properly alphabetized under Loaf. However, Meat Loaf is a made-up name, an alternate way of saying Meatloaf, so it makes some sort of sense to alphabetize him under Meat.

This is one of those paragraphs that should be read out loud.

[Big Magilla]

We went through all this 19 years ago when Queen Latifah was nominated for Chicago.

I think what people are saying when they say Lady Gaga and Queen Latifah should be alphabetized under L and G are saying is that since those are not real titles, they are part of their one-word names. I think that's kind of screwy. Their one-word names are Gaga and Latifah, Lady and Queen are titles even though they aren't real.

On the other side of the coin, I've seen Oscar lists that alphabetized Ann-Margret, whose name has always been hyphenated, under M. That one made no sense whatever.

If Meat Loaf were his real name, he would have had to have been born to, let's call them John and Betty, Loaf, who forever whatever unearthly reason chose to name him Meat, he would be properly alphabetized under Loaf. However, Meat Loaf is a made-up name, an alternate way of saying Meatloaf, so it makes some sort of sense to alphabetize him under Meat.

[OscarGuy]

But that doesn't stop people alphabetizing her under G...

[mlrg]

BTW, I just learned Meat Loaf is alphabetized under "Meat", not "Loaf".

Just like Lady Gaga

[Mister Tee]

I don't think people truly appreciate how much of an effect this album (and Jim Steinman's work in particular) had on pop music, particularly throughout the late '80s and '90s, and maybe even.... dare I say it?.... contemporary musical theater. The 20-somethings in my Facebok feed who are mourning Meat Loaf's passing are all theater kids. I don't think this is a mere coincidence. When the history books of American musical theater of the past 30 or so years are written, don't be suprised if Steinman and "Bat Out of Hell" are recognised as a prime influence.

I can somewhat add to this. I saw Meat Loaf play in Central Park late summer '78. It wasn't that I particularly wanted to go -- I only knew him from "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" having been a radio staple. But the ticket was free, and the dope was good, so... The point is, that was the first time I heard "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", and I can tell you, watching the elaborate way they staged it, I was thinking to myself, this is much closer to theatre than to a rock concert. Not coincidentally, Karla DeVito, who performed it with him, later was Linda Ronstadt's standby in the famous Pirates of Penzance production of the early 80s.

Mr. Loaf (as the NY Times hilariously referred to him) was a deep-dyed Yankee fan, as evidenced by his using Phil Rizzuto for the play-by-play in Paradise (Rizzuto. for the record, claimed he was conned into doing it, without knowing the sexual context, but Phil was enough of a trickster he might have been fibbing about that). I have a strong memory of Meat Loaf shouting, late in that concert, "If a band like this can have a record go gold, the Yankees can still pull it out" -- to which we all cheered, but were thinking, Yeah, right. That was the year the Yanks had fallen 14 games behind Boston in July, and still trailed by 7 or 8 at that point (August). But it turned out Meat Loaf knew what he was talking about.

It's odd that two people I associate indelibly with 1978 -- Meat Loaf and Gary Busey -- both fell into the Trump TV vortex. I can't say I've paid much attention to either since then, but they're still part of my early-NY-years memories.

[Sonic Youth]

BTW, I just learned Meat Loaf is alphabetized under "Meat", not "Loaf".

[Sonic Youth]

I was not at all a fan, but growing up his music was inescapable. Besides being played on the radio, nearly all of my friends - many of whom weren't seriously into music - owned a copy of "Bat Out of Hell" in their usually meager record collections (sometimes along with the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" soundtrack). I don't think most people know Meat Loaf made many albums, and except for that one successful comeback in the 90s, "Bat Out of Hell" was pretty much it as far as immortal legacies go. But it was enough. I don't think people truly appreciate how much of an effect this album (and Jim Steinman's work in particular) had on pop music, particularly throughout the late '80s and '90s, and maybe even.... dare I say it?.... contemporary musical theater. The 20-somethings in my Facebok feed who are mourning Meat Loaf's passing are all theater kids. I don't think this is a mere coincidence. When the history books of American musical theater of the past 30 or so years are written, don't be suprised if Steinman and "Bat Out of Hell" are recognised as a prime influence.

[Big Magilla]

According to TMZ, he died of Covid. Not sure if he was anti-vaxxer, but he was definitely an anti-masker.

https://www.tmz.com/2022/01/21/meat-loa ... es-singer/

[Sabin]

Was it Fight Club?

[dws1982]

His music was such spectacular trash, I loved it.

I can't remember what movie (or movies) it was, but I remember seeing him in an acting role and finding him a pretty subtle, nuanced actor, the complete opposite of what I would've expected from his music.

[Big Magilla]

They're coming to get us.

Jim Steinman, who wrote "Bat Out of Hell" and other songs for Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler and others died last April at 73.

[anonymous1980]

Story.

Another major one. A bit of a shocker because he wasn't that old. R.I.P.