Eddie Has Left The Building

Encountering Meatloaf in The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The first time I had an encounter with Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – Left This Mortal Plane January 20, 2022), was watching the excellent musical Richard O’ Brien’s “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” featuring Tim Curry as the sweet transvestite Dr. Frank-N-Furter - A Scientist and Meatloaf as Eddie, an Ex Delivery Boy on a Motorcycle with only half a brain who met his comeuppance with a pick axe.

An obvious more than bit-part player, but the next time I saw him was singing “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” with Karla Devito in an explosive eleven minutes which I do not think that Bob Harris or the BBC were expecting. I was watching it at a girlfriend’s house with her parents watching in 1978 and it was not hugely comfortable but still very enjoyable.

In Los Angeles, he formed his first band, Meat Loaf Soul, after a nickname coined by his football coach because of his weight. He was immediately offered three recording contracts, all of which he turned down. Meat Loaf Soul's first gig was in Huntington Beach in 1968 at the Cave, opening for Van Morrison's band Them and Question Mark and the Mysterians.

Meatloaf , Bat Out Of Hell , Jim Steinman and Todd Rundgren

I then decided to check out the album “Bat Out Of Hell” from the pen of modern rock operatic composer Jim Steinman with wonder producer and guitarist and no mean musician himself Todd Rundgren on production and sound duties, which destroyed you with the ten-minute opening title track, which was also released as a single, cut for the seven-inch version but in its full glory in the twelve-inch copy.

The whole album was released in one form or another as singles coupled with each other to maximize income from this phenomenal debut from the Steinman / Meatloaf pairing. Amazingly this album came out in 1978 and still sells over 200,000 copies annually.

It was expanded into His Bat Out of Hell trilogy—Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose— which has now sold more than 65 million albums worldwide. He won a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for the song "I'd Do Anything for Love" from

Meatloaf was not a small man, and his voice was definitely not that of a small man being perfectly suited to blasting out over huge arena gigs.

He appeared in over fifty films including as Eddie in the aforementioned Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Bob Paulson in David Fincher's film take on the Chuck Palahniuk book "Fight Club" plus as himself in "Spice World"

“You Gotta Praise The Lord When You’re In My Home!”

In 2006, he made a special cameo appearance in the cult-classic, metal-musical Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. It was in this film that Meat Loaf lent his iconic voice to the opening song of the film called “Kickapoo”.

In this scene, he plays a strict, religious father who is ashamed and furious at his son’s ‘satanic’ music. After he is finished spanking his son, he starts singing his verse.

But he will always be remembered and loved as an over-the-top, larger-than-life, louder than loud definition of rock operatic bombast that will never ever be forgotten. There is unlikely to be another Meatloaf that will make the stadiums shake like he did.

He was an iconic entertainer and will be sorely missed by his fans.

My daughters saw him live and are great fans as are many of my friends, and so am I.

Goodbye Meatloaf

I don't think he topped "Bat Out Of Hell" but he came close several times ("I Would Do Anything For Love" with its Beauty and Beast video is one example) and he always was a great draw and a stellar center of attention for any concert.

It is a sad loss but thanks to modern technology we still have his music and film performances so he is a digitally immortal musical icon, the world's very own "Bat Out Of Hell" now traveling through the heavens making a hell of a lot of noise.