A Tribute to Meat Loaf – The Unlikely Hero of Rock n’ Roll

Grant Tucker pays tribute to Meat Loaf, who soared like a bat out of hell to become one of the greatest performers of his generation.

by Grant Tucker |
Meat loaf

Tonight the music world mourns one of their best. Meat Loaf, who has died aged 74, treated every rock n’ roll gig as if it was a Wagnerian opera, and his fans loved him for it

Meat Loaf holding a guitar

The drama, the energy, the theatrics, the range – it was always there, with one music critic even describing Meat Loaf as “the king of high camp”.

This did not go unnoticed by the rock establishment who at first mocked the 1977 Bat Out of Hell album and the artist’s theatrical performances. The star was even questioned by Terry Wogan, who accused him of sending up the rock genre.

He was an outlandish, over-the-top performer who gave everything to his audiences

Meat Loaf was quick to defend himself. “No, it’s not. It’s very serious,” he said, “What it is is dramatic, not theatrical. There’s a difference between theatrical and dramatic.”

He was an outlandish, over-the-top performer who gave everything to his audiences, and often paid the price – in the form of vocal strains and broken bones. He once said: “I work myself up into a frenzy before I go on. I want my audiences to pay their money, sit down in their seats and say: ‘Alright, entertain me.’ And I do.”

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Meat Loaf driving

Meat Loaf, born Marvin Lee Aday (before changing his first name to Michael), was an unlikely star. The Dallas-born performer was mocked by his father for looking as red as meat when he was born, while his school football coach nicknamed the sizable teenager “loaf”.

While his policeman father beat and bullied his son, his teacher mother adored him and introduced him to the world of gospel music, as he also found solace amongst his school’s drama group. It instilled a love of the stage that would never leave him.

It would be his partnership with friend Jim Steinman that would make him into a global star

He moved to Los Angeles in his early twenties, but success was not instantaneous. Having spent his early years gigging with a band called Meat Loaf Soul, he went on to star in the musicals Hair and The Rocky Horror Picture Show to critical acclaim. But it would be his partnership with friend Jim Steinman that would make him into a global star.

The pair had originally wanted to write a musical based on Peter Pan, but it would eventually become Bat Out of Hell – one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. Steinman’s music proved the perfect fuel for Meat Loaf’s flamboyant operatic style. Todd Rundgren, the producer of the album, said: “If Bruce Springsteen can take it over the top, Meat Loaf can take it five storeys higher.”

Meatloaf face

Despite the mighty, larger-than-life act, offstage Loaf was a shy family man. He didn’t smoke and was, in his own words, “constantly on a diet”. Despite the cover of his most famous album, he never owned a motorbike.

Acknowledging his dad-next-door persona, he said: ‘The day that I ever become hip please shoot me and put me outta my misery.’

Despite the mighty, larger-than-life act, offstage Loaf was a shy family man

Despite this, Meat Loaf understood what it was to be a rock star. As a teenager, music provided him solace away from the cruelty of his father, and as a musician he knew he had the power to give that same comfort to others.

He once said: “Rock n’ Roll came from the slaves singing gospel in the fields. Their lives were hell and they used music to lift out of it, to take them away. That’s what rock n’ roll should do – take you to a better place.”

Amen.

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