Meat Loaf: the rock ‘n’ roll movie star<\/b><\/p>\n
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Meat Loaf wasn’t a guy who “performed songs.”<\/p>\n
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He performed events<\/b>.<\/p>\n
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Even the name Meat Loaf<\/i> sounds like something you’d hear in a backstage dressing room story:<\/p>\n
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“Nobody knows his real name… he just shows up… and when he sings, the lights flicker.”<\/p>\n
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He had that larger-than-life energy where you’re not sure if you’re witnessing a concert or a car crash in slow motion — except somehow it’s beautiful<\/b>.<\/p>\n
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And in the 80s, when music videos became mini-films and radio became theater of the mind, Meat Loaf was perfect<\/i>.<\/p>\n
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He wasn’t fashionable.<\/p>\n
He wasn’t “cool.”<\/p>\n
He was something better:<\/p>\n
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He was unstoppable<\/b>.<\/p>\n
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And then… there’s the songwriter: Jim Steinman<\/b><\/p>\n
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If Meat Loaf was the voice, Jim Steinman<\/b> was the lightning storm behind it.<\/p>\n
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Steinman didn’t write pop songs.<\/p>\n
He wrote rock operas disguised as radio singles<\/b>.<\/p>\n
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He wrote like he was trying to score:<\/p>\n
•the end of the world<\/p>\n
•the end of a relationship<\/p>\n
•and the end of your gas tank<\/p>\n
all at the same time<\/p>\n
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He’s the guy who believed the only acceptable emotional level in music was:<\/p>\n
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MAXIMUM.<\/b><\/p>\n
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And the truth is: without Steinman, there is no Meat Loaf legend.<\/b><\/p>\n
Their partnership wasn’t “artist and writer.”<\/p>\n
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It was Frankenstein and the storm<\/b>.<\/p>\n
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“I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” — the song that dares you to laugh… and then wins<\/b><\/p>\n
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This track is ridiculous on paper.<\/p>\n
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It’s long.<\/p>\n
It’s melodramatic.<\/p>\n
It has sections. Movements. Weather systems.<\/p>\n
And Meat Loaf sings it like a man making a sacred vow on the hood of a car while lightning hits a telephone pole in the background.<\/p>\n
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And yet…<\/p>\n
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It works.<\/p>\n
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Not because it’s subtle.<\/p>\n
Because it’s honest<\/b>.<\/p>\n
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This isn’t “love is cute.”<\/p>\n
This is:<\/p>\n
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Love is messy.<\/p>\n
Love is desperate.<\/p>\n
Love is driving too fast at night because you can’t stand being alone.<\/p>\n
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And that hook?<\/p>\n
That title line?<\/b><\/p>\n
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It’s one of the greatest “wait… what?” moments in rock history.<\/p>\n
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It practically dares you:<\/p>\n
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“Go ahead. Roll your eyes.”<\/p>\n
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But you don’t.<\/p>\n
Because by the time he hits it, you’re already in the movie.<\/p>\n
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The infamous line: what won’t he do?<\/b><\/p>\n
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Let’s talk about that<\/i> line.<\/p>\n
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People have argued about it for decades like it’s a lost verse from the Bible.<\/p>\n
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But the 80’s lesson here is simple:<\/p>\n
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Sometimes the lyrics aren’t meant to be dissected with tweezers.<\/p>\n
Sometimes they’re meant to be screamed out loud<\/b>, windows down, with your whole ridiculous heart involved.<\/p>\n
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Because the truth isn’t in the exact definition of “that.”<\/p>\n
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The truth is in the vow:<\/p>\n
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“I will give you everything…<\/p>\n
but I still have a line…<\/p>\n
because if I give you that too… I disappear.”<\/p>\n
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And that is very<\/i> real.<\/p>\n
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KROQ: maybe not daytime… but definitely midnight mythology<\/b><\/p>\n
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Was Meat Loaf the cool choice in 1983? Not really.<\/p>\n
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But by the time this hit in the early 90s, KROQ was already legendary for breaking “weird” and “wrong” and “why the hell is this on the air?”<\/p>\n
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So no, you weren’t hearing this between the Cure and R.E.M. on afternoon drive.<\/p>\n
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But at night?<\/p>\n
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When you’re half awake, LA streets empty, dashboard lit, signal drifting, and some DJ decides the city needs something big<\/i>?<\/p>\n
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This song fits that moment perfectly.<\/p>\n
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Because it’s not background music.<\/p>\n
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It’s main character music<\/b>.<\/p>\n
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And that’s why Meat Loaf belongs here.<\/p>\n
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Because Rock of the 80’s isn’t about perfection.<\/p>\n
It’s about commitment<\/b>.<\/p>\n
It’s about emotion that doesn’t apologize<\/b>.<\/p>\n
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And nobody — nobody<\/i> — did that better than Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman.<\/p>\n
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This is Rock of the 80’s signing off for tonight — not sad, exactly… just remembering. And remembering sounds pretty damn good.<\/b><\/p>\n
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