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Desert Island Meat

Which Meatloaf classic makes the cut?

Paradise by the Dashboard Light	3 votes
Bat Out of Hell	5 votes
Two Out of Three Ain't Bad	3 votes
You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth	1 votes
Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through	0 votes
I'd Do Anything for Love (But I won't do that)	1 votes
Modern Girl	0 votes
Other	0 votes

Centerfield Oct 14 2008 08:14 PM

Which Meatloaf classic makes the cut? Paradise by the Dashboard Light Bat Out of Hell Two Out of Three Ain't Bad You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth Rock and Roll Dream Come Through I'd Do Anything for Love (But I won't do that) Modern Girl

seawolf17 Oct 14 2008 08:22 PM

Dang. I was hoping this would be a Meat Puppets poll.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 14 2008 08:57 PM

It's 'Bat' vs. 'Words' for me. Thinkin on it.

AG/DC Oct 14 2008 09:19 PM

Me, too. I dig the refrain of "Took the Words" --- very rock 'n' roll. The verses get pretty disporpotionately histrionic pretty quickly --- don't hold back none --- but I'm ready to pull the trigger on that one. Let me sleep on it.

AG/DC Oct 14 2008 09:30 PM

I reviewed that prologue to "Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth" and went screaming to "Bat." Besides, it doesn't use the Steinman signature of the really long hook phrase --- as much.

TransMonk Oct 14 2008 11:13 PM

seawolf17 wrote: Dang. I was hoping this would be a Meat Puppets poll. Right F'n On!

metirish Oct 15 2008 04:27 AM

AG/DC wrote: Let me sleep on it. LOL Voted for Bat Out Of hell but it was close with Paradise by the Dashboard Light . Saw them years ago in a hotel in Tipperary , it was an awesome show.

metsguyinmichigan Oct 15 2008 07:48 AM

Well you were licking your lips And your lipstick's shining I was dying just to ask for a taste! Great lyrics. But the whole "Offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses" thing is creepy. Still, it's my favorite Meat song. I like the live version.

AG/DC Oct 15 2008 08:03 AM

And, at another level, not quite as creepy as they think they're being, which in turn makes it creepier for different reasons. Seventies summer-stock theater-ish. Does Rundgren appear in any of those stage videos?

metsguyinmichigan Oct 15 2008 08:15 AM

This will seem odd, but one of my favorite Meat songs ... is actually a Barry Manilow song. Manilow's version of "Read 'em and Weep" is full of classic bombastic Steinman. Meat's version is a tad softer, and he does the annoying warbling voice thing. Not sure which version came first.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 15 2008 08:18 AM

'Took the Words' is just so lush with the echo-y background ooohs and ahhhs and whistle and bells. It's like a candy bar. I'm gonna go with bat for its ferocity and granduer and for the fact they had the nads to make it the first song on the album. I can see a curtain rising after that fierce introduction (a few bars of which went missing in the video above!).

Fman99 Oct 15 2008 08:20 AM

I would just eat sand until I died. Pass on all of the guy's music. However, I would instead take a copy of "Fight Club," in which he was excellent in a supporting role as a busty former-juicer-turned-domestic-terrorist.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 15 2008 08:21 AM

FWiW, I dig bombast as much as the next guy, maybe more, but always thought 'Paradise' was kinda overdone even then.

Vince Coleman Firecracker Oct 15 2008 08:24 AM

The wolf with the red roses part is really funny (not sure if that's intentional or not), but I have to go with Bat out of Hell, which is as melodramatic a song as has ever been recorded. And the last thing I see is my heart, Still beating, Ripping out of my body and flying away Like a bat out of hell No song is more Meatloaf than that.

Frayed Knot Oct 15 2008 08:31 AM

CF puts up a poll which some are going to run as fast as other will run away. I've just heard 'Paradise' too many times or that might have gotten my vote. Going with 'Bat' instead in all its marvelous bombast.

AG/DC Oct 15 2008 08:35 AM

Yeah, the metaphor twists and distorts. He's the bat escaping Hell. Is the afterglow of a night of passon Hellish for him, or is he so bad (undead?) that he can't stand before his lover in the daylight? It's nonetheless penitence as well as passion that brings him back. But then during that crazed ending it changes. His heart --- not himself --- is likened to the bat. And the Hell is is his dying body. His heart will fucking go on. It's all sorts of mixed but it works because the broader theme of damnation and perserverance is so stupid and cocky. He's a douchebag with a chip on his sholder the size of his Harley --- and yeah that's an awkward metaphor too, but Steinman isn't afraid of those. The title also suggests somebody fighting his way out Hell with a baseball bat. This is some of the stupidest and overblown shit ever. But I was 12 once too. So if I gotta pick, I went Bat.

bmfc1 Oct 15 2008 08:46 AM

metsguyinmichigan wrote: This will seem odd, but one of my favorite Meat songs ... is actually a Barry Manilow song. Manilow's version of "Read 'em and Weep" is full of classic bombastic Steinman. Meat's version is a tad softer, and he does the annoying warbling voice thing. Nicely done MGIM. I agree.

Rockin' Doc Oct 15 2008 10:56 AM

I haven't heard any of that stuff for a very long time. the album Bat Out of Hell came out when I was a high school senior and really seemed to take off during my freshman year of college. I thought it was great and got several of my buddies listening to it. It was over the top, theatrical rock that was different from everything else out. It brings back some fond memories of my long lost youth. I went with Paradise by the Dashboard Light in a close call over BOoH.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 15 2008 11:23 AM

Meat has spent the last 30 years trying to capitalize on 'Bat's' momentum. I think they'd have had a shot if Steinman's "Bad for Good" was done with Meat as initially planned. Not sure how they grew estranged but that record got some attention early and had a version of "Rock n Roll Dreams" that Meat didn't sing.

Vince Coleman Firecracker Oct 15 2008 11:42 AM

AG/DC wrote: But then during that crazed ending it changes. Hmm, does the crazy ending actually happen in the story? He says, of that whole motorcycle scene, that he can see himself. Does that mean he's only imagining it? Am I thinking about this song more that Steinman did when he wrote it?

AG/DC Oct 15 2008 12:10 PM

And the last thing I see is my heart Still beating Breaking out of my body And flying away Like a bat out of Hell

cooby Oct 16 2008 11:19 AM

Sorry I know it's the most mainstream one, but I loved "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" I remember dating a guy when Bat out of Hell had just came out and I was sitting in his truck reading the song titles on his EIGHT TRACK TAPE and laughing at them "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights"? hahahaha never realizing that someday I'd actually KNOW those songs. Anyway, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad for me.