Meat Loaf, 'Bat Out Of Hell' singer, has died at 74 | Hacker News Reader

Meat Loaf, 'Bat Out Of Hell' singer, has died at 74

cnn.com

112 pointsTomte58 comments

Unbelievable energy. I saw a gig in 1988, when I was working as a sound and lighting engineer at a big UK venue. I don't like Meatloaf's music much. But of the many shows I worked, that one sticks in my mind. It was billed as 1 hour 20 mins. At the "end" he said a big goodnight! Then the crowd chanted for the encore. He did another two songs and exited stage. Then the crowd chanted some more. He came back. Two encores. Three. Four! It was past two hours. The venue staff and stage crew were getting nervous and tired. The manager said stay with it, I'm authorised to pay you double overtime. Meatloaf came back on, and that's when the show really started. Like he'd been holding back on half energy so far. Maybe it went to three hours. No wonder the poor guys back gave up, sounds like he died from giving it everything. I've never seen such a generous performer.

Sounds awesome. But you could not beat the Grateful Dead for generosity. At the NYE Closing of Winterland, they came on at midnight, played past 7am, then served everybody breakfast!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-CqDFfJ0Rc

I saw him in 1988 getting bottled off stage at Reading Festival.

> bottled

That says more about Reading than about Meatloaf

In an April '21 Interview he more or less prefigured his death:

"After he [Jim Steinman] died, his nurse, Mary Beth, left me a message saying how much he loved me. She said I was the one person he needed more than anyone else in his life. I don’t want to die, but I may die this year because of Jim. I’m always with him and he’s right here with me now. I’ve always been with Jim and Jim has always been with me."

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/meat-loaf-reme...

As saddened as I feel by the death of Meat Loaf, I am even more saddened by the fact that I only now learned that Jim Steinman has also died (almost one year ago already!)...

He had a hell of a voice, and, I am told, his concerts were out of this world (never saw him, myself).

He was in a few movies. Nothing to really write home about, but I did enjoy him in Formula 51[0] (sorry about the Facebook link, but this was the only variant of this particular scene that I found).

[0] https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=155347254532277&_rdr

[Edited To Add] I didn’t mean that the movies weren’t special. I just feel that he was a fairly “middlin’” actor. In Formula 51 and Fight Club, he was with some rather heavyweight actors, and Tim Curry was a fairly hard act to follow.

No comment on Spice World.

Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club are pretty noteworthy.

He was also in the Spice Girls movie, Spice World, which Wikipedia reports made only a million dollars less than Fight Club ($100M versus $101M).

"What's for dinner?"

"Leftovers!"

"What? Meatloaf? Again?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjuQBIuzW4s

Saw him live in the 90-ies, was amazing and he had a great band.

During the show he climbed on one of the big monitor speakers on the stage without thinking about how to get down again. A roadie had to help him out... I mean he was already a middle aged man at that point and no Eddie Vedder anymore...

Eddie Vedder is now older than Meat Loaf was then... time flies.

+1 for Formula 51 (51st State in UK). The same clip is on YouTube (posted in my previous comment)

quoting a YouTube comment

"I don't always listen to Meatloaf. But when I do, so do the neighbors"

like now

R.I.P.

Never thought it that way, but they are absolutely right. When we listened to Meatloaf as kids, it was always turned all the way up. And now, he's a crowd favorite when out on the boat which also must be turned all the way up.

Paradise by the Dashboard Light was a number 1 hit in the Netherlands and Belgium. It's been a long time favorite at school dances and parties; guilty pleasure kind of material. Fun fact, Radio 2, the national broadcaster's music station in the Netherlands picked up this news when it broke, today, saying that Jim Steinman was him, but he was rather the composer of that song, and he died last year or so. Meat Loaf's real name was Marvin Lee Aday.

That's my go-to karaoke song - grab a partner and have fun!

Here's Meatloaf lovingly serenading Mitt Romney with "America the Beautiful".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7nVteJ8_8k

"Life is a lemon, And I want my money back"

I've always been curious what the "that" in "I'd do anything for love, but I won't do that." was. He refused to answer it on a talk show I watched a long time ago and I was always curious.

Not 100% my style of music but he did have a great voice.

I think he was an abuse victim, so that might be related.

Not even close

If you want to know what the "that" was, I suggest you listen to the full song and you'll have your answer.

He hasn't refused. I believe he said it was an annoying question, because it was obviously in the lyrics.

Fx,

> And I would do anything for love I'd run right into hell and back I would do anything for love I'd never lie to you and that's a fact But I'll never forget the way you feel right now, Oh no, no way And I would do anything for love, but I won't do that No, I won't do that

In the first verse "that" refers to "never forget the way you feel right now"

I gotta admit, even after I was told it was in the lyrics I couldn't find it and needed someone to show me before I got it.

There's also the "sooner or later you'll be screwing around" line he replies to

There is one thing he won't do in every verse.

Wikipedia has the whole thing listed, so I just link there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27d_Do_Anything_for_Love_(Bu...

While you're correct, I think the problem is that the way the line is phrased seems to imply "I would do anything for love, but I won't do that for love." Even knowing Meatloaf's intention, the whole song seems to be suggesting that there's something his lover is begging him to do that he outright refuses. I doubt she's asking him to "forget the way she feels," or "screw around," so it feels like there's a question left unanswered. The Wikipedia article for the song even touches on this ambiguity with the debate between Steinman and Meatloaf over the use of the word "but" versus "and" in the line: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27d_Do_Anything_for_Love_(Bu...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2022/jan/21/meat-loa...

Well, he left a family behind, but refused to get vaccinated.. So maybe it was that.

I'm not familiar with his music, but I loved his character in Fight Club.

His name is Robert Paulson.

Wow. I said the pretty much the same thing in conversation 1:30h ago.

  [1/21/2022]: i didn't care for his music although he sings beautifully
  [1/21/2022]: robert paulson tho T_T
  [1/21/2022]: https://c.tenor.com/QYtgaml-iNcAAAAC/fight-club-his-name-is-robert-paulson.gif

13 year old me loved his music (and I do now). I remember it was Beauty and the Beast (if I remember right) that launched "I'd do anything for love" into most people's hearts. Well, it did to mine.

Backstage at Beacon Theater in NYC kicking off 30 shows in 40 days i opened up for Meatloaf in arenas up and down the East coast. It was the opportunity of a lifetime to soak in the brilliance and magic that he conjured every single night. We will remember him with the speakers turned up all the way. https://imgur.com/gallery/BN7ryt3

His name is Robert Paulson.

Rather, from the article:

"The singer, whose real name is Marvin Lee Aday, was born in Dallas."

You really have to watch Fight Club. This is a reference to the character he played in the movie and how his death is treated there.

You broke the first rule

and the second too

But sir, in project mayhem we have no names

In death a member of project mayhem has a name.

Another absolute legend. As a kid, I’d listen to Bat Out of Hell on an old cassette tape. As an adult, I have an entire playlist of his music.

Meat Loaf has quite a catalog, but his collaborations with Jim Steinman are like nothing else.

His name was Marvin Lee Aday…

Rest in Peace.

So sad. FYI he wasn't just a singer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy4DIVsQgMA

I was expecting this to be Meat Loaf livestreaming a Python tutorial or something.

Imagine!

I remember him from Fight Club and House MD. He was good.

I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell.

“Objects in the rear view mirror” held a special place in the hearts of me and my friends at college. RIP.

Funny, there's a mandela effect about that...

i and many others remember Objects in Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They are...which I think is how it goes in the song... instead it's always been ....Mirror ARE Closer than they appear.

He has gone to Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

RIP.

The name turned me off his music

Anti-vaxxer, died of COVID. No sympathy.

Was sad till I saw his Herman Cain Award... kinda ruins respect for a person. I have zero for anti-vaxxers who die of covid. Zero. Very sad that it'll be one of the big things he's remembered for, protesting during a pandemic and dying because of it.

This doesn't belong to hacker news

Incorrect. Anything that is of interest to the community here belongs here. Read the guidelines on the site, there’s no requirement for any particular kind of content.

>Anything that is of interest to the community here belongs here.

False, if that were the case this place would turn into Reddit within a week. This is a purposely curated community. The guidelines state "Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic."

There's no interesting new phenomenon here to make this worth discussing. It's just a celebrity obituary generating mediocre pop-culture nostalgia and member-berries.

The guy himself was kind of an interesting phenomenon though.

The 75/35 votes to comment ratio says otherwise.

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