Meatloaf went all the way last night, paradise, no dashboard light...

[Skully]

Well, 47 million copies ain’t nothing. I grew up on that record. Paradise is all non-fans remember, but there is some flat out killer songwriting on that record.

Granted he’s a lot bigger here in the CLE than he ever was on the west coast, but so was Steve Popovich. Those guys were and always will be royalty here on the north coast.

"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" was the big hit off the album.

 

[loopfinding]

I would listen to many things for fun, but I won’t listen to that

 

[Jakedog]

"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" was the big hit off the album.

Yep. My dad covered it all the time back in the day. I still do it now.

 

[raito]

I have most of his albums. Weird to think and Barry Manilow covered the same Steinman song.

He played a club I worked at circa 1990. Packed the place and brought the house down. Superb show.

Bat Out Of Hell has no filler.

 

[57joonya]

The only thing I ever heard was Paradise by the Dashboard Light. It seemed like a silly, gimmicky song. I heard it maybe a few times on the radio in the '70s, but that was it. I never knew anyone who was a fan or owned any of his albums, never heard anyone talk about him, and never saw anything written about him.... but the news story about his death said he was one of the biggest selling artists in history. I find that strange. Who did he appeal to?

He sold a lot of records , that’s for sure . Not my taste , but there was the late 70’s early 80’s meatloaf, then the early/mid-90’s meatloaf when he was once again all over the tv and airwaves with “ I would do anything for love”… hard for me not to remember, and not in a good way . Though I do recognize his talent . And powerful voice-r.I.p.

 

[57joonya]

Bat out of Hell was HUGE when it came out …I was in high school in NY state.
Where else could you hear Yankee Phil Rizzuto do a voice solo…

But I still want to know…

was he SAFE or OUT when he tried to steal home????

Pretty sure he made it home safe

 

[Rufus]

I remember reading that during the early and mid 1960s when Elvis was making all those (Mostly) crappy formula Hal Wallis movies, in order to sell more of the shlockey soundtrack albums with songs like "Do the Clam", they would trick the system in order to inflate the sales figures in an attempt to convince fans it was worth buying...
As Scully pointed out, the 'Sales Figures" were numbers of records ordered and delivered to stores...not actually sold. They purposely arranged for retailers to preorder enough records to make them Certified Gold, or Platinum or whatever. They never had to account for the numbers of records that were sent back, unsold.

I'm not saying that Elvis didn't sell records...he certainly DID, but there's No Way that most of those movie soundtracks actually went Gold...unless Ann Margret was on the cover.

I'm sure Elvis and the Colonel weren't the only ones to game the system...

I always wondered how Slim Whitman could sell more records that Elvis and the Beatles, combined. ?!?!?!?!

 

[FenderGyrl]

Well, 47 million copies ain’t nothing. I grew up on that record. Paradise is all non-fans remember, but there is some flat out killer songwriting on that record.

Granted he’s a lot bigger here in the CLE than he ever was on the west coast, but so was Steve Popovich. Those guys were and always will be royalty here on the north coast.

Kid Leo doing the Baseball announcing on Paradise.
WMMS - The Buzzard !!!!
The Get Down Man every Friday,
Time to Gotta...Gotta ... Get Down Dammit !!!!

 

[Mad Kiwi]

Down here in NZ and Aussie the album sold like hotcakes when released and then again it had a run late eighties. I can believe it was a big seller.

The NZ Herald today said he sold over 100 million albums during his career. Not sure if that is accurate but these numbers are coming from somewhere and I cant see it is just word of mouth from him alone.

Anyway, Rip Meatloaf, MANY a huge party, and card game were had listening to the 2 main albums. Awesome times.

 

[Vibroluxer]

I wasn't a huge fan but respected him as a performer. I was a teenager when Paradise By The Dashboard Light was released and, well, I could relate.

The more performers like him I used to follow die, the more I'm reminded of my own mortality. It makes me depressed until I remind myself that I'm still living and breathing. Carpe diem and all that.

I'm going to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show tonight in his memory.

I just started Leap of Faith

 

[idjster]

He was theatrical, but I always enjoyed his music. He had a wonderful voice!. I also enjoyed his acting.

 

[drf64]

What he wouldn’t do for love was cheat on Mrs. Loud. It was never meant to be cryptic. Mr Loaf didn’t do cryptic.

 

[Husker77]

Context is everything. It’s apples and oranges between Elvis and Meatloaf but they are both are positive additions to the pop song catalogue. The music business has been corrupt forever so that shouldn’t discount the contributions of the performers. Meatloaf’s operatic contributions are infinitely better compositions than the usual blues derivative stuff that we all consider sacred. Not that one is better than the other - music is not a competition - but let’s be honest…we’ve all heard enough I IV V progressions to last a lifetime. If you like Dashboard Lights blast it at 11 for the world to hear. If you don’t, keep your peace for those who want to celebrate a really good record. Nothing more. Nothing less.

 

[FenderGyrl]

Original 1977 pressing.
Very Very Good Condition.

So this is one album he sold.
What... like ... 45 years ago.

 

[Zipslack]

I heard a piece on the radio this morning where he described himself as an actor that acted like a singer.

 

[MarkieMark]

Well, theres no accounting for...

"Bat out of hell"? Owned it, played it a lot. Studied it. Learned things.

Fair enough.

Furthermore...
"Paradise by the dashboard light" might be a bit of over the top dramatic cinema, but...

I do recall a long period of time (decades?) where if it was included at the right time in a live set and done even remotely well, the crowd was almost surely rocking and singing along all the way home.

Yep.
No accounting for...

Even a half decent dj knew when to toss that one into the list.

 

[drmordo]

@davidge1:
For those of us who were in their late ‘20s and had a kid or two by then, Meat Loaf was 1. relatable, and 2. an alternative to the disco scene that made some of us envious of the people who were having more sex than we were. Paradise by the Dashboard Light resonated with those in poor marriages that felt trapped by the vows they had made and the choices they had made with first-time sex as the driving force.

“I’ll never break my promise, or forget my vow, but God only knows what I can do right now!
“I’m prayin’ for the end of time, that’s all that I can do…
“I’m prayin’ for the end of time… so I can end my time with you!”

There were and are many, many people who believe that the promises they make matter, and who wish that they could have foreseen their future before making a youthful promise like that. It’s part of being human. Jim Steinman understood that well when he wrote the song.

So, so true. I very much agree - that song really works for me because of that verse. Also, I relate even more now because I paid a heavy price for not foreseeing my future despite having the tea leaves laid out plainly before me.

 

[jimmywrangles]

I call b.s. on that. Where are all these huge international sales coming from?

The rest of the world is a big place.

 

[telestratosonic]

My wife is a fan, wrong era for me but she had me watch a couple of live clips recently and he was quite the showman.
Acted in 50 movies and TV shows too which I didn't know.
Boy George posted this morning that Meatloaf once "turned me upside down in a Chinese restaurant".
So there's that!

The videos I saw recently surprised me with how good the band actually was, not sure who but there was some really good guitar playing and overall tight solid musicianship.

RIP Marvin

Best post title ever!

 

[Dacious]

My impression has always been that Meat Loaf lied wildly about the sales of "Bat Out of Hell." That said, I think it did sell a lot.

It's one of the ten best selling albums of all time bar none, not just rock or pop. No lie.

You don't get to 'lie' about album sales. Studios can fudge the early figures by ordering too many. But that's unsustainable.if noone is buying them in retail.

And his sales were mainly people buying vinyl, casettes then CDs. Not downloads.

It sold 43m copies.