Meat Loaf, the larger-than-life rocker whose 1977 debut, “Bat Out of Hell” — a campy amalgam of hard rock and Broadway-style bombast — became one of the best-selling albums of all time, died on Thursday. He was 74.
His death was confirmed by his manager, Michael Greene. A cause of death was not given.
Meat Loaf, who was born Marvin Lee Aday and took his stage name from a childhood nickname, had a career that few could match. He was a trained Broadway belter and a multiplatinum-selling megastar whose biggest hits, like “Bat Out of Hell” and “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” were radio staples — and barroom singalongs — for decades.
Despite his success, he earned little respect from rock critics. “Nutrition-free audio lunch meat” was how Rolling Stone dismissed “Bat Out of Hell” — which would go on to sell at least 14 million copies in the United States — in the 1993 edition of its album guidebook. Still, some critics gave grudging admiration. In a 1977 review in The New York Times, John Rockwell wrote that Meat Loaf had a “fine, fervent low rock tenor, and enough stage presence to do without spotlights altogether.”
Meat Loaf also appeared in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Fight Club” and other films.
His death came just a year after that of Jim Steinman, the songwriter who wrote “Bat Out of Hell,” a record that brought Broadway-style, operatic rock to audiences at a time when, in the face of disco and punk, it couldn’t have been more unfashionable. The pair met when Mr. Steinman was commissioned to co-write a musical called “More Than You Deserve,” which ran at the Public Theater in New York in 1973 and 1974. Meat Loaf auditioned for the show and later joined the cast.
His girth was a frequent source of jibes from disc jockeys and magazine caption writers, though Meat Loaf was in on the joke.
Describing his meeting with Mr. Steinman to the British music magazine Mojo in 2017, Meat Loaf said he auditioned with a song called “(I’d Love to Be as) Heavy as Jesus.” Mr. Steinman, impressed, told him, “By the way, you’re as heavy as two Jesuses.”
“It was my kind of humor,” Meat Loaf recalled.
Later, Mr. Steinman was trying to write a post-apocalyptic musical based on “Peter Pan,” but, unable to secure the rights for the tale, he turned the work into “Bat Out of Hell,” bringing in Meat Loaf to give the songs the style and energy that made them hits.
The album, elaborately produced by Todd Rundgren, mingled hard-rock power chords, 1950s-style bubble gum and flashes of disco beats in songs that unfolded in multipart suites; the title track stretches nearly 10 minutes. In some ways the album resembled rock-style Broadway musicals like “Hair,” in which Meat Loaf had performed early in his career.
Its roster of backup musicians was stellar, including players from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band like the drummer Max Weinberg and the keyboardist Roy Bittan. Members of the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra contributed; the eight-and-a-half-minute “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” even includes the Yankees announcer Phil Rizzuto giving a baseball…
Read More News: Meat Loaf, ‘Bat Out of Hell’ Singer and Actor, Dies at 74
