Chat out of Hell

Episode 2.2 - Out of the Frying Pan (And into the Fire) | Hulk Hogan's Theme

• Emma Crossland & Sam Wilkinson • Season 2 • Episode 2

Share episode

A seven-minute catcall, a theme tune dashed off for an ungrateful wrestler and a horny Welsh lady making it her own! What's not to like? This episode we delve into the big questions, like:

What was Jim Steinman's refridgerator-bed really like?

How gross is that ancient hallway?

Why is Hulk Hogan such an awful man?

Once you've chewed those over we'll see you on Monday September 9th to talk about Everything Louder than Everything Else and Dance in my Pants.


Keep your comments, reviews and arguments flying in to chatoutofhell@gmail.com

Chat out of Hell is a is a review podcast: all music extracts are used for review/illustrative purposes. To hear the songs in full please buy them from your local record shop or streaming platform. Don't do a piracy.

Music extracts on this episode:
Out of the Frying Pan (And into the Fire) by Meat Loaf from the album Bat out of Hell 2: Back into Hell (1993)
Out of the Frying Pan (And into the Fire) by Jim Steinman from the album Bad for Good (1981)
Hulk Hogan's Theme by the WWF All Stars from the album The Wrestling Album (1984)
Real American by Rick Derringer from the album The Wrestling Album (1984)
Ravishing by Bonnie Tyler from the album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire (1985)

Send us a text

Emma:

What is this?

Sam:

This is Chat Out of Hell, the only bi weekly podcast dedicated to the music of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman. And I mean bi weekly in the American sense, not in the British sense of twice a week. Once every two weeks Who is Meat Loaf?

Emma:

Meat Loaf was Hartlepool FC's biggest fan, and a collector of rubber ducks. He had over a hundred. Who's Jim Steinman?

Sam:

Oh, Jim Steinman is a musician and songwriter who caused Andrew Lloyd Webber to recoil in horror. at his habit of ordering most of the menu at fine dining restaurants.

Emma:

Who are we?

Sam:

Oh well, I'm Sam Wilkinson and you're Emma Crossand and we are the preeminent Steinman academics of our age. Our age being 39 slash 40. Sounds about right, doesn't it?

Emma:

Yeah.

Sam:

Yeah. Welcome to Chat Out of Hell. Bow now, now, now. Bing.

Emma:

Slick.

Sam:

Emma, what's going on?

Emma:

We've got an international listener, Sam. We've got somebody listening who isn't either of us or our mums.

Sam:

Oh, my mum's not listening.

Emma:

listening. Or someone called Tom.

Sam:

Oh! Oh

Emma:

no. Because that's our listenership, the Toms.

Sam:

I am going to have to speak to the advertisers about

Emma:

this. No, I heard this week that my friend Connie, who lives over in Portland, Oregon.

Sam:

Portland,

Emma:

So, West Coast. Yeah. She listens to us while she's driving around. Oh! Yeah, she says she really enjoys the banter between the two of us

Sam:

That's lovely.

Emma:

Isn't it? I don't think she gives a flying fuck about Meat Loaf.

Sam:

Hello, Connie, who drives around. Look out! Oh, no! There's a deer!

Emma:

Connie's lovely. She's one of my mum's ukulele

Sam:

chums, Oh, okay. Oh, nice. I think

Emma:

who comes over for Duke Fest.

Sam:

Well, Connie, if you could give loads of people lifts in the next few months and just tell them to shut up and play the podcast at them, that would be great. That would be, like, the best advertising we can

Emma:

get Yeah. Connie, why don't you Get a job doing Uber driving and

Sam:

Oh yeah, that would be good. So yeah, Connie, if you don't mind turning your life upside, I don't know what does Connie do for a living

Emma:

Connie is retired.

Sam:

Oh, okay. Stop enjoying your well earned retirement and go out and drive people around as a less safe taxi driver.

Emma:

Yes. Sam, do you need to explain what the strange noises are going to

Sam:

be? Yes. Do you know what? I think I

Emma:

should.

Sam:

Regular listeners will be aware of my lovely dog, Maisie, who makes appearances in the podcast. And today, as we were setting up, Maisie crawled into my lap and fell asleep. If you can hear gentle snoring noises, Or massive loud snoring noises. That is Maisie, who is forcing me to constantly pet her as we're talking. Because if I stop moving my hand for even half a second, she will reach over and lick it.

Emma:

have we had any emails or anything this time?

Sam:

Eddy Thomas emailed again. Hello Chellers. I think that's chat out of hellers. I'm about to get on a train to see some awesome friends and you've inspired me to listen to as much Meat Loaf as possible on my three hour journey. Thanks, question mark. We do provide this service of reminding people that Meat Loaf is available as a product. And it does help while away two to three hour Train and car rides.

Emma:

That's how this all started.

Sam:

That's true,

Emma:

yeah. Those car journeys. Yeah,

Sam:

And now it's happening to everybody else.

Emma:

A problem shared is a problem

Sam:

doubled. Emma for the benefit of people who aren't Eddy Thomas, two people called Tom, and your friend Connie, what is this podcast? How does it work?

Emma:

We are a Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman jukebox podcast. I remember that from last time. What we do is we each bring a song to the table to discuss in detail, excruciating detail. And I've brought one of my all time favourites. It's one of the silliest songs ever, really.

Sam:

thought you were about to say in the Meat Loaf canon

Emma:

No, I think it's just one of the silliest songs.

Sam:

It is also one of the silliest songs in the Meat Loaf cannon I was just about to comment that we're on to chat out of hell episode 8 and we've not yet said Meat Loaf cannon Which is very unacademic of us.

Emma:

I am imagining weaponry. Yes.

Sam:

those

Emma:

Firing those meatloaves that we saw on the A1 sauce advert, because they look like they'd be pretty solid. They're going to do some damage. Grim.

Sam:

Yeah, so one of the silliest songs in the canon,

Emma:

it is Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

Sam:

I will be bringing to the table a song that Jim Steinman dashed off for some quick money in the mid eighties, which will be Hulk Hogan's Theme. if you're a wrestling fan, which I'm not, but I had to enter their brains this week it's not the Hulk Hogan theme that you think it is, but we will talk about that one as well. So listeners, go away, go to YouTube, Spotify, I don't know if you'll find Hulk Hogan's Theme on Spotify, I hope they've got better things to do. But yeah, do look up Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire, and then Hulk Hogan's Theme. Start with Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire, from the album Bat Out of Hell 2, and we will see you in just a few minutes.

Laptop:

Temperature's beginning to soar In the city you see the walking wounded and the living dead It's never been this hot and I've never been so bored and breathing is just no fun anymore And then I saw you like a summer dream and you're the answer to every prayer that I ever say Oh, I saw you like a summer dream And

Emma:

That was Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire. Glorious So that was from the Bat Out of Hell 2 album. Released in september 1993, and it was track 5 on Bat Out of Hell 2. Now, there is another version of it out in the world, which is, of course, the Jim Steinman one from Bad for Good, which was also track 5.

Sam:

Emma, are you about to blow my mind with a great, incredible theory here?

Emma:

No. Oh. I just thought it was an interesting little coincidence. Probably a deliberate

Sam:

the difference between me and you, because uh, if I had been handling this song, that would be one of the Wilkinson mysteries.

Emma:

Of

Sam:

A whiteboard covered in bits of red string.

Emma:

Ultimately leading

Sam:

Yes, absolutely yeah. I love this song. It's so

Emma:

It's so stupid. It's incredibly stupid. This one has long been my favourite from the album. Okay. There's some crossover because there is another track that I'm particularly in love with and that's Everything Louder Than Everything Else, which is another song that's very stupid. Yes, And I like the upbeat, stupid ones most of all.

Sam:

And it is an upbeat, stupid album.

Emma:

the, for the most part.

Sam:

Okay, yeah, there's one serious song in there, and an instrumental, just to fill out out the disc. Just

Emma:

Just to make sure that they used as much of the disc as

Sam:

possible. Yes. as much as could fit onto one CD in the

Emma:

early I was very surprised when in later years I bought myself an album by indie band Idlewild and found that they'd only used 35 of the available minutes. What a waste!

Sam:

What do you want to talk about on the song?

Emma:

It's, an album track on both versions. And so there's no accompanying video, which I think's a shame. I'd have loved to have seen the video for this. It would have

Sam:

this. Well, as we discussed last time, Michael Bay did the music videos for this album. I don't want to watch Michael Bay make a music video about a man shouting out of the window at a sexy lady for seven minutes a, it's It's a very silly song, but

Emma:

exactly what's happening. Oh, yeah, it's a man It's a man saying oh, it's really hot today. I know let's get hotter. as he's shouting out of the window At a woman. Inviting her up for sexy There's no finer way to spend a hot afternoon, is

Sam:

there? There really is not.

Emma:

work our way through some of the lyrics. It's only two o'clock and the temperature's beginning to soar. Are we thinking 2:00 AM or 2:00 PM

Sam:

2pm? If the temperature's soaring at

Emma:

2:00 that's

Sam:

That's significant. Significant is certainly one way of putting it, Emma, yeah. I'm assuming it's 2pm, the temperature's beginning to soar, there's a lot more daylight left.

Emma:

Cat calling in the daytime, then. Yeah, I mean Afternoon delight.

Sam:

Hell does not advocate catcalling at any time of the day, but it's much worse at 2am,

Emma:

I

Sam:

want to speak for all the women, but I reckon they're less on board with it then. How about you, one of the women?

Emma:

As one of the women I don't like it at any time. I think it's more expected at 2am. The afternoon catcall seems a bit unusual.

Sam:

it depends if you're walking past builders. Builders

Emma:

don't work

Sam:

at

Emma:

night

Sam:

So it's only two o'clock, the temperature's

Emma:

beginning to soar. Zombie attack at two in the

Sam:

afternoon. Zombie apocalypse, two in the afternoon shall we be generous and imagine that's a metaphor. Yeah. It's unlike Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman to not mean everything literally, but here we are. And I, that does paint a lovely picture of American cities in the summer they fuckin' baking..

Emma:

It's hot. There are people walking around leading their boring day to day zombie lives. Not like Meat Loaf who's catcalling from a window. Because he's not got a job to go to.

Sam:

Meat Loaf Meat Loaf is in his flat, shouting out the window at a lady waiting for the bus. Yes. How do we know she's waiting for the bus? Because she's still there after seven minutes. She clearly has to be on that particular point and can't just walk away feeling uncomfortable.

Emma:

It's never been this hot, and I've never been so bored, and breathing is just no fun

Sam:

Do you remember? Do you remember when we used to breathe?

Emma:

Oh, bloody love a

Sam:

loved A good breathe. yeah! Oh

Emma:

Oh, hang on, hang on, hang on. Oh, that was a good one.

Sam:

one. Oh, oh, we're getting into aSMR territory now.

Emma:

Oh, hang on, no, I've done enough breathing now. No, it's not the same as it used to be.

Sam:

Yeah, when I first got into breathing it was cool and edgy. I couldn't

Emma:

it. Now everybody's doing it.

Sam:

doing it. Yeah. Yeah? Fuck you, Jim Steinman. Write a better line Write mate

Emma:

And then I saw you like a summer dream and you're the answer to every prayer that I ever

Sam:

I mean, I'm, yeah. I'm not a religious man. No. But I understand that those who do believe in God ask him to do. Big stuff. World peace. Help us solve hunger.

Emma:

And also bring us the pretty

Sam:

lady. Yeah, give me pretty lady. Every single prayer that I've ever said has been about getting laid. That

Emma:

feels

Sam:

to me. me.

Emma:

So that's the end of the first verse. Yep. What an incredible verse. And then it's, you can feel the pulse of the pavement racing like a runaway horse. And that's really

Sam:

this is on

Emma:

my list of Yes. Subways

Sam:

steaming and the skin of the street is gleaming with

Emma:

Again, it's really evocative of that Jim Steinman Meat Loaf world. Where everything's a bit Grimy, but a bit sexy with it. Yeah, now

Sam:

We've talked about Steinman's origins. He's from New York originally. Yeah. Lived around Massachusetts, back to New York. Meat Loaf is from Dallas. Yes. This is a song that feels like it's in Dallas, right? It's hot and sweaty and

Emma:

horrible It's definitely got that sort of steamy South feel to it, seen you sitting on the steps outside Creepy creepy. And you are looking so restless and reckless and lost.

Sam:

Alright darling, I've never seen anyone looking so restless and reckless and lost. Get your tits out.

Emma:

Maybe I would. I think it's time for you to come inside. I'll be waiting here with something that you'll never forget. I just have this that's vision of him laying on his squalid bed.

Sam:

Would you like to hear about Jim Steinman's squalid bed? Meat Loaf on Jim Steinman. When I first met Jim, he was sharing an apartment 102nd Street with I don't know how many people. His bed was in the kitchen. His headboard was the refrigerator. I said, Jim, what if anybody wants something from the refrigerator? He said, believe me, no one ever does.

Emma:

Oh God! Oh, this is like The Young Ones House times a million, isn't it?

Sam:

Yeah, that's from Classic Rock Magazine September 2000. So there

Emma:

you go, that's your I bet the skin of the fridge was gleaming with sweat. So, come on, Come on, there'll be no turning back, you're only killing time and it'll kill you right back. lyrics Yeah, but that is rhyming back with back.

Sam:

Oh you fucker!

Emma:

It's rhyming back with back, it's rubbish. Come on, Come on, it's time to burn up the fuse, you've got nothing to do and even less to lose. I like that one. Yeah? And then we're at the ancient hallway.

Sam:

Okay, so the Ancient Hallway. Narratively, we're to believe the lady has entered his apartment building. and the next instruction is, wander down the ancient hallway,

Emma:

taking the stairs only one at a time.

Sam:

Because there's nothing sexier than health and safety advice.

Emma:

If she runs up the stairs two or three at a time, she might get tired. Oh! And then there'll be less opportunity

Sam:

for, for doing it. sexy times. Okay I thought he was worried she might trip and break her nose. And then he wouldn't be into it anymore.

Emma:

Follow

Sam:

the sound of my heartbeat now. I'm in the room at the top. You're at the end of the line. Sexy and threatening. Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman are one of the only double acts who can pull that off.

Emma:

Yeah, we've tried.

Sam:

Yeah.

Emma:

Doesn't work for us.

Sam:

Which one of us was which?

Emma:

I think I might be

Sam:

be threatening. Very

Emma:

thank you

Sam:

And

Emma:

And this is why it doesn't work. Maybe I should go back.

Sam:

I'm in the room at the top, you're at the end of the line. Open the door, lay down on the bed. The sun is just a ball of desire! Just a bit of astronomy in there for you. you I think that is to distract from the fact that the bed is just a mattress on the floor, next to the of a refrigerator, I'm not sure.

Emma:

Oh, God. Yeah, I think when I first heard this song and realised what it was about I imagined something really grand and spectacular and possibly even bordering on romantic because I was a stupid kid with stupid ideas. Now, the more I listen to it, the more squalid it seems. It's just a sweaty

Sam:

It's a sweaty day, and he wants to get sweatier with her.

Emma:

He

Sam:

He wants to A restless, Reckless and lost young lady. know I keep returning to this well on Bat Out of Hell 2, but Meat Loaf is in his mid 40s. Yeah. Which adds another layer of

Emma:

Do you think the idea of the girl who is restless and reckless and lost is a bit of a manic dream

Sam:

Oh, that's a manic dream pixie girl, isn't it?

Emma:

Yes, you're absolutely right. That's, that's, manic dream pixie girls turn into mad women.

Sam:

mad women? WOMEN. Yeah.

Emma:

I just, I don't think this is a long term relationship that he's entering

Sam:

probably not, no,

Emma:

because

Sam:

he's going to murder her. He wants to take her out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Emma:

Can we talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire? Because it's so stupid. So yeah, this song is Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

Sam:

Yeah.

Emma:

now usually. That's quite a negative phrase, isn't it? So it's for moving out of a bad or difficult situation into a worse one.

Sam:

Sure, but It's a sexual metaphor. We're going out of the sexual frying pan

Emma:

And into the sexual fire. Exactly. The sexual fire sounds like something you need to go and see a

Sam:

about. We're gonna turn up the sex heat on this situation. You've had frying pan sex so far, and that's fine, sure, but have you tried FIRE SEX? Come to me, Meat Loaf, at 123 Apartment

Emma:

Street. So you go through all of that, and then he says fire, and then he says Meat Loaf. Lots of times. And then just repeats the entire song.

Sam:

That's right. Yeah. This song is like seven and and a half minutes long, isn't it? Yeah, and it could have been half or four

Emma:

It's actually

Sam:

minutes long. Yeah. It's a pop song. It could have been a pop song. It could never have been a pop Come on. a pop song. Here's my test for if it was a pop song. Can you hear B*Witched singing it? Oh, do you

Emma:

what? I can. I can. I can hear B*Witched singing it. I would

Sam:

I'd love that! If any of B*Witched are listening, do write in. We'll get you set up with the lyrics,

Emma:

you can find them on the

Sam:

Yeah, In actual fact, now, B*Witched, you don't need us. Just go away and do recording. You can borrow my microphones if you need to.

Emma:

That's very generous of you. Isn't it, Jess? Yeah, yeah. Said before, this is the second version of this song because it was originally recorded by Jim Steinman himself for his Bad For Good record that came out in April in 1981. Yes. Sam, you have lots of facts about this record. Do you know if he actually sung this track?

Sam:

Jim Steinman did do lead vocals on this one, yes.

Emma:

Because he didn't do lead vocals on everything on his own solo album.

Sam:

No, he did not, no. So he got Rory Dodd in to sing lead on three of the songs, and they are the three songs that sound quite good. So I guess, yeah, to recap on Bad For Good, this is the album that was originally written as a follow up to Bat Out Of Hell for Meat Loaf. And then Meat Loaf was, in the words of one of our correspondents, too fucked up on drugs Steinman had to sing it instead to the record's great detraction.

Emma:

Yes. I Have got a review of Jim Steinman's version of the song. Ooh, lovely. That was written by Sandy Robinson from Sounds Magazine in 1982. And he said Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire is like two songs in one. A Dorsian vocal sex rocker. Ha Ha! Slashed open with a chorus that'd do Barry Manilow proud. Would you like to hear what Jim himself has to say about the song? Cliches are ultimately like magic spells of language. Ha ha ha Ha! They have a universal effect. One straight cliché I used on Bad for Good was out of the frying pan and into the fire. It amazes me, the power of language. Like some two year old kid growing up now, you somehow know that by the age of 16, he's gonna know that phrase. He's gonna have heard it maybe a hundred times, like it's there in his memory, unconscious, if you like. But they're all the same. He's going to recognize my song. It doesn't matter if he likes it or not, but there must be something familiar about it from the very first moment he hears it. Even if he only says, oh shit, that's a cliche. Just, what?

Sam:

What? That was some solid word soup there

Emma:

I got you, Jim.

Sam:

what's the thesis there that I'm using clichés so that somebody listening to it goes, oh shit, that's a cliché?

Emma:

I think it's more that people will recognize The terms, because they're cliches, and Yeah, that's what a cliche is. And then it faded into nothing. So some classic Jim there, I think. Talk about the Yeah, do we want to play the Jim version?

Sam:

I'd love to play the Jim version. that. We're here, we may as well.

Laptop:

Holy, taking the stairs only one at a time. And follow the sound of my heartbeat. Now I'm in the room with the You're at the end of the line. So open the door and lay down on the bed. The sun is just a fall of desire. And I wanna take you out of the frying pan. And into the fire. Out of the frying pan. And into the fire. Out of the frying pan.

Emma:

I think I've mentioned it before, I feel like a fade out is a cop out ending. But in my head, I imagine that party's still going. Yeah,

Sam:

Jim Steinman did a lot of fade outs at the end of six or seven minute songs, and I'm assuming that is because the tape was running out and

Emma:

and an

Sam:

just had to sort of gently turn it down and then walked out and got lunch while Steinman playing. So that was the

Emma:

Jim

Sam:

Steinman version from Bad for Good.

Emma:

Yes.

Sam:

Which do you prefer?

Emma:

I have a soft spot for both, because I think both versions are perfectly valid. I prefer the Meat Loaf version. Okay. Because I feel like it, it gives the song the full body that it deserves. What I love about you

Sam:

Meat Loaf can sing

Emma:

Loaf can sing, Jim Steinman can't. What I love about the Jim Steinman version though, and it's down to Jim Steinman's terrible singing voice, which is particularly bad on this, it gives me real teenager vibes.

Sam:

It does have real teenager vibes, yeah. And it's, so that came out in 81 and he was like, early 30s I think. His attempt to do an impression of Heather Small from m People. People, is very endearing. I I like The more 80s y guitars in the 1981 version. So I would prefer the Jim Steinman one. We've sort of mentioned this before, Bad for Good. eventually became a dry run for Bat Out of Hell 2. Half the tracks off Bat For Good made it onto Bat Out of Hell 2, as did many tracks from Pandora's Box, the other pseudo solo project that Jim Steinman did in the 80s. And at some point he cut his losses and gave these good songs to a performer

Emma:

sing them.

Sam:

them. Yeah, which is a real shame for Jim.

Emma:

But hey, it made them both millions. Perhaps a wise decision.

Sam:

Good song. We both like it. It's a good song that we both like that is also creepy as fuck. Oh yeah! And I think if there's ever going to be a tagline for this podcast as a whole, it is going to be, Good songs that are creepy as fuck.

Emma:

Yes! Would you like to hear what the people think?

Sam:

I love the people.

Emma:

About this song. Uncle Joe Neon Cherry. Says the most epic way to proposition sex ever.

Sam:

Epic is an interesting word. Because Greek epic Is indeed an oral tradition of something that takes many nights to fully perform so in that context it is absolutely epic.

Emma:

Do you Do think he's calling out to her every night? Yeah,

Sam:

Yeah, this is the Homeric

Emma:

the Homeric tradition every night he tells

Sam:

bit of the

Emma:

of a weird story Come on! Come on! Don't come and touch it! Please! Just come and touch it! Just breathe on it!! ctookwell6562 said, anyone else think this would have made a kick ass closing credit song to The Hobbit, Desolation of Smaug? Although, frankly, anything would have been better than the Ed warbling over the credits.

Sam:

I'm aware this is People in Glass Houses Throwing Stones,

Emma:

but NERD! Fucking nerd! Also, no.

Sam:

I just There's something that really annoys me about nerds, Emma. It's when they performatively pretend that something is appropriate or doesn't exist when it does. Oh, isn't it a shame George Lucas never made those Star Wars prequels he was talking about? They, fuck off! They exist and they're shit! It's fine to acknowledge that. Anyway.

Emma:

Good. Do you feel better now? A little

Sam:

bit, yes.

Emma:

Last one then. This is a conversation. Kimberly Hollands said, Reminds me of my mum.

Sam:

Aww.

Emma:

Please keep in mind the song.

Sam:

Yeah, but depends in what context, maybe. Carry

Emma:

Ben Northfield 4875 said, How so? and Kimberly Hollands replied, She used to play it all the time.

Sam:

See?

Emma:

That's very sweet. And then uh, Bombastic, something I'm not going to pronounce, said, Great mum you had.

Sam:

lovely. That's

Emma:

sweet.

Sam:

Yeah.

Emma:

But also reminds me of my mum.

Sam:

Did your mum

Emma:

your mum Yes, my mum will have listened to this. I'm thinking in the context of the songs.

Sam:

No, I know,

Emma:

I

Sam:

sure, I get it, but

Emma:

I'm

Sam:

trying to be horrible and you're not letting me be Yeah, sorry. Yeah, you idiot. Stop letting music remind you of your mum.

Emma:

Stop letting a dirty song remind you of your mum. It's weird.

Sam:

It's a dirty song and also an astronomy lesson,

Emma:

The

Sam:

The sun is just a ball of desire.

Emma:

Oh, yeah. Can we wrap this up? Because I'd quite like to catch the ball of desire set this evening.

Sam:

oh, that's nice. So the people liked the song, did anybody in the comments angry about it?

Emma:

No, it was genuinely a very well received song by everybody. There was somebody that commented, Meat Loaf is quite good at romanticizing for a proposition for sex with his operatic voice. I highly urge any Meat Loaf fans who like this song to listen to the 1981 Jim Steinman version from the album Bad for Good, which goes by the same name. Both songs are good by themselves, But there was a great deal more romanticizing in the Bat out of Hell 2. Whereas in Bad for Good, it's utterly devoid of such romanticization.

Sam:

Sorry, who was that user?

Emma:

That was@JohanBachmeer. 4, 6, 8, 4.

Sam:

Johan Bachmeer 4684? You're an idiot. Well, in what way is this more romanticised than the other one?

Emma:

Neither of them are what I would call romantic songs. It's less sophisticated than romance. Come up and bang!

Sam:

But down the ancient hallway. I think the ancient hallway is what makes it romantic. Because he's got his ancient castle on the streets of Dallas.

Emma:

Are we back to his stupid castle?

Sam:

It is his stupid castle though, isn't it? It's an ancient

Emma:

hallway. Yeah, is it not just an ancient hallway and the fact that it's just a bit grimy and crumbling?

Sam:

Shit, I've been picturing all along, like The streets of Dallas baking in the hot sun, and a lady waiting for the bus, and the Munsters' castle,

Emma:

That's just there. No, I'm imagining a really skeevy apartment. and so she's wandering down the sort of sweaty brown hallway.

Sam:

Oh, wander down the sweaty brown hallway.

Emma:

Taking the stairs only one at a time.'cause if you try and leap up more than one, you might go through

Sam:

them. Oh no, you've, oh. This

Emma:

is what I've, this is,

Sam:

See, I've always seen this as a sort of a meeting of the Gothic

Emma:

and the I used to see it that way now it's become more and more skeevy each time in my head. I'm afraid it's like, to a student bedsit.

Sam:

Listeners, do let us know, did you think of the Ancient Hallway as being some sort of Rocky

Emma:

Horror style Transylvanian castle? I'm

Sam:

teleported

Emma:

to be.

Sam:

Or did you see it as a festering filth pit? Do email us in, chatoutofhell. gmail. com So Emma as with all of our songs, we have to rate this on our patented song rating scale.

Emma:

yep. And we're

Sam:

to trademark it as well. Our patented, trademark pending, song rating scale. This song was written by Jim Steinman, which means we have the three point scale of Jim Steinman for the very top songs, Jim Feynman in the middle, Or Jim Declineman at the bottom.

Emma:

I think you know where this is going to go. This is pure, solid gold Jim Steinman.

Sam:

Pure, solid gold Jim Steinman!

Emma:

going to have fun editing

Sam:

fun I'm sorry, pupper. I've woken up the dog listeners.

Emma:

She looks disgusted.

Sam:

So that was, that was our first song today.

Emma:

And

Sam:

now we're going to talk about my choice this week,

Emma:

Uh huh.

Sam:

This is song that Jim Steinman wrote for a different artist and that is Hulk Hogan's Theme which came out on the wrestling album WWF All Stars in 1985. It's on YouTube, I'm sure it's on Spotify as well because wrestling fans are fucking weird. Go away listen to Hulk Hogan's Theme from the wrestling album and we'll see you all in a very spry four minutes thirty seconds emma, you

Emma:

didn't

Sam:

seem enthused by that one.

Emma:

No. No. No. Okay. Perhaps if it was accompanied by a load of wrestling visuals it might have been marginally more tolerable, but oh god.

Sam:

So do you want to know the full lyrics? So the song goes hulk, Hulk, Hulk, hulk. Hulk, Hulk. Mm hulk, Hulk. Hulk, hulk. hmm. Hulk, hulk. Mm hmm. Hulk, Hulk. hmm. Hulk, Hulk. I've made the word go all funny on

Emma:

myself. Has it stopped having a meaning now. Yeah. Yeah, it's weird when that happens. Yeah, lyrically, it's definitely not one of Jim's finest.

Sam:

No! did rather phone the lyrics that week, didn't he just bit. Did you like the tune at all?

Emma:

No, No, not particularly. No. It was, it was alright. I don't think there was anything particularly special to it. Part of it had a bit of an Eye of the Tiger vibe to could definitely hear a refrain from that in there somewhere.

Sam:

Yeah, discovered this while I was researching Jim Steinman for earlier episodes. I have no long standing affection for wrestling whatsoever. Were you not I was not a Hulkamaniac Emma, we'll talk about my disdain for Hulk Hogan in a few minutes. But yeah, I've listened to this a few times, I think it's fun. It's quite a, an exciting theme tune, but

Emma:

Is it on your gym motivation playlist now?

Sam:

I thought by that you meant James Motivation, but yes,

Emma:

you mean

Sam:

Gymnasium motivation. Motivation

Emma:

Ah! James Motivation!

Sam:

I do need to start running again and I might put it on my playlist for that, I

Emma:

Because it's it's not going on my swimming playlist. Yeah,

Sam:

do you want some facts? Yeah. This was released in 1985 on the Wrestling Album, which is a compilation album, of course, for WWE. F, as it was then known, not the Pandas. The track's artists are credited as the WWF All Stars. A 30th anniversary edition of this album was released in 2015. Because, as mentioned before, wrestling fans, fuckin weirdos. So yeah, I genuinely have

Emma:

had head now. Poor

Sam:

Oh, you. it's got a bit of oomph for some throwaway shite that he wrote for an ungrateful

Emma:

It is shite. Hahaha! Haha!

Sam:

But Emma, there is a reason I brought this song.

Emma:

Go on.

Sam:

this is a theme tune that he wrote for Hulk Hogan as walk on music

Emma:

for

Sam:

when he went on to Do his dancing and his wrestling. This is a quote from Rolling Stone. For whatever reason, Steinman's song for Hogan never caught on with wrestling fans. And the WWE, although it was WF at the time, Icon adopted another track off the wrestling album with his entrance music, Real American. Written and performed by Rick Derringer. I never intended it for the WWF, Derringer told Rolling Stone magazine. I remember thinking, we have written the most patriotic song of all time. I'm gonna play you Real American now. Officially, this is outside

Emma:

of our

Sam:

but

Emma:

I feel like I need to hear it

Sam:

yeah, you do, and also to watch the video. Yeah, that's enough of that.

Emma:

I mean That's worse, isn't it? That's so much worse. I forgive you, Jim.

Sam:

Real American is outside of our officially licensed remit as a Steinman slash Meat Loaf jukebox. But just to say it is a three minute homage to toxic masculinity and the deluded self image of Cold War America. The video features Hulk Hogan inserting himself into Mount Rushmore, head butting a Soviet flag and then more archive clips of American soldiers marching off to war than is ideal, the ideal number being zero. It is utterly pathetic and completely the opposite of everything Jim Steinman stood for.

Emma:

Yep.

Sam:

Yep. So yeah, Hulk dropped the Jim Steinman theme very quickly but it did become the theme to the cartoon Hulk Hogan's Rock'N' Wrestling. Which ran from 1985 to 1987. That show that was animated and produced by DIC Animation City. You must remember DIC because at the end of all of their cartoons, they had a title card where a petulant child delightedly shouted the word, DIC!

Emma:

Yes I do.

Sam:

I have watched an episode of this.

Emma:

Is it good?

Sam:

Do you remember about this

Emma:

time last year

Sam:

I tried to convince you that um Rude Dog

Emma:

Dog and the

Sam:

Rude Dog and

Emma:

and the Dweebs

Sam:

was good cartoon. Starts with a live action sketch of some guy trying to teach you how to lift weights really badly and then a 15 minute story about some wrestlers who have to have a race to have their merchandise bait wrestler cars be in a Hollywood film. Various baddie wrestlers with offensive foreign accents show up to help the main baddie cheat. Hulk Hogan. star of the show, has two lines. There's a good bit where the baddies come across a sign that says bridge out and cleverly write the word not in between bridge and out. The baddies win the race because a dog runs out into the road and the goodies don't want to run it over. But then it turns out the baddies get their comeuppance because the Hollywood film the car appears in is a Godzilla movie and a big robot stamps their car flat. Then there's a second live action sketch in which Hulk Hogan is spotting for his friend at the gym who is doing weights. Goes off to make him a protein smoothie, and when he gets back, the friend is asleep. That is the entire joke. And then I, stopped after that. I'd had enough.

Emma:

I hate the sound of that. it's, it sounds like, prime 80s cynical greed is good kind of Oh yeah, no,

Sam:

Things, He Man was intended to sell toys. Transformers was created to sell toys.

Emma:

than those things.

Sam:

This is worse

Emma:

than

Sam:

things, yes. Dogtanion, this is not. Are you ready for the twist? Because there's got to be a reason I brought you this heap of shite, right?

Emma:

Yeah.

Sam:

That song came out in 1985. And in 1986, Bonnie Tyler released the album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. And I'm going to play you the opening track of that album now

Laptop:

Tonight I really got it, babe. Tonight I really got it bad But it still looks so good, so good That I got it at all and it was Ravishing, ravishing And I love to see the moonlight See it shimmer down my dress It's so ravishing, ravishing And the wind is like a finger Tracing patterns on your chest You're so ravishing, ravishing This is the season

Sam:

so there you go, that was Bonnie Tyler singing Ravishing,

Emma:

Phew, how long was that?

Sam:

minutes, 25,

Emma:

a Steinman written song as well or is it

Sam:

yeah, no, yeah. So this album was produced by Steinman. And he wrote this song, Yap. Do you like

Emma:

it

Sam:

better with the lyrics?

Emma:

No. Oh, okay. No, I don't. I'm sorry, it does nothing for me that. That's fine. And I know that you're going through a bit of a Bonnie Tyler thing. thing, aren't you?

Sam:

me some Bonnie Tyler.

Emma:

a recent thing or have you always

Sam:

Total Eclipse of the Heart has always been. But then, since we started this show, I've been digging around into the two albums that she did with Steinman, and they are bangers, Emma. Yeah. And I suspect we might have

Emma:

more disputes to come.

Sam:

Yeah, I've I've been listening to this one on the reg since I discovered it I think it's really good.

Emma:

Is this one of the songs you were listening to the other night when you were out picking blackberries? Yes, I

Sam:

blackberries? Yes, I was picking blackberries, listening to Bonnie Tyler being horny as fuck. He's gone and done it again, Emma. This is why I brought this.

Emma:

Because it's more Steinman Recycling.

Sam:

the master recycler. He is. And in this case, he's just lifted a whole song. And stuck a few words on it.

Emma:

So I take it that, when he originally produced it for Hulk Hogan, there was no exclusivity tie in or

Sam:

This is where it gets inter The internet, in general, says he wrote this for Hulk Hogan, it didn't do well, and then he stuck some lyrics on and gave it to Bonnie Tyler. Yeah. But nobody ever provides citation for that and then I found an article from Bonnie Tyler in Tracks magazine Where she says In America, wrestling is very popular there, and there are a lot of rock fans following wrestling at the moment. One of the biggest names in wrestling over there is called Hulk Hogan. He had a listen to Ravishing and loved it so much he wanted it to be his theme song, which used to be Eye of the Tiger. It's a really powerful song, so every time he goes into the arena to the roar of the crowd, it's fantastic. He came to the studio as he wanted a slightly different version. We didn't want to go straight into the lyrics for what they play when he's in the arena. He wanted some chants at the beginning of it, so all through the intro we were in the studio chanting HULK! HULK! HULK! on the beat.

Emma:

So is that Bonnie Tyler chanting Hulk?

Sam:

This is what she says, yeah. I've not found any liner notes or anything that explain who was chanting HULK, but there's a lot of claims that Jim wrote it for Hulk Hogan and then recycled it, but I think it's just as plausible that he was working on it with Bonnie Tyler and then Hulk Hogan heard it somehow and was like, can I have that please? And that might be Bonnie Tyler chanting Hulk.

Emma:

That's the version I'd like to believe. Yeah, I would too. That's the version I'm choosing to believe.

Sam:

Jim Steinman wanted to call the entire Bonnie Tyler album Ravishing. Bonnie. Says, I thought it would be a bit hard to live up to, so I changed that to Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. She's a bloody fool, Emma. That's a stupid name for an album.

Emma:

Ravishing

Sam:

would have been an excellent name. Yeah, She did end up using Ravishing as the title of a 2009 Best Of album. And it's rare that Jim Steinman is the one with these succinct, punchy ideas. This is the only track from the album not to released as a single, presumably because it was too filthy.

Emma:

Yeah.

Sam:

I really like that the theme tune to a big smashy stupid wrestler was given away to a horny lady.

Emma:

I think it's a much better use of it. there's something about it that just doesn't gel for me.

Sam:

was your first listen, wasn't it? Yes. I am just going to run through some lyrics that I think are good.

Emma:

Okay.

Sam:

Tonight I really got it bad. Tonight I really got it bad. But it's still so good that I got it at all.

Emma:

Oh, there's so much to unpack just there! Oh yeah! Wow.

Sam:

If an angel broke his wings, would he come to you for parts? I need a couple of wings, boy. I need a reason to soar. And if the devil lost his fire, could he count on you for sparks? There's something we ought to try now. We ought to try it some more.

Emma:

for it.

Sam:

Emma.

Emma:

into it.

Sam:

In complete opposition to the lady from Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire, this is Bonnie Tyler

Emma:

hammering on your window.

Sam:

I'll come and

Emma:

and touch

Sam:

it.

Emma:

God, let me breathe on

Sam:

it. I can't believe the way the stars are shooting through your hair, you're so ravishing. And it's just my luck, tonight I don't have anything to wear. I genuinely think that's a very good couplet. But that's six minutes of Bonnie Tyler

Emma:

Banging at the door.

Sam:

Demanding to be let

Emma:

in

Sam:

like a cat in heat. We will return to my Bonnie Tyler obsession. I think in this, maybe in this series, maybe later on, but Jim Steinman did some really good stuff. Brilliant and some stupid stuff with Bonnie.

Emma:

I'm looking forward to discovering more.

Sam:

for the quiz, right?

Emma:

Of course, it's always the quiz.

Sam:

We've talked a lot about consummate bullshitters on this podcast, but Hulk Hogan really takes the cake. Which two out of these are not lies that Hulk Hogan has told and then immediately been caught out in? is it A. Did Hulk Hogan claim to have been offered the endorsement deal for the product that became known as George Foreman's Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine? Sam Perlmutter, the attorney who made the endorsement deal, stated that did not happen. Was it B? Hulk Hogan claimed to have wrestled for more than 400 days in a single year. Because he was travelling back and forth between the US and Japan so much.

Emma:

God.

Sam:

Was it C Hulk Hogan claimed to be a recipient of the American Speech Language Hearing Association's Annie Glenn Award for outstanding service to the stuttering community. Despite Hogan never having any kind of stutter.'I inspire kids of all kinds, said Hogan. ASLHA spokesman John Larkin denied any association with him. Was it D? Hulk Hogan claimed that Elvis Presley was a huge fan of his, despite Elvis dying in 1977 and Hogan's career starting in 1979. E? Hulk Hogan claimed to have personally been invited to join metallica by lars ulrich. Ulrich was once asked about this story in an interview with Howard Stern and didn't even know who Hulk Hogan was. F. Hulk Hogan claims to have invented the concept of walk on music for wrestlers, despite it having been around around since the 1950s. G. Hulk Hogan claims to have invented the word Hulk and sued Marvel over their use of his trademark on their character the Incredible Hulk. According to Hogan, The Marvel character is only green to differentiate between the radioactive superhero and the real life wrestling idiot. So which of those is

Emma:

lies, Emma?

Sam:

got two lies

Emma:

there.

Sam:

Two of those are not lies that he told. So we've got, he claims

Emma:

he was

Sam:

offered the George Foreman grill, he claims to have wrestled for 400 days in a single year, He claims to have been a recipient of the Outstanding Award for service to the stuttering community. He claimed that Elvis was a huge fan. He claimed to have been invited to join Metallica. And he claimed to have invented walk on music. Oh God, I did seven of these. And he claimed to have invented the word Hulk.

Emma:

Oh God so the stuttering one, that's definitely incorrect.

Sam:

Okay. That's one

Emma:

of my choices.

Sam:

That's true, that is an actual fact. Tch. That Scatman John Larkin earned that award, the singer behind the fantastic hit Scatman that's ski ba bop ba da bop. But which other one?

Emma:

I'm going to say the Japan one the 400 days.

Sam:

He did claim to have wrestled for 400 days in a single year because he's a twat, Emma. The one I made up was that he claimed to have invented the word Hulk. There was a comic book in the late 80s where Hulk Hogan starts calling himself the Incredible Hulk and the Incredible Hulk shows up to a wrestling event and throws him through

Emma:

the

Sam:

roof. I've got no good YouTube comments because wrestling fans are colossal bores. Sorry about that. That's fair enough. So Emma, it's time to rate this song. We're going to rate both of them, okay? So we've got Hulk Hogan's theme? Is that a Jim Steinman, a Jim Feynman, or a Jim Declineman

Emma:

that is a Jim Declineman.

Sam:

I agree. Jim Declineman wah, wah, wah. And

Emma:

Ravishing

Sam:

by Bonnie Tyler. Where are you going to place

Emma:

I'm going to say it's a Jim Feynman. I feel like I probably need to give it more time.

Sam:

I agree. Love it, but it's not a Jim Steinman, it's not his best work I do like some of the silly dirty lyrics that are in there, so I agree, Jim Feynman. So that's our first Jim Declineman and our first Jim Feynman. Let me just do a voice for the Jim Feynman, sorry.

Emma:

Yeah. Feynman! Yeah,

Sam:

good. was all of our songs

Emma:

for It was?

Sam:

It was, yeah. Good luck editing all of this down.

Emma:

Thanks! Thanks

Sam:

Ha ha So listeners, if you enjoyed these songs or you didn't enjoy them, or you're a wrestling fan who wants to call me an idiot, please do email us in, chatoutofhellatgmail. com. The following calls to action appeared as we talked through the podcast. Members of B*Witched. If you're out there, please do sing a cover of Out Of The Frying Pan And Into the Fire and send that to us. And if you think that the Ancient Hallway is a gothic castle or a festering cesspit, do write in and let us know, chat out of hell at gmail. com. Anything else

Emma:

Yes. Yes. A couple of weekends ago the Dukery's Ukeries ukulele band got together. And I was there as well and drinks occurred. And then the following recording occurred.

Laptop:

On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses? Yes! I bet you say that to all the boys. Rolling over the sand, when I listen to your heart I hear the whole world turn, I see the shooting stars falling through your threading hands. The

Sam:

so that's where you get up to when I'm not around. Yeah. Oh, Thanks.

Emma:

was

Sam:

isn't it? It's fun. where are we going to put that? listeners to listen to all of it.

Emma:

I don't know. Where should we put it? On

Sam:

On your SoundCloud. I don't think, I thought everybody had a, I don't know.

Emma:

That was a lovely

Sam:

Emma,

Emma:

just

Sam:

where that was from and by. uh, That

Emma:

was, because I know it was Kermit the Frog

Sam:

Miss Piggy at the beginning doing the the

Emma:

dialogue. Did you enjoyed the Kermit the Frog, miss Piggy? yeah. Yeah, That was, believe it or not. That was actually my husband and me doing that.

Sam:

that. BOMF. I Know! Mind blown.

Emma:

Acting.

Sam:

Acting. Oh, that was lovely! We've not mentioned it yet, our quest is to write

Emma:

a Jim song,

Sam:

and I suppose the way

Emma:

into

Sam:

is to learn to play Jim Steinman style songs, so you've started us down that path.

Emma:

I don't think Steinman did much with the ukulele. I

Sam:

only think that's because they were too small for him to see.

Emma:

Aw.

Sam:

Yeah, he had big

Emma:

old contact lenses. 17

Sam:

year old contact lenses. Ah! Ah! That Oh. So that was very nice. Yeah That's a lovely cover of You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth. Brackets Hot Summer Night. By, what was the band called again? Dukeries. Ukeries.

Emma:

Joukeries.

Sam:

And you can find them on the internet. You can.

Emma:

We will

Sam:

put links and stuff to their social media in the comments. So next time, I am going to be bringing another of the songs from Jim Steinman's album, Good. And I will be bringing Dance In My Pants, which is a magnificent song with a fucking batshit video. So I'm really looking forward to seeing your response to that.

Emma:

I'm going to bring Everything Louder than Everything Else as I continue smashing through Bat Out Of Hell 2.

Sam:

Fantastic. Listeners, go away and prepare yourselves for those. They're both silly, fun songs, so the listeners are probably going to have a good time with those. And, as always, keep your general Meat Loaf thoughts and anecdotes flying in. Did you see Meat Loaf at the Musée Royal d'Art et d'Histoire in Brussels and been blown away by the quality of the collection? Write in and let us know. Chat out of hell at gmail. com. I was blown away when I went to Brussels, and I'd just like to say it's fantastic museum. equal to many of the major museums around Europe, which are much busier.

Emma:

See, it's not just Meat Loaf, it's culture we're bringing as

Sam:

well. That's right. Anything else, Emma? Good! All right,

Emma:

well thank you all

Sam:

listening to Chat Out Of Hell, and we'll see you all again in two more weeks time. Bye! everybody! Bye! Bye! We're waving

Emma:

again. Why are we waving?