Meat Loaf (1947–2022)

Each chapter stands on its own as an intimate story from Meat Loaf's rise and fall and resurrection in the rock world. If you're looking for lots of lurid tales of sex, drugs and rock and roll and won't find it here. Instead, reading this book is like story time around the kitchen table with a friend who just happens to be a music legend.

First off, this is one of the two books I bought when I was in England in 2001. I finally got to it...

Meat Loaf and Aerosmith have gotten me through some tough times in my life. Bat Out of Hell II: Back In to Hell is still the best Meat Loaf album, and was one of the several CDs I had with me over there.

Meat was also in Rocky Horror Picture Show, and was one of the original cast in the play before it became a movie. This book has some neat behind-the-scenes stuff with regards to the play and show more the film. For example, Meat originally played the parts of both Eddie and Dr. Scott. Having seen the local shadow cast, Formal Dress Optional, double up on roles, all I can say is that I identify with this. (Though the one part I ever did - that of Ralph Hapshat - wasn't mentioned in the book at all.)

Learning that Meat had "characters" for each of the songs he performed is making me go back and listen to everything again, and the characterizations seem so obvious now. But even without this, many of these mini-operettas are still awesome. Yes, I like 10-minute long songs. Then again, I like classical music, so...

I have to say, I also loved Meat in _Formula 51_ with Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlisle. But I think that movie came out after this book was written and published. show less

great read about one of the most misunderstood but well loved musicians of our time - from his abusive childhood, through school, pitching bat out of hell, the bankruptcy, and then reborn again, this is the essential marvin lee aday book of facts...and full of his typical humour. did you know he met both john lennon and elvis presley? and funny those stories are too.
must read for a must have album.

Legendary rock record that hung on the top 100 forever. Full of bombast, teen angst, and a vocal attack that can only be described as Operatic. There was nothing else out there like it until they made up and made a sequel. And then there was. One of the first discs I ever got with Super Bit Mapping.