Meat Loaf- Bat II: Back Into Hell 30th Anniversary

My big buddy from Dallas, Meat Loaf, died  in January 2022, and I truly regret that he did not live to see the thirtieth anniversary of his second installment in the Bat Out of Hell saga, Bat II: Back Into Hell. He was one of my favorite people to interview, for a whole host of reasons.  As you will hear in my series of interviews here In the Studio covering all but the final days of his life ( for that I recommend the excellent piece by Andy Greene in Rolling Stone  magazine https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/meat-loaf-dies-74-1288550/ ), Meat Loaf was an oversized underdog, an understudy to the great John Belushi early on, and misunderstood by many music critics and not a few radio programmers. Yet he played each of those roles to the hilt.

If you think the songs of composer Jim Steinman, who died in 2021, are populated by fantastic people and places right out of central casting, they ain’t got nothin’ on the real life sojourn of the 300 pound interior lineman dressed in a prom tuxedo named Marvin Lee Aday from Dallas Texas, aka Meat Loaf. Here is a rare colorful classic rock conversation with the man, who the New York Times respectfully refers to as Mr. Loaf, in an attempt to get our arms around his most unorthodox career,  from North Texas football lineman to journeyman actor to international singer who hit the stage like a Bat Out of Hell . – Redbeard