ZenSound Music Production

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The Synthesizers of Classic Jazz Fusion Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea—which synths did these forward-thinking jazz keyboardists use to expand their sonic arsenals?

"..go downstairs and buy some records and learn how to write a rock 'n roll song..." Clive Davis. lol!

Behind The Music
On This Day 1977 Meatloaf Released "Bat Out Of Hell"

Stemming from a musical named Neverland, a futuristic rock version of Peter Pan, Bat Out Of Hell was written in 1974 for a workshop at the Kennedy Center Music Theatre Lab by legendary producer/songwriter Jim Steinman. Meat Loaf, who was touring with Jim on the National Lampoon live show at the time, began collaborating with Jim on this album, which had yet to be named Bat Out Of Hell. Touring with the National Lampoon show, felt that three songs were "exceptional" and Steinman began to develop them as part of a seven-song set they wanted to record as an album. The three songs were "Bat Out of Hell", "Heaven Can Wait" and "The Formation of the Pack", which was later retitled "All Revved Up with No Place to Go".

Production for this album began in late 1975 at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York. Both Meat Loaf and Jim recruited a slew of iconic musicians for this album. Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band played piano and drums on the album. Utopia’s Todd Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, Roger Powell, and John “Willie” Wilcox, and Edgar Winter were also featured on the album as musicians. Additionally, Ellen Foley was enlisted for four songs, one of them being a duet with Meat Loaf for the song “Paradise By The Dashboard Light”.

In one 1989 interview with Classic Rock magazine, Steinman labeled Todd Rundgren "the only genuine genius I've ever worked with." In a 1989 interview with Redbeard for the In the Studio with Redbeard episode on the making of the album, Meat Loaf revealed that Jimmy Iovine and Andy Johns were potential candidates for producing Bat Out of Hell before being rejected by the singer and Steinman in favor of Todd Rundgren, whom Meat Loaf initially found cocky but grew to like. Rundgren found the album hilarious, thinking it was a parody of Springsteen. The singer quotes him as saying: "I've 'got' to do this album. It's just so 'out' there." They told the producer that they had previously been signed to RCA.

When Rundgren discovered that the deal with RCA did not actually exist, Albert Grossman, who had been Bob Dylan's manager, offered to put it on his Bearsville label but needed more money. Rundgren had essentially paid for the album himself. Mo Ostin at Warner Bros. was impressed, but other senior people rejected them after they performed live. Steinman had offended them a few years earlier by auditioning with a song named "Who Needs the Young", which contains the lyric "Is there anyone left who can f**k? Screw 'em!".

Rundgren initially mixed the record in one night. However, some of the mixes were unsuitable, to the extent that Meat Loaf did not want "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" on the album. Jimmy Iovine, who had mixed Springsteen's Born to Run, remixed "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad". After several attempts by several people, John Jansen mixed the version of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" that is on the album, along with "All Revved Up With No Place To Go". According to Meat Loaf, he, Jansen and Steinman mixed the title track.

Phil Rizzuto's baseball play-by-play call for "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" was recorded in 1976 at The Hit Factory in New York City by Rundgren, Meat Loaf and Steinman. As an Italian Catholic, Rizzuto publicly maintained he was unaware that his contribution would be equated with s*x in the finished song. However, Meat Loaf asserts that Rizzuto claimed ignorance only to stifle criticism and was fully aware of the context of what he was recording.

Upon completion of the album, Meat Loaf and Jim wasted no time pitching the record to numerous record labels, but unfortunately to no avail. The album was initially rejected by every record label it was pitched to; the most infamous rejection being from Clive Davis who upon hearing the album suggested that Jim ‘go downstairs, buy some rock records, and learn how to write music’. To this day, Davis sights this as one of his biggest missed opportunity. According to Meat Loaf's autobiography, Davis commented that "actors don't make records" and challenged Steinman's writing abilities and knowledge of rock music:

"Do you know how to write a song? Do you know anything about writing? If you're going to write for records, it goes like this: A, B, C, B, C, C. I don't know what you're doing. You're doing A, D, F, G, B, D, C. You don't know how to write a song.... Have you ever listened to pop music? Have you ever heard any rock-and-roll music.... You should go downstairs when you leave here...and buy some rock-and-roll records."

Meat Loaf asserts "Jim, at the time, knew every record ever made. [He] is a walking rock encyclopedia." Although Steinman laughed off the insults, the singer screamed "F**k you, Clive!" from the street up to his building.

After pitching the record to as many record labels as possible, the album was finally released by Cleveland International, a small record label whose parent company was Epic Records. After receiving little promotion from Cleveland Records, Bat Out Of Hell did not initially see a large spike in sales, but after a performance of “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” by Meat Loaf and Karla DeVito on The Old Grey Whistle Test, Bat Out Of Hell saw a massive spike in sales in the UK and eventually the world.

Bat Out of Hell has sold over 43 million copies worldwide. It is certified 14× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It is the best-selling album in Australia. As of June 2019, it has spent 522 weeks in the UK Albums Chart, the second longest chart run by a studio album. Rolling Stone ranked it at number 343 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

It goes without saying that Bat Out Of Hell truly is one of the all time greatest rock albums in history.

(L) Album Artwork by: Richard Corben -- (R) Michael Putland / Getty Images

The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent On Recordings (FACTOR) Artist Development deadline is February 3 at 3pm MT!

This ever-popular program provides support across a variety of activities for the artist making early steps to a career in music.

More info at https://www.factor.ca/programs/artist-development/

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