THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

22-Meatloaf-Bat Out of Hell.

1977-It wasn’t released as a single until 1979 when reaching Number 15. The song was re-released in 1993, and peaked at Number 8.

Best Bit-At 6.52. The songs writer Jim Steinman was a big fan of the early 1960’s ‘Death Discs’ also known as ‘Teenage Tragedy Songs,’ such as ‘Leader of the Pack’ by the Shangri-Las, (see also best songs 331) and ‘Tell Laura I Love Her,’ from Ray Peterson. Steinman wanted to write the ‘most extreme ‘crash song of all time.’

‘Meat Loaf’ (see also best songs 90) was born Marvin Lee Aday on September 27th, 1947, in Dallas, Texas, United States. In 2003 he was diagnosed with Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, a condition marked by an extra electrical pathway in the heart which causes symptoms like a rapid heartbeat, he also suffered with asthma, and in 2011 he fainted on stage while performing, due to a asthma attack. Meat Loaf died on January 20th, 2022, at the age of 74, no official cause of death was released, but he had been ill with COVID-19 earlier that month. Meat Loaf has said that when he was born, he was ‘bright red and stayed that way for days,’ and that his father said he looked like ‘nine pounds of ground chuck,’ and convinced hospital staff to put the name ‘Meat’ on his crib. Another story as to where his nickname originated is that when he was at school his classmates referred to him by his initials ‘M.L.’ in reference to his name, but after he stepped on a football coach’s foot the coach yelled, ‘Get off my foot, you hunk of meatloaf.’

In 1971 Meat Loaf issued two singles on the Motown subsidiary label ‘Rare Earth,’ as part of the duo ‘Stoney & Meatloaf,’ ‘Stoney’ is the American female singer Shawn Murphy, their first single ‘What You See Is What You Get’ reached Number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. As a solo artist Meat Loaf released 12 studio Albums between 1977-2016, and 37 singles in the same time period. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, seven of those songs reached the top 40, with ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’ making Number 1 in 1993. In the UK, 18 of his singles have reached the top 40, with ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’ also giving him his only chart topper.

‘Bat Out of Hell’ is the opening track on the debut solo studio Album of the same name from Meat Loaf, it was written by Jim Steinman, (1947-2021) and produced by Todd Rundgren. At the time of writing the Album is currently the 12th best selling Album of all time, with sales in excess of 34 million copies worldwide. ‘Bat Out of Hell,’ along with ‘Heaven Can Wait,’ and ‘All Revved Up with No Place To Go’ originally featured in Steinman’s 1977 ‘Peter Pan’ inspired musical ‘Neverland,’ which at that time was still a work in progress. Steinman and Meat Loaf who were touring with the ‘National Lampoon’ entertainment show felt that they had three exceptional songs and wanted to develop them, with potentially four more in to an Album.

Todd Rundgren who produced all of the tracks on The Bat Out of Hell’ Album, has also been highly praised for his guitar work on ‘Bat Out of Hell.’ Rather than use a recording of a real motorcycle, Rundgren himself played the section on guitar, leading straight into the solo without a break, in his autobiography Meat Loaf wrote,’In fifteen minutes he played the lead solo, and then played the harmony guitars at the beginning. I guarantee the whole thing didn’t take him more than forty-five minutes, and the song itself is ten minutes long. The most astounding thing I have ever seen in my life.’

‘Bat Out of Hell’ tells the story of someone who feels that his life is going nowhere, and he only feels alive when riding his motorbike at highly dangerous speeds. He knows the dangers of what he is doing but the thrill is too great to resist. Jim Steinman has said,’There is something so thrilling to me about that operatic narrative that involves a cataclysmic event, especially one so perfectly in tune with a teenager’s world, and Rock and Roll, as a car or motorcycle crash.’ Steinman achieved his ambition of writing the greatest ‘crash song’ when the motorbike and rider are ‘down in the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun.’

‘Oh, baby you’re the only thing in this whole world that’s pure and good and right, and wherever you are and wherever you go, there’s always gonna be some light.’