Like a Bat Out of Hell: The Larger Than Life Story of Meat Loaf

by Mick Wall

'A passionate, pacey tome you should do anything for a copy of' - Kerrang!

****

I never wanted to be a big star. I just wanted to be the biggest at what I do! Powerful, unstoppable, heavy - when that word still meant something good! - Meat Loaf, as told to Mick Wall

Everything in the story of Meat Loaf is big. From the place he was born (Texas); to the family he was born into (his father weighed 22 stone, his uncle weighed over 40 stone, while Meat Loaf himself weighed 17 stone before he was even in his teens); to the sound he made (a colossal collision between Richard Wagner, Phil Spector and Bruce Springsteen); and of course the records he sold - nearly 50 million in Britain and America alone.

Now, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Bat Out of Hell, the album that gave rise to Meat Loaf's astonishing career, and the premiere of Bat Out Of Hell: The Musical, Mick Wall, who has interviewed Meat Loaf on numerous occasions throughout his career, pulls back the curtains to reveal the soft-hearted soul behind the larger-than-life character he created for himself.

From a tumultuous childhood with an alcoholic father to the relentless abusive bullying from classmates and their parents alike, nobody could have predicted Meat Loaf's meteoric rise to fame.

But when the messianic rock opera Bat Out of Hell was released in 1977, it became one of the biggest albums of all time, selling over 45 million copies worldwide to date. Its release marked the start of a roller-coaster ride of incredible highs and seemingly career-ending lows. By the 80s, Meat Loaf was battling with drug and alcohol addiction and escalating money problems that would eventually lead to a nervous breakdown. But just when it seemed like it was all over, the astonishing success of Bat Out of Hell II and the mega-hit 'I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)' marked an extraordinary new wave of success.

Now, Mick Wall will bring this extraordinary story up to date, drawing on the hours he spent with Meat Loaf, both in interviews and on tour, as well as offering up a unique insight from those who have known him best.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir, Autobiography

310 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

Mick Wall is an author, journalist, film, television and radio writer-producer, who’s worked inside the music industry for over 35 years. He began his career contributing to the music weekly Sounds in 1977, where he wrote about punk and the new wave, and then rockabilly, funk, New Romantic pop and, eventually, hard rock and heavy metal. By 1983, Wall become one of the main journalists in the early days of Kerrang! magazine, where he was their star cover story writer for the next nine years. He subsequently became the founding editor of Classic Rock magazine in 1998, and presented his own television and radio shows.

Reviews

[Deana The Queen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a hormonal junior high girl in 1977 when Bat out of Hell was birthed to the world, I experienced a musical and emotional awakening. The music and lyrics of the album poured upon the pages of my heart with a deep, sparkling darkness. Down came posters of Peter Framptom and David Cassidy. Better to have bare walls.

But confusion ensued while I perused the pages of Creem magazine, for how could I possibly be both attracted to yet repulsed by an enormous, sweating mountain of a man in a bulging, ruffled tux shirt with the voice of a fallen angel? And what about the album's back cover? Who was the other guy? The really super awesomely cute yet totally unconventional one with eyes gazing directly into the stars?

Mick Wall’s biography paints a stunning portrait of the singer known as Meat Loaf. Wall shines a light into all those dark places and shows us Meat’s abusive upbringing, bullying, and struggle with the Meat monster into which Jim Steinman crafted him. For no mention of Meat can be made without the Svengali-like brains and passion of Jim Steinman: Songwriter, puppet master, Dr. Frankenstein, and ultimate manipulator of reality.

And while this is a biography about Meat, tales of Steinman are just as prevalent in the book - or even more so - than those of Meat, for the two existed in a type of symbiotic fantasy/nightmare during those early years and for many to follow.

From the diametrically different beginnings of both men to the brilliant opening of Steinman’s long-awaited dream of Bat out of Hell - The Musical in 2017, Wall carries the reader on a nostalgic journey through the decades and digs deep into the psyches of Meat and Steinman showing us that the nearly 50-year relationship between them was fraught with both spectacular highs and shattering lows.

While Wall keeps a tight focus on the musical history of the two, he never loses sight of the people behind the fiery madness. By the end of the journey, Wall shows us how Meat is unable to stand for more than five minutes at a time, his concert days - and voice - trailing long behind him in the rear view mirror. And as for Steinman, always eccentrically unique, well, he lives a solitary life holed up with his wine collection, biker leather, and studded dog collars; ill, or just sick of everyone and everything.

Light can make gold gleam, but it can also show you where all the cockroaches and dirt live, too.

[Ming Wei · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting life story, from his breakthrough, to his arguments with Steinmann, Not a straight forward life, lots if hurdles places in his way, but hurdles that he over come to become a very popular artisit. Not a dull book, very entertaining, lots of information within the books pages, well written, by the end of the book, it feels like you know the real person that Meat Loaf is, in the middle of the book are 8 pages with some nice pictures of Meat Loaf from various stages of his life. In my opinion one of the most interesting music artists of my lifetime, it was a pleasure reading this book. I really enjoyed it, Attractive book cover.

[bikerbuddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I have been a fan of this music since I first heard it in 1981. That’s deliberately vague. Mick Wall’s book Like a Bat Out of Hell is a biography about Meatloaf, but his career is so inextricably entwined with Jim Steinman, his songwriter, that Steinman features a great deal in this book, also. In fact, he bookends it. The opening and closing of the book focus on Steinman. He even gets the biographical treatment, with his personal background and education receiving its own chapter, just as Meat Loaf’s does. And when I say "this music", I mean that I have been a fan of Steinman’s songs over that time, whether they have been performed by Meatloaf, Steinman, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply or Celine Dion. They are Gothic, overblown romances, cinematic, funny, complex and operatic. They are so many other things, also, and when I was younger they rewarded close listening and analysis. As for Meatloaf, his later career was not of much interest to me. His Midnight at the Lost and Found album was an abysmally ordinary record, Bat Attitude tried to imitate Steinman’s style, but didn’t get there, Bat Out of Hell II was better with Steinman once again writing, but after Blind Before I Stop I never bothered with Meatloaf’s albums, except for Bat Out of Hell II even when they were penned by Steinman. His voice had long ago faded after the torturing year-long tour he undertook to promote Bat Out Of Hell in the late seventies and the subsequent years of vocal abuse while on tour.

Nevertheless, this book was hard to resist.

The last book I read on Meatloaf and Steinman was Meatloaf, Jim Steinman and the Phenomenology of Excess by Sandy Robertson. It was a kind of fanzine book published in 1981 when Steinman and Meatloaf were both releasing records to try to follow up their success they had with Bat Out of Hell. It fairly gushed over Steinman’s work – even then the writing about the music tended to focus on Steinman’s creative genius – with little critical insight into the music. It gave a somewhat less detailed account of the years up to that point that is now recalled in Wall’s book. Naturally, Wall’s book follows their careers beyond the disappointing reception of Bad for Good by Steinman and Meatloaf’s second studio album, Dead Ringer, also penned by Steinman. But my first impression of the book was that it was not much more insightful than Robertson’s. It was an account written by a fan and it tries to engage fans through its language.

The language of Like a Bat Out of Hell is fairly colloquial. Take, for example, this, from chapter 7 of the book, which is where I just opened it:

Hair in New York was a fucking disaster. The producers had gone hog crazy and fired half of the existing cast, so everyone who turned up from the Detroit production was stepping into dead men’s shoes. Then there was the whole living-for-the-city New York vibe to deal with…

From the same page:

It didn’t hurt, though, when Papp’s people offered him a job as part of their Shakespeare in the park project. Meat knew he was a singer, not a proper thesp, but hey, he needed the dough.

The whole book is written in this colloquial, chatty style. I have no problem with colloquialism, swearing or any other language Wall uses. What struck me, however, was that it felt a little manipulative, at times, since the language suggests an implied reader, and I am nothing like Wall’s assumed audience. Wall uses language to buddy up to the reader, and my first impression was that Wall was inviting the story to be read at the level of an uncritical fan, since the language is that of a fan, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to read a sycophantic fan account. At the same time, I was also aware that Wall’s tone achieved something a biography should: it helped to characterise its subject. I’ve seen many videos of Meatloaf speaking and performing and I’ve seen him live three times. The last time was in a club in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, just before he had the incredible success with his second Bat Out of Hell album and the hit ‘I’d Do Anything for Love’. (An aside: during that show Meat Loaf promoted the album and heavily emphasised his renewed affiliation with Steinman, and the fact that Steinman was contributing all the album’s songs. It reinforced for me how much of his success was derived from Steinman). As I read it occurred to me that the tone of the book approximates the language and tone used by Meatloaf and captures some of his persona. I eventually managed to settle into reading the book and not be bothered so much by the style, although who can forgive a line like this: “The little big family sprung apart like dark matter in a black hole”. Is that how dark matter and black holes work? I don’t know. It’s a fairly shaky metaphor and just terrible writing.

The other thing I wondered as I began was how it would treat the estrangement between Meat Loaf and Steinman that lasted a decade and the law suits that continued beyond Bat Out Of Hell II. Meat Loaf declared bankruptcy in the years before Bat Out Of Hell II. His career suffered. He produced mediocre albums. Then he and Steinman worked together again and Meatloaf had his second huge success. I wondered how Steinman would be portrayed by the author – as the villain, perhaps? – and how Wall would handle the thorny question of Meatloaf’s successes and Steinman’s contribution. For a Steinman fan, the answer seems obvious, but even a Steinman fan cannot deny the importance of Meatloaf’s incredible vocal contribution to Steinman’s baroque compositions.

However, I thought Wall’s account was fairly balanced. Wall criticises and praises both men throughout the book and calls attention to their inconsistent and conflicting accounts of their collaborations and feuds over the years......

Read my full review of Like a Bat Out of Hell by Mick Wall on the Reading Project

[Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great rock music biography written by a great music journalist who knows what he is doing. This one is definitely for those who not only want to know a little about the recently departed Meat Loaf (Michael Aday) but also who need to rediscover all his music. It focuses on all of his albums and I particularly enjoyed how Jim Steinman's life was also linked as the two men were inextricably intertwined with one another. Jim was the music and Meat Loaf was the voice of his best songs. Bat Out of Hell was an absolute miracle that they were never able to replicate (no one really could) and yet its kinda sad how they were never able to completely earn back the trust after their falling out.
Mick Wall is a great journalist and he is filled with insights. He just really gets his subjects. He now has a big collection of books and if his approach is as thorough as this one I would definitely go through the rest.

[Dr. Satan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid rock book about the Loaf and Jim Steinman. Weird couple of dudes.

[Ethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did learn a lot and it did, for the most part keep me engaged but it needs a second draft. The author chooses to focus on apparently pointless information, the entire plot of Fight Club isn’t necessary and it does the song ‘Objects in the Rearview Mirror’ a disservice by saying its only about two friends growing up; by ignoring the second verse about an abusive father this biography could have said something truly compelling.
A stepping stone to what could have been a phenomenal read.

[Neil Briscoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew nothing about the back story to Meat Loaf hence this was a very interesting read. I did find it hard to get past the middle section as to me it got a bit boring there. I found this book a bit hard to read as it seemed disjointed, I think this is because there are so many people that pass through it's pages also lots of references to albums and artist I have zero interest in.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has really changed how I perceive Meat Loaf and it’s also changed how I listen to his music. I’d always wondered who Jim Steinman was when engrossed by the cover art for Bat Out of Hell and now that I know; I feel bad that he didn’t receive the recognition he deserved when releasing that album. Would definitely recommend.

[Brendan Newport · Rating 3 out of 5]

2nd Mick Wall book read this year, and it was way better than the previous one - When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin which is just...weird.

I'd watched a documentary about the making of Bat Out of Hell last year and what came over was the humour, the recognition by Meat Loaf, Steinman and Rundgren that they were making something that was just so excessively daft, but also fabulously entertaining. Wall doesn't quite impart that impression in his text, but certainly there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments in it, like Karla De Vito's comments about Meat Loaf's tongue, recollected by Jim Steinman. Later, as the relationship between Steinman and Meat Loaf breaks down, things get a little darker and the humour dissipates. It's still a good read, and Mick Wall is able to quote from recorded interviews he conducted over the years, which is a big advantage over most such biographies. I've read a lot of Mick's writings over the last few decades, notably magazine articles, so it was nice to see his writing sort of 'back-to-normal' in this book.

I've one main criticism though; the photograph section really should have been expanded. Certainly there should have been a picture of Todd Rundgren, the aforementioned Karla, and 'Mrs Loud' - Lorraine Crosby.

Why just 3 stars? Well I reckon Holly George-Warren's biography of Janis Joplin is the best music biography I've read, and whatever its attributes, Like a Bat Out of Hell can't match that.

[Jason Cotton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a bit sceptical about reading this as i wanted to wait for an updated autobiography but i decided to check it out. Its a well written account not just of Meat Loafs life and career but also of the parallel and somewhat different career of the other half of Meat Loaf, namely Jim Steinman. This book goes deeper into the lives of both individuals and deals with the traumas and triumphs in both lives. It also deals with friendship and dare i say 'partnership' of the two. If you want to know the inside story of the truth behind Meat Loafs incredible and long career, then i would recommend this book :)

[Jennifer Thompson-Thalasinos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly this book should’ve been titled The Larger than Life Story of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman. The author flip-flopped between the two every other chapter. This being written after Meat Loaf’s autobio, I really wish the author would’ve looked into more than just the Bat albums (every other word was Bat). In addition the author really slammed Meat Loaf throughout the book. Instead of talking about his voice declining, he could’ve focused on his acting career, family, anything else. The only reason this gets 3 stars is I liked getting more information about Jim Steinman.

[David Slater · Rating 3 out of 5]

This bio isn't particularly well written or chock full of deep insights, but if you have any level of appreciation for Meat Loaf as a performer and/or Jim Steinman as a songwriter/composer, you will find it interesting. Both men led pretty fascinating lives (though the main focus is on Meat, whose life was far more tumultuous). The pair was inextricably linked by Bat, and whether they were loving or hating each other, which they seemed to do in an endless cycle, they needed each other because, to some degree, they created each other.

[David Cottington · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up listening to Meat Loaf and took the theatrical, operatic-rock at face value. After seeing Bat Out of Hell on the Westend, it got me questioning who was Jim Steinman and what's the story between him and Meat Loaf.

This book tells both sides of the story. The good and the bad. I'm excited to go back and listen to both men's catalogue of music, with fresh ears, after reading this. Almost makes everything 100% more theatrically (if that's possible).

[Kirsty Farmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Meatloaf and it has opened my eyes up to the story behind the Texan giant. I even had a listen to Jim Stinmens version of song, and it is somewhat lacking. I wouldn’t say this is the gospel truth, however it certainly opens yours eyes up to the story behind meatloaf if you are a fan!

[Chris Majoor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biografie van Meat Loaf en Jim Steinman. Twee totaal verschillende persoonlijkheden en achtergronden die wanneer ze samenwerkten dingen konden doen, waar ze apart van elkaar nooit in slaagden. Een leven van highs en lows, van aantrekken en afstoten. Bat Out of Hell blijft nog steeds één van de meest iconische albums die ooit gemaakt werden.

[Sacha Boer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Given the time I needed to plow through this, it’s safe to say that I didn’t “get” what Wahl set out to convey.
Or perhaps…the other side of my childhood hero was so dark and sinister that I rather hadn’t known.
Not sure.
Having finished the book, I’m afraid the albums may have lost their respective value to me.

[djcb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of the late Meat Loaf (and esp. his work with Jim Steinman), from his troubled youth to his glory days - Bat Out of Hell" and the few ups and many downs after that. Had some fun listening to some of the old records while reading this.

I don't like Mick Wall's writing much, a bit too much looking for witticisms.

[Paul Moynihan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 3 of 2024 complete! Mick Wall's excellent history of legendary rock act Meat Loaf chronicles the ups and downs of not only Meat Loaf himself, but gives equal attention to the life and work of Jim Steinman, the man who crafted the songs behind one of music's most fascinating performers. Highly recommended!

[Brian O'Leary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much repetition of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman contradicting themselves and each other, thus keeping each other from achieving more and obtaining happiness. No real insight into, or in-depth research into the real facts. The author presents what Meat said and then what Jim said about some event. The two conflict in what they said, but the author never seeks out the truth.

[Pete Godber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entertaining, more the story of Bat Out of Hell than Meat Loaf, more of his personal life would have been interesting. Good on the music. As much about Jim Steinmann as Meat. Just like with Bat he didn't make the front cover! I'm glad I've read one Mick Wall book but it's all too 70s rock speak absurd to make me want to read another.

[Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Meatloaf for over 10 years but only new the 3 Bat Out Of Hell's. It was great to get the back ground to Meats career and life. Good detail and background. Not a big fan of the writing style but I can get past that for the information. I will read more by this author.

[Brett Oaten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am fascinated by Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf less so, but I loved this book. I am very happy to have reached the age/stage where I don't care whether these records are coll or not - I love them. Shout out to Ellen Foley and Bonnie Tyler. Great stuff!

[Davida · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very poorly written, very disappointing.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting and well researched. Voice acting put me off to start with but it’s there because there are so many people charted in the book.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating...but sad

[Zoë · Rating 1 out of 5]

Better things to waste your money on. Just dont buy this

[RL Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read. Fans of Meat Loaf and Steinman may be put off by some of this because at times the truth hurts, both guys could be not good people at times.

[Danielle Stevens · Rating 1 out of 5]

Found this very disappointing, lacks any real personal information and instead focuses on listing album tracks. Don't bother.

[Neale Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enjoyable book, explores the often turbulent relationship between Meatloaf and Jim Steinman, I would recommend it but only for a die hard fan

[Bonnie Glaze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting content.
Not enough Meat Loaf.
It's a little mean towards Meat Loaf.