Once upon a time three guys came together at the same place at the perfect time and created rock ‘n’ roll music unlike any ever heard before. It was ridiculous. It was bombastic beyond all reason. It was comically self-important. If the term “Wagnerian” was not coined for it, it must surely have been the first time it had been applied so copiously to a rock record.
And it was absolutely fantastic.
The album was Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell. And the three guys were Meat Loaf himself, producer Todd Rundgren, and songwriter/composer Jim Steinman. And while Meat Loaf and Rundgren certainly imprinted their considerable talents on the project, it was Steinman who was the soul of it.
Jim Steinman died on Monday. He was 73 years old.
Steinman loved Wagner. Steinman loved Phil Spector. He brought these affections to everything he did, but I think most of what manifested in his work (and it’s a long list) was his own genius. He was a talented producer and singer as well, but I think it’s safe to assert that he’ll be most remembered for his songwriting and composing—not only the work he did with Meat Loaf, but with some huge FM radio hits for other artists. Chances are excellent you’ve whistled a Jim Steinman song to yourself (or sung one to the masses, if you’re a karaoke fan).
For all the songs’ spectacle, however, there was often a core sameness about them. Chord progressions, rhythm patterns, and so forth could be really close in Steinman’s work. (Compare the first few bars of Air Supply’s ‘Making Love Out of Nothing At All” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” for a good example of what I mean in two otherwise dissimilar songs.)
Perhaps in a remembrance isn’t the most decorous place to mention it, but I didn’t really care for anyone singing Jim Steinman songs except Meat Loaf or Steinman himself. It was a very neat thing that he did, but there’s no doubt that Bat Out of Hell was the archetype, and I just never thought there was much point to anything that followed that wasn’t tightly constrained to that original vision. If it wasn’t part of a grandiose rock opera, I mostly just heard mimicry.
My limitation? Certainly.
Goodbye to a unique talent, and God be with his family and friends. RIP.
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