7.1 - Stark Raving Love | Razor's Edge

We're back to discuss more of the works of music's 93rd most fractious duo. We open series seven with a chat about Jim Steinman's solo effort Stark Raving Love and manage not to insult him too hard for once, then it's off to see where Meat Loaf's ended up during the filming of the Razor's Edge video.

PLUS some nonsense about Andy's Records (remember Andy's Records? Cripes), what Jim got up to when Todd Rundgren was away on tour, and why breaking in a new pair of boots simply isn't cool.

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:

Stark Raving Love by Jim Steinman from the album Bad For Good (1981)
Razor's Edge by Meat Loaf from the album Midnight at the Lost and Found (1983)

Transcript

Sam 0:00

What is this?

Emma 0:02

This is Chat Out of Hell, the podcast which pins the music of Meat Loaf and Jim Stein to a wall, and then uses loads of red string to connect it to other cultural creations like an obsessive weirdo in a film.

Sam 0:14

Who is Meat Loaf?

Emma 0:16

Meat Loaf is the singer of hit songs like Bat Out of Hell and a part-time actor who played multiple obsessive weirdos in films. Who's Jim Steinman?

Sam 0:26

Jim Steinman was the writer of hit songs like Bat Out of Hell and a full-time obsessive weirdo.

Emma 0:32

And who are we?

Sam 0:33

We are Sam Wilkinson and Emma Crossland. A pair of totally not obsessive weirdos who are right now recording the 46th episode of a podcast diving deep into the works of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman. Welcome to Chat Out of Hell Bow. Now. Now, Now.

Emma 0:50

Hi, Sam!

Sam 0:51

Hi Emma. How are you?

Emma 0:52

I'm alright. How are you?

Sam 0:53

I'm also putting on a really big mock cheery voice. Oh, look at us. We're so happy. Back in the studio. Back in my front room, but with microphones in it. Maisie the dog is at your feet, chewing on a toy. All is right with the world. This is Chat out of hell. Yay. It's our podcast where we dive deep into the waters of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman.

Emma 1:21

Oh,

Sam 1:22

swim around. Oh, Oh, yeah. Well fine. All right. I'll throw that metaphor into the

Emma 1:28

base. No. I like it. We could roll with it.

Sam 1:29

All right. Yeah. We dive deep into the waters of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman, the You're doing it again.

Emma 1:35

I imagine they're a bit gravy like Oh, 'cause of the Meat Loaf

Sam 1:39

Oh, okay. Right. Oh, that's quite nice.

Emma 1:41

So it's sort of like a delicious stew.

Sam 1:45

I if you like. Yeah. We dive deep into the rich bubbling stew of

Emma 1:51

The thought of a gravy bath is genuinely quite appealing.

Sam 1:55

Okay. Onlyfans.com/crosslandsbath. Gravies, stocks, bouillions. She'll do 'em all.

Emma 2:03

Bathe in them all. Consommé

Sam 2:07

That's consommé, famously a clear liquid.

Emma 2:10

Well,

Sam 2:11

What, whatever they ask for,

Emma 2:13

Yeah. You gotta throw something exciting out there, haven't you?

Sam 2:15

You do this is uh, it's a difficult way into this. We're not doing it that way.

Emma 2:25

We are, we just have,

Sam 2:29

We're retaking from somewhere in the middle of that delicious gravy bath. Diving deep into the meaty waters, the delicious bubbling stew with lumps of carrot and parsnip in it, and seeing whether we surface with a mouthful of gristle or a lovely bit of slow cooked beef shin. Yeah. Yeah, that's alright, isn't it?

Emma 2:57

It's a thing.

Sam 2:58

Alright, so

Emma 3:02

You're editing it so you get to decide.

Sam 3:03

Right, The deal is we both nominate a song from the back catalogues of Meat Loaf or his on again, off again, best bud, Jim Steinman. And we bring them back here where we explain to each other and the listeners what we've learned about this song. And then we rate them on our special Meat Loaf and or Jim Steinman song rating scales, don't we?

Emma 3:22

That's right. That's what we

Sam 3:24

Emma, what song have you brought to kick off series

Emma 3:28

Series seven I'm kicking it off with Stark Raving Love from Jim Steinman's solo album, Bad For Good. yeah. What have you brought

Sam 3:37

I have brought Razor's Razor's Edge.

Emma 3:40

Ooh,

Sam 3:42

Which is the opening track of Meat Loaf's album Midnight at the Lost and Found. The first album that Meat Loaf made after his acrimonious breakup with Jim Steinman.

Emma 3:51

A child of divorce,

Sam 3:53

an album child of

Emma 3:55

Yes.

Sam 3:56

But we're gonna start with Stark Raving Love. Is there a video for this one,

Emma 3:59

There is no video

Sam 4:00

Okay. Listeners, if you would like to list along to this one, then you can find this on YouTube or Spotify or the album Bad for Good if you've got that on a record or somewhere like

Emma 4:17

Yeah, good. We've run out of ideas of other places

Sam 4:21

Yeah, a long,

Emma 4:21

And we've still got so many more songs

Sam 4:24

Here's a very tiny clip of it, and we'll see you afterwards.

Emma 4:32

That was Stark Raving Love from Jim Steinman's solo album, bad For Good, that came out in 1981. What do you think, Sam?

Sam 4:42

What a great stupid

Emma 4:44

It's really stupid and fun, isn't it?

Sam 4:46

It's really good fun. And we'll get onto it in a minute, but this song is the birthplace of half of his other songs for the rest of the decade

Emma 4:54

It feels like when you're in the sci-fi movie and you've stumbled into the cave where all the aliens have laid their eggs. This is Jim Steinman's nest. Jim Steinman's spawning.

Sam 5:08

That what Yeah. Fair enough. This is really optimistic of me. My notes say it's two songs awkwardly welded together that

Emma 5:15

Well, do you want me to go through my list?

Sam 5:17

Yeah. So, for a Hero.

Emma 5:19

Holding out for a Hero.

Sam 5:20

Lost Boys and Golden Girls. Sort of,

Emma 5:23

yeah.

Sam 5:24

There's a bit of It's Raining Men

Emma 5:26

Do you think?

Sam 5:26

Yeah. Towards the end with the guitar duels and the do do, do dos,

Emma 5:30

I think during some of the guitar wankery, there's a bit of a riff from Good Girls Go to Heaven

Sam 5:35

is. Yeah.

Emma 5:36

Those are the ones that I got, but the thing that's bugging me more than anything is, in the chorus, the second, too much is never

Sam 5:44

Too much is never enough.

Emma 5:45

Sounds a lot like part of the theme tune to One Foot in the Grave, which for our American listeners, I dunno if you got One Foot in the Grave, although I suspect you might have done.

Sam 5:54

In the previous Film Club, we were talking about Keeping Up Appearances.

Emma 5:59

So one Foot in the Grave was a nineties sitcom about a grumpy old man.

Sam 6:03

Well, he wasn't actually a grumpy old man. In popular culture, he's remembered as a gru. This is so far off track already. He's, it is remembered as being a sitcom about a man who's grumpy about everything, but it's actually a sitcom about a perfectly reasonable man in the middle of a lot of people being colossal arseholes and getting quite reasonably annoyed. And then his wife says, why are you so annoyed? Anyway yeah classic nineties, Monday evening comedy.

Emma 6:32

Yeah.

Sam 6:33

But Sure. Yeah. But the theme tune was written by Eric Idle

Emma 6:37

Yes, and performed by Eric Idle

Sam 6:38

of the Monty Pythons.

Emma 6:40

I just find it really jarring in the rest, in amongst the rest of the song. It just seems really out of place. That little too much is never

Sam 6:50

One Foot in the Grave.

Emma 6:51

Yeah, it's, isn't it sounds so much like it. So, Eric Idle was presumably influenced by this.

Sam 6:58

I would not put it past Idle to a Steinman

Emma 7:02

On the album this is the track that follows Love, Death, and an American Guitar.

Sam 7:07

The monologue that's also known as Wasted Youth

Emma 7:10

Yes. On Bat Out of Hell Two, it's Everything Louder than Everything Else that follows it. And I think that fits quite well 'cause they're both really stupid songs, but Everything Louder than Everything Else does fit a lot better.

Sam 7:22

Oh, abso yeah, because it's also about youthful teenage wanting to rock the world down. And this is just about, oh, I've got all these ideas for songs but I don't know what to do with them.

Emma 7:34

It's a weirdly structured song. Because part the way through, another song crashes into it.

Sam 7:41

Is it a bridge? We'll call it a bridge, yeah. There's a Lost Boys and Golden Girls bridge, which lifts the lyrics from Lost Boys and Golden and Girls, which I think we've covered.

Emma 7:50

No, we haven't yet.

Sam 7:51

Oh, okay. We've not yet covered. It lists the lyrics from that song, but inserts it into a jaunty Beach Boys esque, lost Boys and Golden Girls.

Emma 8:01

I mean, ultimately they're both about shagging, that's

Sam 8:05

are about shagging

Emma 8:06

well.

Sam 8:08

well, or being sad.

Emma 8:09

That's what all songs are about.

Sam 8:11

me a song.

Emma 8:13

Oh, now all songs have gone out of my head.

Sam 8:17

Bohemian Rhapsody being sad.

Emma 8:19

Being sad

Sam 8:20

Road Rage by Catatonia, shagging,

Emma 8:24

Shiny, happy people. REM

Sam 8:26

Being sad.

Emma 8:27

Yeah.

Sam 8:29

Come on.

Emma 8:30

Yeah, that was

Sam 8:31

All of Radiohead: being sad.

Emma 8:35

Yeah. Radiohead's really hard to shag along

Sam 8:36

Mo uh, no, no. Some songs about shagging sound sad, but they're about shagging, but they're not about being sad. And I have lots of examples of those, which I will share with you later.

Emma 8:52

But trying to shag to Kid A is really difficult.

Sam 8:56

Not impossible,

Emma 8:57

Oh no, not impossible, but you do get thrown off every so often, not literally anyway. Sorry. So I've completely derailed that.

Sam 9:07

Life on Mars being sad.

Emma 9:10

You mean it's not about being on Mars?

Sam 9:12

Well, you'd be sad, wouldn't you? Rocket Man, being sad.

Emma 9:16

okay, you've proved your point

Sam 9:18

I Wanna Hold Your Hand, shagging.

Emma 9:20

I'm working hard to try and think of protest songs, but you'll just say it's being sad.

Sam 9:24

Well, yeah, ultimately. You're right. I mean, the times they are a changing, being sad. Yeah. Anyway, listeners, if you have any suggestions for songs that aren't about shagging or being sad, do let us know, chatoutofhell@gmail.com and we'll throw back to what we're talking about today, which is Stark Raving Love by Jim Steinman

Emma 9:44

At the beginning. Yep. It sounds like one of Jim's songs about like sex vampires or werewolves or something. So there's the howling, stalking prey

Sam 9:54

yes. howling up at the moon and moaning under the stars.

Emma 9:57

Classic Jim nonsense Meat Loaf had particularly strong opinions about.

Sam 10:01

Meat never covered it. I cannot imagine him saying, yeah, let's stick that on one of my albums.

Emma 10:07

I was flicking through Mick Wall's book, you know, our Bible,

Sam 10:11

Like a Bat out of Hell

Emma 10:12

like a bat out of Hell. And yeah, Meat Loaf, was quoted as saying there're a few that he wouldn't cover Dance in My Pants was one and Stark Raving Love was the other.

Sam 10:21

I hate to say it, but they're songs that he couldn't pull off. Yeah. 'cause this and Dance In My Pants are songs about the sheer joy of being alive.

Emma 10:30

Yes

Sam 10:31

And Meat Loaf is incapable of joy. Say what you like about Jim Steinman, and we do, but he was a man who knew how to enjoy being alive.

Emma 10:41

Yeah. Jim, I think liked to party Meat Loaf, as we know, didn't. He found it really awkward. Yes. And he wasn't really one for just throwing your hands up in joy.

Sam 10:50

Jim writes a lot of shit that you're supposed to take seriously. Yeah. But he also writes a lot of silly songs to just fart about to.

Emma 10:57

Yeah. It is daft. It's full of other ideas that are then used later on. Because we know of the other songs later on, this feels like Jim by numbers.

Sam 11:05

Yeah, it does. And that's 'cause we're coming at it backwards. Yeah. Like you say, there's about 10 different ideas in this song, which he then takes out and

Emma 11:13

Yeah. And he does improve on all

Sam 11:16

them. But yeah, looking at it retroactively, it's a worst, greatest hits

Emma 11:21

This is like the Jim Steinman mega mix, like you used to get the Grease mega mix at school discos.

Sam 11:26

Well, Jim Steinman himself did do a mega mix on the Pandora's Box album.

Emma 11:31

Yes,

Sam 11:32

I love the guitar on it. Is that Todd Rundgren playing lead guitar there? I can't remember if Todd was on this album or not, So

Emma 11:38

Todd was on this album. Yeah. But the guitar bit at the end of this, which is quite impressive was something of an afterthought. And Todd Rundgren who had done the guitars on the track was off on tour by this point.

Sam 11:52

Ah.

Emma 11:53

by the time Jim decided, you know what this needs it needs more guitar. Jim said after Todd was on tour, he said, I brought in Davy Johnston and we put together, I think of it as charge of the guitar brigade, but it's 25 different guitars going from speaker to speaker back and forth. "And we use 25 guitars and about nine amplifiers and about five or six pre amplifiers. And it sounds just like an army of guitars charging. Or else, the other image I sometimes have is if you leave guitars alone in the dark at night and they start to mate when you're not there. And it's sort of the sexual play of guitars. "It seems to me like a sex dance between guitars. And you could really hear the guitars screaming and moaning and teasing each other. And Davey did all that himself. And to me, it's one of the most amazing instrumental sections of the whole record."

Sam 12:50

He's ruined it, Emma.

Emma 12:53

So that, that's what guitars sound like when they're getting down and dirty.

Sam 12:59

There's clearly a reason he did this after Todd Rundgren went on tour, which is, Todd would not put up with that bullshit. No. Todd would pull out his Strat and just do it there and then oh, oh, 25 different. I could hear two guitars and that's 'cause they were in the left and right channels.

Emma 13:16

That's how it Oh, it's just so

Sam 13:22

Do you remember him complaining when he worked with Def Leppard that they were looking for the creamiest possible amps?

Emma 13:29

Jim's got no right to

Sam 13:30

Jim. Jim lives in a big glass house made of glass guitars,

Emma 13:35

that he keeps throwing stones at.

Sam 13:38

I was really loving all that guitar stuff on there, and he's absolutely sucked all the fun out of it. I know he is obsessed with guitars and motorbikes having sex when he is not in the room.

Emma 13:51

It's like Jim's own version of Toy Story

Sam 13:53

That's exactly where I was going. Yes.

Emma 13:56

It's so horrible. Oh, the guitar's come to life, which is sweet,

Sam 14:01

guess. it's a bit sort of beauty and the beast, but then they

Emma 14:05

all start doing it. Oh. Oh no. It ruins that as

Sam 14:10

Yeah. Sorry, Fantasia. I'm gonna ruin that for you. Maisy's

Emma 14:13

Horror.

Sam 14:13

Yeah, now I can't enjoy the guitar solo.

Emma 14:16

I'm sorry for sharing that with you, but it was one of the best quotes I found about the whole song.

Sam 14:21

What else have you got to tell me, Emma?

Emma 14:23

a lot 'cause it was just an album track. I mean, Jim seemed to be really into it

Sam 14:28

I get why because as we say, it's full of incredibly good ideas and he's rightly proud of them and they all just need a bit of development

Emma 14:36

Yeah.

Sam 14:36

to breathe. But the song itself, and I love it, but it is just a bit of silly, frivolous, fun

Emma 14:42

Yeah, can I tell you my favourite lyrics?

Sam 14:44

You absolutely can.

Emma 14:46

The girls are looking really pretty and they're looking for the moment of truth. You're breaking out of your chains and you're breaking in a new pair of boots. So much to enjoy there. First of all, the audacity to rhyme truth and boots.

Sam 15:02

But on the other hand, I've listened to this song a lot. has not, until you just read out the lyrics quite clinically, has never occurred to me that those two don't rhyme. He forces it so hard.

Emma 15:15

You're breaking in a new pair of boots. Oh

Sam 15:18

pinchy. But you can see him can't you? Strutting down the street

Emma 15:22

Wincing every so

Sam 15:23

wearing his leather jacket

Emma 15:25

are pinching his

Sam 15:26

brand new dockers.

Emma 15:28

Once I had a brand new pair of Doc Martin boots that I wore when, I think it was when I had gone to school to do a GCSE exam, and so I was coming home afterwards and caught the train home and had a bit of a walk from the station and these were very new pinchy boots and I got part of the way from the station to my house. It was quite a long walk and I had to take the boots off and walk home in my socks

Sam 15:52

Oh, Bless. You're absolutely right. Breaking in a new pair of boots is the least sexy way to walk down the street.

Emma 16:01

So rubbish.

Sam 16:03

The girls are waiting for the moment of truth, and the moment of truth is, can Jim get down to the corner without falling over?

Emma 16:11

because you know he is got some big biker boots. And they're gonna be so

Sam 16:15

Oh no. Jim's the kind of guy who leans on a motorbike on the street and pretends it's his.

Emma 16:21

Do you think Jim would've got himself a pair of those insane New Rocks that the goths used to get?

Sam 16:27

Oh, the big goth New Rocks. Big goth, new

Emma 16:29

goth. New rocks. The big goth. New rocks,

Sam 16:31

yeah, definitely.

Emma 16:32

I can imagine Jim in grotty tennis shoes, but I can't imagine him in like a pair of Nikes.

Sam 16:39

No, absolutely right. Yeah. He gets his trainers from the supermarket. Yeah. And he gets his boots from

Emma 16:45

the Army Surplus Store.

Sam 16:47

The Army Surplus Store. Yes.

Emma 16:55

Oh,

Sam 16:57

The lyrics before that one though, tyres are burning rubber and they're screaming like a banshee in heat. This whole song is full of, good, but not top tier Jim lyrics.

Emma 17:06

Yeah,

Sam 17:07

This is Jim's notebook that we're

Emma 17:09

It really is, isn't it? It's his rough book.

Sam 17:12

His rough book!

Emma 17:13

From school. It's his rough book.

Sam 17:15

I've not even thought about rough books for 30 years, and if you've still got your rough books, let us know. Chat out of hell@gmail.com.

Emma 17:27

Do you wanna know what the people of the internet have got to say?

Sam 17:29

bloody love to.

Emma 17:30

Jim Roberts 32 58 said he should have sung more of his own songs. He had a really good voice. RIP Jim, he will be missed.

Sam 17:40

Oh, Jim Roberts

Emma 17:43

Throughout this song, Jim sounds like a desperately frustrated teenage boy, and that's

Sam 17:50

that's suitable for

Emma 17:52

Suitable for this song, but that's what Jim's voice was. We've talked about this before, that Jim said that he had wanted to do all of his own singing, but he'd had a fight where his nose had been broken a lot. And so he'd lost his singing voice, and that's why Meat Loaf was such a godsend when he turned up.

Sam 18:10

I have we ever have, we have, we actually said That

Emma 18:12

I feel like we've had, we've certainly had the conversation. Okay. I feel like we've said something about it before, but I could be

Sam 18:17

regretfully, we do talk a lot about Meat Loaf when we're not being recorded.

Emma 18:21

Yeah.

Sam 18:22

What's a pair of dweebs.

Emma 18:24

There's a reason that he got Rory Dodd to sing the more difficult songs, isn't there? Yeah.

Sam 18:29

Yeah.

Emma 18:30

Not Another James Murphy 55 74 said James

Sam 18:34

55 70 fours.

Emma 18:36

He said, "I'd be interested to hear about other musical elements that he reused in other songs." And all I've got to say to you, not another James Murphy 55 74 is tune into Chat out of Hell. We can tell you all about it, mate.

Sam 18:49

Tune into Chat out of Hell FM

Emma 18:53

Finally Mr. Hank 7 21 said, this is great. I love this album. To tell the truth, I'm just lucky. My album's signed by Rory Dodd. My wife met him in the store where she worked and he shopped many years ago.

Sam 19:10

Do you think he was buying a lot of cans of

Emma 19:12

I imagine he was buying loads of cans of coffee and some cut price jeans. We love Rory. And that's all I've got.

Sam 19:23

Oh, cool. So is it time to rate this song then, Emma?

Emma 19:25

I think it is, yes.

Sam 19:26

This is a song by Jim Steinman himself, so we're gonna have to reach back into the depths of history to recover our Jim Steinman song rating scale. So I've built a robot to go back in time find and protect the Jim Steinman song rating scale from a liquid robot. And it's done that, and that's fine. So the Jim Steinman scale, it runs from Jim Steinman up at the top, down to Jim Fineman for his average songs, all the way down to Jim Declineman for those songs that we try not to talk about. Emma, what's this one?

Emma 20:02

I think this is a Fineman,

Sam 20:04

I think I agree. It's great fun. I love it. But it, if I was, have you seen, there's a thing went around social media the other day? If aliens came and asked you what music was, how would you explain? I wouldn't use this. I'm not playing a, an alien who's never heard music before Stark Raving Love

Emma 20:24

There's too many ideas crammed in. Yeah. It's not a finished article. Yeah. So I don't think it can be, a Steinman. So it's a Fineman. This is a Jim Fineman. It's alright, isn't it? It's I'm fine. So Sam, hello. What have you brought to the

Sam 20:49

Well, Emma,

Emma 20:49

Which is a table made out of Meat Loaf,

Sam 20:52

The man? Like in the film, Rocky Horror Picture show

Emma 20:56

yeah, I forgot about that. There's a table made out of Meat Loaf's corpse. There is.

Sam 21:00

There is. So bringing to that table, I have, I've got the Track Razor's Edge, which was the first track on Meat Loaf album. Midnight at The Lost and Found. This is 1983. This is the first album Meat Loaf's making after him and Jim Steinman had a big old barney. I'm sure they had a lot of big old barneys before then, but they had one of the big old barneys that caused 'em to stop working together for a bit. There's a video for this one. Listeners do find that on YouTube if you can. 'cause Oh boy. Is it something, Emma, before we watch the video I'm gonna invite you to take part in a quiz.

Emma 21:38

Oh no. I mean, okay,

Sam 21:40

Emma, which of these things doesn't happen in our video? Is it A: Meat Loaf wears a series of incredibly decade appropriate suits and hats while a succession of sexy ladies dance around, thoroughly impressed by his charisma.

Emma 21:54

That feels like something we've already seen before.

Sam 21:56

Is it B: Meat Loaf is kidnapped by a sinister cabal of mysterious spies and undergoes a regime of hypnotic training to make him forget his former suburban life. Or is it C: Meat Loaf pops into an antique shop and has a lovely chat with the owner. One of those things doesn't happen in

Emma 22:14

one of Oh no. Because I'm also trying to think, what else are you tying this into? The antique shop thing sounds so weird that I think it is true. So I'm gonna say the sexy ladies dancing around him. I mean, it's all possible and I don't know anymore. God, it's only episode one. Yep. Going sexy ladies.

Sam 22:39

Emma's locked into Option A. We are gonna watch the video now. Listeners, you really should if you can. Find it on YouTube. We'll see you all in a few minutes. Tell the listeners what you've just seen, Emma.

Emma 22:58

that was bonkers, I

Sam 23:00

I You were right. Yes. You went for option A Meat Loaf does wear a decade appropriate suit. He's wearing what I think of as the Specials suit. Black suit with a white red tie. But he doesn't sing the song while a succession of sexy ladies dance around. Thoroughly impressed by his charisma. That, of course, wouldn't be invented until 1999 when the technique was mastered by one Lou Bega, who was delighted to append it to his cheerful new ditty, Mambo Number Five.

Emma 23:30

It was only a matter of time, wasn't it?

Sam 23:32

And we'll learn a lot more about Lou Bega's Mambo Number Five for the rest of this series.

Emma 23:38

You've got it pl Oh God.

Sam 23:41

Yeah, I thought we'd have like just a little bit of Erica. Yeah. A little bit of Monica and the

Emma 23:48

and the others,

Sam 23:49

All the women. Well, you weren't expecting that, were you?

Emma 23:53

No.

Sam 23:54

Thoughts.

Emma 23:56

Oh, it's so daft. Again, it feels quite low budget as all of the videos from this era of Meat Loaf do. So he is into a car.

Sam 24:04

So yeah, the video opens with him being bundled into a

Emma 24:06

Yeah. With

Sam 24:07

in kind of white, lab

Emma 24:10

he's taken to what looks like a dentist chair. Yes. And is he being brainwashed or,

Sam 24:17

Well, he is sort of, he's got lights shining into his face and some sci-fi screens of sort of bits of his life. And his life going into suburban English antique shops trading a tape with a lady, which might be something spy related. We'll never know that. We'll never know. It, the whole thing feels quite well, feels exactly like an early eighties episode of Dr. Who. Yeah. Where, for budget reasons, this one happens in a suburban English village The alien looks just like a human, but we can cut to an alien base where they're seeing through his eyes and there's somebody pressing a big computer with the tape reels.

Emma 24:55

We couldn't afford the quarry this week.

Sam 24:57

No, you

Emma 25:00

save that for the Modern Girl video,

Sam 25:04

but then there is a big twist at the end. Meat Loaf seems to escape and smash up all the machinery and run away through a sequence from Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

Emma 25:15

Yes. Big Garth Marenghi vibes

Sam 25:17

As he runs through

Emma 25:18

In slow motion.

Sam 25:19

The back garden to get to the woman he loves. But then the two of them fade away 'cause it turns out the baddies won all along and

Emma 25:26

and he's still in the dentist chair.. He's

Sam 25:27

still in the dentist chair, and they convert him into one of them. Is that appropriate to this song? We'll talk about that later. Let's turn to what the people of the internet have to say. 'cause I watch this video and I thought, hello what's going on here. Where is this? Why is he filming videos in suburban English villages? And the people of the internet have served up in spades? First, Stuart Stuart Robinson 2291. "Video shot round Weston Green, Thames Ditton." So that is inside the M 25, but it's a lovely, quiet, leafy part of London. it's about 20 minutes away from Surbiton, which is where my brother Tom used Let me know, Tom, if you ever went to Weston Green. But then we get more, Emma. Mm-hmm. We'll go to at Pimp. Oh no Pimp, Lois. Sorry. At Pimp Lois, "My girlfriend's mum is the girl. It was filmed on Gigs Hill Green in Weston Green Thames Ditton in May, 1982." Fantastic.

Emma 26:27

Fantastic. We're

Sam 26:28

zooming in to which.

Emma 26:31

it to the list of places to go on the Meat Loaf tour

Sam 26:33

to which M-L-B-F-O-G replies, "are you sure it wasn't May, 1983? The album came out September 83 Meet was on tour May 82. The album wasn't even recorded until mid 83." So that all seems fair enough. We've zoomed in. This was filmed in May 83. Brilliant. We've got a time, we've got a place. at Mummo 9 4 1 3. "Always loved this video. I worked in operating theatres with the same lights, bloody things. Razor's Edge was so appropriate. To change a light bulb was terrifying. I used to play Razor's Edge. Lol. The front glass had to be removed first by a hex screw, exclamation point. It would literally fall out! Then the bulb! Any human skin oils on the bulb and it would blow in an hour! Then you had to replace the glass! Trust me! I played Meat! I played Meat. Gloves on over mattress. Thankfully, never had an issue." Don't know what that means. I'm not sure if this means this person kind of was Meat's stand in at some point or... dunno, but "met Meat, he gave me his personalised plectrum."

Emma 27:43

Oh

Sam 27:44

"What a gent! Love him always!"

Emma 27:45

Well that's better than him, like, stealing your go on the gambling machine.

Sam 27:51

Yeah, this is a brilliant Meat Loaf memories. And then I've got one more piece of this puzzle all from this YouTube comments section.

Emma 28:01

You really have been doing the red string.

Sam 28:03

I have been doing some full on red string today at Derek Lyons. "I am in this video. I am one of the aliens who grabs and takes Meat Loaf." I didn't think of them as but he's in the video, he knows best. Amazing. And we're talking about early eighties. Dr. Who. Aliens are humans in funny clothes. So Derek Lyons says that, There's a reply from at Elizabeth 0801. "Okay, cool." But Emma, who is Derek Lyons?

Emma 28:32

Who is Derek Lyons

Sam 28:34

We've seen Derek Lyons before. Have we? I'm almost positive you have seen Derek Lyons. I definitely have. Most of our listeners will have seen Derek Lyons. Derek Lyons, born September 25th, 1958. He is an English actor, stuntman and martial artist from London. He's most notable for his role in Star Wars, Episode Four a New Hope. I'm gonna tell you who he played in Star Wars, and I'm gonna look at your face. He played the memorable role of Voren Na'al. You remember Voren Na'al from Star Wars?

Emma 29:08

I suspect this is a deeper cut than I

Sam 29:10

Do you need a reminder as to who Voren Na'al was in Star Wars?

Emma 29:13

Yes, please,

Sam 29:14

Okay. Emma, all the listeners are crying out, of course.

Emma 29:16

Of course.

Sam 29:17

Yeah. So you remember at the very end of that first Star Wars film Luke Skywalker and Han Solo get given medals by Princess Leia. Yeah. For blowing up the Death Star. So Princess Leia's the one who gives them their medals, and she's handed the medals by Jan who is, he's the general, he's got a few lines. He's the guy who sort of gives the briefing earlier on. Okay.

Emma 29:39

Okay.

Sam 29:39

he is handed the medals by an extra stood at the back. Voren Na'al Who hands a man a box. And has a, an 800 word entry in the Star Wars Wiki because Star Wars is fucking ridiculous. I like a bit of Star Wars. Less so now, but there's too much of it. There is 800 words of biography for this extra who stood at the back and handed a box to another man.

Emma 30:11

Amazing.

Sam 30:12

Derek Lyons is also in the, If You Really Want To video from the same album.

Emma 30:16

Okay.

Sam 30:21

Bit of fun.

Emma 30:21

Good digging. Good digging.

Sam 30:22

Good digging. Yeah. So I, yeah, the video absolute bonkers. fun. We should talk about the song, Like I said, this is the first track on the album. It's the second single off it. Released June 83. It got to number 41 in the uk. No other chart info that I can find. One off. One off what matters.

Emma 30:44

Yeah.

Sam 30:45

As far as I can work out, it didn't have a US release, but it did have a Brazilian and European one. Song was credited to four people. Meat Loaf, Steve Buslowe, who I think we talked about before a few times, Paul Christie, Mark Doyle. Mark Doyle is a fun guy.

Emma 31:02

Yeah?

Sam 31:03

He played guitar and keys on this album. Right. And he's got something to say as to how that happens. So he says, "I was at a rehearsal with the New York Flyers in Syracuse, and the phone rang and it was my friend Bob Clearmountain. He asked what I was up to and I said, as it happened, I was headed to New York in the morning to audition for Foreigner as a keyboard player. He said that he'd been sitting with Meat Loaf, mixing his Dead Ringer album and overheard him talking about needing a guitar player. Bob said, 'if you need a guitar player, I know this guy, Mark Doyle', and before he could finish a sentence, he said, Meat jumped over the console and said, 'you know, Mark Doyle? Get him on the phone.' "So Bob hands the phone to me and he said, 'Foreigner, what the hell do you wanna play for them for, Boy?'

Emma 31:41

Can

Sam 31:42

"'Come and play with me. What are they offering you?' Well, it wasn't a done deal yet, but I knew what the offer was. So I told him and he said, 'are they giving you a per diem on top of that?' I said, yes, they were. "And he said, 'oh, well, we can come close. Come to the office after your audition tomorrow.' But I made up my mind that night that I would go with Meat. I went to the Foreigner audition anyway and gave a perfunctory performance just to check it out. But the vibe was cold and the keyboard player was to play a football field away from the band and not even be visible on stage. So afterwards, I went to Meat's office where they said, 'welcome to the family. We just need to buy out the other guitarist contract that we signed before we knew you were available.'" We're a family. We're all lovely and kind. By the way, get out. Somebody better here. Now. Thus began a three year sagar of thrills, spills and high drama that are better left for a book. After starting recording at the Columbia studio, which was now so run down that we had to leave, especially after me and Max Weinberg staged a protest that got us into Power Station we continued onto Power Station, and then I was the only one that they took to Miami with them to finish the album at Criteria. "It was my first and only Christmas in Florida and Meat gifted me with an Atari and all the games that we'd been playing on the big screen TV in the lounge at Criteria. Aw, that's lovely, isn't

Emma 33:05

nice.

Sam 33:05

it? Yeah. That poor guitarist that they fired.

Emma 33:08

He's got no Atari.

Sam 33:09

no A song that I co-wrote on the record Razor's Edge became the single and video, and still pays me royalties to this day." nice, isn't it? And then the other co-writer that I don't think we've encountered yet is Paul Christie. I don't know a lot about him except he's one of us. Oh, Paul Christie is an artist, writer, actor, songwriter, narrator, and voice actor. But in the 1980s, he performed standup comedy in and around New York co-founded the improvisational group, the House Band. He's also a graphic artist.

Emma 33:39

Yeah,

Sam 33:40

I mean,

Emma 33:41

That's pays bills.

Sam 33:44

Christie

Emma 33:45

It's called a portfolio career, Sam. That's what some of us are going for these days.

Sam 33:49

No, fair enough. We do have to talk about the song. What do you think about the song?

Emma 33:53

I first heard this when I purchased the album, aged probably about 12.

Sam 34:00

Yeah.

Emma 34:01

And we've already talked about young Emma, the dramatic fool she was. Precocious, dramatic, full of hopes and dreams, and also quite liking the dark mystery So I really liked this.

Sam 34:16

Okay.

Emma 34:17

First I heard it. Again, 12 years old. Yeah. Uh, so, you know. Yet to develop a more sophisticated taste in

Sam 34:25

Oh, you're telling me you don't like it now?

Emma 34:27

I still like it now. It's fun.

Sam 34:29

It's fun.

Emma 34:30

I think I probably heard it

Sam 34:32

Oh, sorry. Hang on. Meat Loaf memory.

Emma 34:36

Memories. first heard it when I bought the CD from Andy's Records, in Meadowhall.

Sam 34:46

Andy's Records memories

Emma 34:48

I used to love Andy's Records

Sam 34:49

Oh man.

Emma 34:50

that was probably my favourite record shop. Nerdily, it was my favourite record shop because I had a really good spoken word comedy section. Yeah. I was fun at parties, Um, so yeah, I bought it from Andy's records and took it home with me. And I think my parents were with me I'd got my discman in the car with because I was a spoilt only

Sam 35:15

you were rich.

Emma 35:17

No, no spoilt only child. Let's get it right. And so I was playing this in my headphones on the drive home And I loved it. It was a dark song and it's got a, an edge to it that 12-year-old Emma thought was, like, exciting. If I'd've seen the video as well. I'd have been mental for it.

Sam 35:40

Mum, mum, can we go to Thames Ditton on holiday?

Emma 35:43

Honest with you, I've never looked at the lyrics until today. so there could be all sorts of troublesome shit in there because the annunciation is appalling. There's so much that you can't hear properly. So I've never known what the lyrics really are,

Sam 35:58

Just like Louie Louie, that the FBI start an investigation into Razor's Edge. Well the chorus goes, oh, brother to brother. All the blood runs red.

Emma 36:09

Doesn't sound like that at all. I dunno what it

Sam 36:11

like. Yeah, brother to brother. Don't roll over. Don't play dead. We are all living on the razor's edge. Oh, brother to brother. All the blood runs ruby red. clarify. We're all victims of the razor's edge. I'm going to say this is quite a healthy song for Meat Loaf to be singing.

Emma 36:32

Yeah.

Sam 36:33

It's not a song about how women are bitches.

Emma 36:35

No.

Sam 36:36

No. Which is nice. If anything, it's a song about men's mental health and looking after each other a little bit.

Emma 36:40

Yeah.

Sam 36:41

Never calling unanswered letters. How you been? Feeling better? Never looking. But you're hearing. Never speaking but you're feeling. All the silence, and it's wounding. You're not healing. Just conceding. Play the game.

Emma 36:55

You all need

Sam 36:57

We all need therapy. And Meat Loaf's version of therapy is writing this one song in 1983 and then never doing it again.

Emma 37:05

And also probably not contributing that much. Can you imagine the writing sessions?

Sam 37:09

I try not to.

Emma 37:11

I just imagine he's like sitting in a corner doing something else.

Sam 37:14

He's doing a crossword

Emma 37:15

Doing a crossword or colouring in or.

Sam 37:18

and somebody occasionally calls over and says "Hey, Meat. What colour is blood?" Red. Brilliant. Your name's on the credits. You see, you're losing yet you still try. The game just to watch as your life go by, you are playing. Why? Oh, play the game." The song is all about whether or not we should play society's game, man.

Emma 37:40

And we're becoming victims of the Razor's Edge., In this album another track is called Wolf at Your Door, which will cover at some point, but that's very literal for his financial situation at the time. And I feel like the Razor's Edge is a bit like that as well.

Sam 37:53

Yeah. I don't think he has quite declared bankruptcy yet, but he's about to. So, you know, yeah. the video kind of is about this. He gets kidnapped by the system.

Emma 38:03

Yeah.

Sam 38:04

And the system breaks him and turns him into one of them.

Emma 38:07

I think as a 12-year-old I was kind of secret. Despite being a very good girl, I was kind of secretly into the idea of going against the system.

Sam 38:14

Yeah, of course. Man. Yeah. Screw you the system. I'm gonna go to this antique shop.

Emma 38:20

Yeah, that, that was probably about right for my vibe at the time.

Sam 38:23

off a lady. Do you wanna hear what the people of the internet have to say who weren't talking about where the video was filmed?

Emma 38:29

Yes.

Sam 38:30

At Chilli Cheeseburger R Hell, I wasn't a fan of Meat Loaf until my dad showed me his songs. RIP Meat Loaf.

Emma 38:38

What? that's how that works. Oh God.

Sam 38:45

I think it's time to rate this song, Emma.

Emma 38:46

Yes, I think so.

Sam 38:49

Good.

Emma 38:50

Sorry, I lost it then.

Sam 38:52

I think it's time to rate this song, Emma.

Emma 38:53

Yes. You're gonna get the uh,

Sam 38:56

I am gonna dust off the Meat Loaf songwriting scale from all the dust it's accrued in the month and a bit since we used it. So this is our Meat Loaf songwriting scale. We're gonna rate this song Michael Lee Aday for his finest works, Michael Lee Okay for his middling works all the way down to Michael Lee No Way for when he got misogynistic or scary. Emma, what's this?

Emma 39:21

Know. I like it.

Sam 39:24

Okay. What are you caught between?

Emma 39:26

I'm caught between Aday and Okay

Sam 39:29

Oh, really? Okay, fine. All to me, it's firmly. Okay. Okay. I find it fun. The video has raised it a bit for me. Just it was filmed on a street I might have walked down.

Emma 39:42

I don't think it's up there with some of ones we've got in. It's probably top end of Okay. Okay. But it's a nostalgia thing for me, I think. Yeah. I like the way I thought about it as a kid. I think

Sam 39:53

okay. I mean, we can promote it if you want.

Emma 39:55

No, I think it is an Okay.

Sam 39:57

This is a Michael Lee... it's Okay.

Emma 40:01

been a very middle of the road episode.

Sam 40:03

It's been a middle of the road episode where we've still learned a lot and that's the real,

Emma 40:09

music

Sam 40:11

Aday. Slash Steinman. So that was our song, this episode. Yeah. Did you enjoy those songs? Do you have things to contribute? Have you walked down that road in Thames Ditton? And do let us know. Chatoutofhell@gmail.com. Or you could just send us your thoughts on anything Meat Loaf like Stephanie did. Stephanie has emailed off the back of our last episode at the end of last series. "Hi Sam and Emma. I'm so delighted that you did Like a Rose, though, not delighted that you had to listen to that. Oof. I appreciated what you mentioned during the episode about Meat being sensitive to the quality of his life performances. "I, you mentioned he asked about refunding a crowd ahead of time when he thought a show wouldn't be up to par. I wondered if you'd seen the documentary in Search of Paradise", which I have not.

Emma 40:56

Neither have I,

Sam 40:57

"Which definitely shows how attuned he was to both his voice and the general experience his fans were having. His famous self-flagellation is on full display in this movie and I do think the occasional braggadocio moments..." I'm pretty sure it's pronounced that way. I do, you know, it is one of those things written down. a lot.

Emma 41:14

Yeah.

Sam 41:16

"...that you mentioned were very much coming from him as a character. 'Cause him personally was truly appreciative, kind and sweet to his fans. Anyway, I think this is the most times I've ever emailed a podcast Meat Loaf, his career and his legacy is a subject I could literally discuss all day. Stephanie,"

Emma 41:32

Thanks Stephanie

Sam 41:32

Thanks do break your record and email us some more. And yeah, so our last episode, which was a while ago. Yeah we talk about it a lot. He's a complicated

Emma 41:43

Multifaceted.

Sam 41:44

And no one understands him but his woman. So that's another documentary we've been recommended. I, we do have on our list at some point to start watching some of these doccos. What a tosser. Some of these doccos. And maybe present our thoughts on those on a separate side episode. But thank you Stephanie, for emailing in. Listeners I know will have been on the edge of their seats wondering what the people at Heck's Sausages said to our email that I sent them completely without Emma's permission at the end of series six. And I'm afraid to say it's been radio silence.

Emma 42:21

So disappointing.

Sam 42:23

are massively disappointed in the small, independent sausage company Heck's.

Emma 42:26

So if Richmond's sausages are interested,

Sam 42:28

fuck off. Oh, thank God for that. we had the Richmond sausages conversation? They are the worst sausages. Richmond sausages are so bad that even on the adverts for Richmond sausages, they look disgusting. And, you know, those are the sausages that they paint with varnish and do all the tricks to make it look a delicious meal. They look vile. And if you have opinions on Richmond sausages, do let us know, chatoutofhell@gmail.com. If you have other Meat Loaf or Jim Steinman songs that you'd like us to cover on the podcast, do drop us an email chat out of hell gmail.com. Or you could let us know what you think about our songs for next time. So we've just released a Chat out of Hell Film Club, all about Jim Steinman's adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Do check that out in our back catalogue if you've not seen it already. Or don't, a film, but there were two songs on that soundtrack that we've not yet covered. So I'm gonna be covering the Future Ain't What it Used to Be. Which was originally sung by Pandora's Box, Jim's girl band from the late 80s. So you can find that on their album Original Sin or in a couple of other places, we'll talk about that next time. Emma, what are you gonna cover?

Emma 43:36

I'm gonna bring, If It ain't Broke, Break It from Bat out of

Sam 43:40

Ooh, I'm looking forward to that. So let us know your opinions on those. Don't forget to give us five stars on your podcast listing app. It really does help us find new audiences and God knows we need them. Or recommend us to your friends and family over a lovely summer barbecue.

Emma 43:56

Wouldn't that be the perfect way

Sam 43:58

The perfect way to clear everybody out so you can get to the burgers. Keep your Meat Loaf thoughts and anecdotes flying in. Perhaps you saw Meat Loaf playing chess, attempting the Budapest Gambit. Do let us know. Chat out of hell@gmail.com. And if you know what the Budapest Gambit is, also let me know that chat out of hell@gmail.com. People assume I'm good at chess.

Emma 44:18

They're wrong. They're wrong.

Sam 44:20

I think that's it, Emma. Anything else Then we'll see you all again in two more weeks time for another Chat out of Hell. Bye Bow Now. Now, Now.

Emma 44:33

Ding.