[csaa-forum] who is meatloaf

Jon Stratton J.Stratton at curtin.edu.au
Thu Oct 14 08:42:13 CST 2004 

  There has been an awful lot of quite uninformed slagging off of Meat Loaf
on this list.  If people would like to read a biography of the man here is a
webpage from the All Music Guide:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg
<http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:47d6vwmva9qk~T1>
&sql=11:47d6vwmva9qk~T1
 
In the early 1970s the Loaf worked in musicals such as Hair and the Rocky
Horror Picture Show.  He also worked with Jim Steinman who later wrote the
melodrama that became Bat Out Of Hell, released in 1977. 
      For more information on Steinman a New York born classically trained
pianist go to:    
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg
<http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:405gtq8ztu45~T1>
&sql=11:405gtq8ztu45~T1
 
   Meat Loaf has actually released around twenty albums though none have had
the popularity of his two collaborations with Steinman.  Here is All Music
Guide's assessmant Bat Out Of Hell:
 
Review	 by Stephen Thomas Erlewine	

There is no other album like Bat out of Hell, unless you want to count the
sequel. This is grand guignol pop - epic, gothic, operatic, and silly, and
it's appealing because of all of this. Jim Steinman was a composer without
peer, simply because nobody else wanted to make mini-epics like this. And
there never could have been a singer more suited for his compositions than
Meat Loaf, a singer partial to bombast, albeit shaded bombast. The
compositions are staggeringly ridiculous, yet Meat Loaf finds the emotional
core in each song, bringing true heartbreak to "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad"
and sly humor to "Paradise By the Dashboard Light." There's no discounting
the production of Todd Rundgren, either, who gives Steinman's self-styled
grandiosity a production that's staggeringly big, but never overwhelming and
always alluring. While the sentiments are deliberately adolescent and filled
with jokes and exaggerated clichés, there's real (albeit silly) wit behind
these compositions, not just in the lyrics but in the music, which is a
savvy blend of oldies pastiche, show tunes, prog rock, Springsteen-esque
narratives, and blistering hard rock (thereby sounding a bit like an
extension of Rocky Horror Picture Show, which brought Meat Loaf to the
national stage). It may be easy to dismiss this as ridiculous, but there's
real style and craft here and its kitsch is intentional. It may elevate
adolescent passion to operatic dimensions, and that's certainly silly, but
it's hard not to marvel at the skill behind this grandly silly, irresistible
album. 

 

Imho, rather than making assumptions about the quality of a piece of music
and then referencing this back to Latham, it would be better to consider
what it is about the music that has attracted a particular audience.
Whether or not one likes the album, or likes people who like the album, it
has to be admitted that Bat Out Of Hell does what it does extremely well!  

cheers,

Jon


  _____  

From: csaa-forum-bounces at darlin.cdu.edu.au on behalf of John Scannell
Sent: Wed 13/10/2004 11:56 PM
To: CSAA discussion list
Subject: Re: [csaa-forum] who is meatloaf



Last thing - in the next election I hope we have a big colour coded 
electoral map of Sydney with the Meatloaf, Celine Dion, Delta Goodrem et 
al constituencies clearly marked out. I should put that to the ABC... 
Someone else can approach them with the Freedom furniture, IKEA, David 
Jones electroral boundaries, I am not so strong in the furniture 
judgement area. 

John Scannell wrote: 

>> 
>> 
>> Is Meatloaf some sort of iconic representation of a particular 
>> identity with which Latham would like to associate? 
>> (pappa-mummy-Latham?) 
> 
> Glen - this is what I am trying to figure out. If he was just saying 
> it to 'pass' or if he is 'keeping it real' as we say in the 'hood. 
> In regard Derrida quote: 
> 
>> He jokingly replied (paraphrasing): 'I have only read four books, but 
>> I read them very, very closely' 
> 
> Fantastic quote Glen...(oh man I am having a good chuckle, although I 
> promised myself that today would be the last day of this...). 
> 
>> Or could it be that a 'fan' of Meatloaf is indicative of a connection 
>> with whatever assemblage Meatloaf is part (maybe described as 
>> something suburban, masculine, old-economy working class)? Meatloaf 
>> as molar rockpig constellation of intensities molecularised as 
>> becoming-Celine Dion. A becoming-Kath&Kim. I honestly think that 
>> Meatloaf and Dion could sing some of each others songs and they would 
>> sound entirely appropriate. 
>> 
> First of all I realise that I haven't been a good Deleuzian, and that 
> I have fallen into the trap of 'judgement'...however...Deleuze would 
> understand that such discussion generates much affect with music being 
> one of the most territorialising forces of all...hence... 
> 
> OK the point for me is to work out whether Latham's preference for 
> Meatloaf relates to either a majoritarian or a minoritarian 
> orientation. I don't know. This is why it is so perplexing for me. 
> Let's say we do ascribe Meatloaf as constituative of the suburban- 
> masculine-old-economy-working class assemblage, then this where Labor 
> it got it wrong... 
> 
> I would have tried to get the Delta Goodrem-Hills District-KMart 
> Underwear (and yet often still McChurch too) white trash assemblage 
> working for me instead. 
> 
> I am not sure how Celine Dion fits in all this because I missed the 
> initial reference. Although I know easy listening stars such as Dion 
> are big with the middle class Hong Kong Chinese that I have been told 
> now frequent Sylvania Waters in increasing numbers. So now that we 
> have established this - we can say that Meatloaf would certainly grate 
> upon the Celine Dion (and perhaps any adult audience that Goodrem may 
> have). Which gets me back to my original point that Latham made a big 
> mistake and should have perhaps opted for...I have thought about this. 
> I think Kasey Chambers would have worked with her multiple demographic 
> capacity (not that I care for her or her music, but I would have 
> constructed a better story than Meatloaf). 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glen Fuller wrote: 
> 
>> Hey! In response to the voice of yoof (doof doof doof), I am only 25, 
>> too! lol! I just grew up in a suburb where Meatloaf was appreciated. 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>> But its impossible to name an artist with only 2 albums as 'your 
>>> favourite' unless you have an extremely limited attention span or 
>>> are some kind of masochist. So there is not much to base a thesis 
>>> around, unless Mr. Loaf is used as an icon of some sort of err, lets 
>>> be kind   
>> 
>> and  
>> 
>>> say 'becoming'- 
>>>   
>> 
>> 
>> Dear John, 
>> 
>> Because Meatloaf only has two albums, being a Meatloaf fan is somehow 
>> limited or limiting? Hmmm, if such an analogy is approriate, I wonder 
>> how many people would describe themselves as having an extremely 
>> limited attention span or a masochist because they are 
>> monogamous/bigamous? 
>> Is Meatloaf some sort of iconic representation of a particular 
>> identity with which Latham would like to associate? 
>> (pappa-mummy-Latham?) 
>> Or is Latham's Meatloaf fandom defined by some sort of limited 
>> textual or intertextual immersion? He couldn't possibly be a fan if 
>> he can only consume two texts... Come on! We all know nerdom is 
>> defined by how much subcultural capital you have. Think of academia! 
>> Although, deploying some nerd-capital, what did Derrida say when 
>> asked how many books he had read from his massive library? He 
>> jokingly replied (paraphrasing): 'I have only read four books, but I 
>> read them very, very closely' 
>> Or could it be that a 'fan' of Meatloaf is indicative of a connection 
>> with whatever assemblage Meatloaf is part (maybe described as 
>> something suburban, masculine, old-economy working class)? Meatloaf 
>> as molar rockpig constellation of intensities molecularised as 
>> becoming-Celine Dion. A becoming-Kath&Kim. I honestly think that 
>> Meatloaf and Dion could sing some of each others songs and they would 
>> sound entirely appropriate. 
>> 
>> Also, for those who didn't know, in the flick _The Castle_ the word 
>> 'rissole' was changed to 'meatloaf' for the US market. Who wants to 
>> start an Australian Meatloaf cover band? Anyone? 
>> Ciao, 
>> Glen. 
>> 
>>  
>> 
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