7.3 - Bad Attitude | Blind Before I Stop

Transcript

Sam 0:00

What is this?

Emma 0:01

This is Chat Out Of Hell, the podcast that boldly goes where no man has gone before into the deepest, darkest corners of the colliding universes of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman.

Sam 0:13

Crikey, that was deep.

Emma 0:15

Yeah.

Sam 0:15

Who is Meat Loaf?

Emma 0:17

Meat Loaf was a singer, actor, and all round performer who once had his ladder stolen by a priest. No further context.

Sam 0:26

Okay, cool.

Emma 0:28

Who's Jim Steinman?

Sam 0:29

Jim Steinman was a musician, writer and producer who recorded his solo album with the assistance of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. They loved working with him so much that they were interested in going on tour with him, but he decided against it after discovering that they had a reputation for trashing hotel rooms. According to Jim Steinman.

Emma 0:45

Who are we?

Sam 0:47

I am Sam Wilkinson. And you are Emma Crossland. And we are comedians, writers, promoters, and hosts of the podcast Chat Out of Hell. The podcast, podcast that you're listening to now. Welcome to Chat Out of Hell Bow. Now, Now, now Hello, Emma.

Emma 1:05

Hi, Sam.

Sam 1:06

you doing?

Emma 1:06

I'm okay. It's a bit warm.

Sam 1:08

It is quite warm, isn't it?

Emma 1:10

Yeah. And as British people, we are obliged to talk about that.

Sam 1:15

Sure. Yeah. It's the Shall we talk about the news? it. we should talk about the news. So yes, as we record this, it's just been a couple of days since the news broke that Bonnie Tyler has died at the age of 75. And because of our recording schedule, it's like a week or so for listeners. It might even as regular listeners will know, Bonnie does feature as large in the Chat Out of Hell world as Meet and Jim do, and we are very sad to have heard this news. We'll be dedicating our next episode entirely to Bonnie and her works, but for now, we thought we'd just share our quick thoughts on what Bonnie meant to us. Suffice to say that Bonnie was a talented, glamorous performer who never took herself a tiny bit as seriously as Meat Loaf and Jim did and clearly loved every minute of her career at the highs and the lows. She's exactly what we wanted to be when we grow up.

Emma 2:03

Yes, she just looked to be endlessly having a really good time.

Sam 2:08

I've not heard a single story about Bonnie that doesn't start with, she was great fun. So, yes, I think we've all missed out on somebody

Emma 2:17

Yeah, it's a really sad loss.

Sam 2:19

It is a sad loss. As I said, we'll be dedicating our next episode to Bonnie and some of her songs. For now, let's crack on and see what dross Meat Loaf's been singing this week, shall we?

Emma 2:30

We should, yes.

Sam 2:31

This is Chat Out of Hell. It's the podcast in which you and I both go out and listen to a Meat Loaf or Jim Steinman song for our sins. come back here, we do a bit of homework, we pin them on the wall and we say, where does this sit on the Meat Loaf slash Jim Steinman song rating scale. So Emma, what song have you brought for our listeners?

Emma 2:51

I have brought Bad Attitude from Bad Attitude. What about you, Sam?

Sam 2:55

I've brought brought Blind Before I Stop from Blind Before I Stop.

Emma 3:00

a title track episode.

Sam 3:02

Emma did a little hand gesture for that one.

Emma 3:04

It was almost jazz

Sam 3:06

It was a little bit jazz hands, wasn't it? Jazz hands. It's a title track. Yeah, sure. That's not jazz. That's a Marx brother. All right. Yeah. So, are we gonna start with Bad Attitude? Yes.

Emma 3:14

Yes. Let's There's no video for this one for which I think we can all thank our lucky stars. Go away and give it a listen on your medium of choice. see what you think. I will tell you what we think after this clip.

Sam 3:29

That is the nature of the podcast.

Emma 3:36

So that was Bad Attitude from 1984. Sam, any immediate thoughts?

Sam 3:41

Ooh, he's a rebel, isn't he?

Emma 3:43

Oh. Such a rebel. He's

Sam 3:44

a rebel and he'll never, ever do any good,

Emma 3:46

just as he says in nearly every song. This one, it is I'd say it's generic Meat Loaf.

Sam 3:53

Yeah.

Emma 3:53

the subject matter isn't a surprise. It's fairly sort of standard

Sam 4:00

I like my motorbike and it goes

Emma 4:02

I also like my musical theatre

Sam 4:06

and it's fine to like both those

Emma 4:08

It is. This was written by Sarah Durkee and Paul Jacobs,

Sam 4:12

Oh, Durkee and Jacobs. Yeah.

Emma 4:14

Husband and wife team. We know that they also wrote Modern Girl but both were involved in National Lampoon in the 70s. Sarah as an actor and Paul as music director. Sarah Durkee has five daytime Emmy awards for her songwriting for children's TV shows, including Sesame Street, think is quite nice.

Sam 4:34

That is lovely.

Emma 4:35

Paul Jacobs worked with Steinman on his Neverland musical in 1977 and did all sorts of stuff with all sorts of rock and roll types. But then also went on to work with his wife in kids' TV. I just think that's quite wholesome.

Sam 4:51

Well, this is actually one of the more wholesome Durkee and Jacobs songs that we've covered. I don't believe there's any reference to how women are things

Emma 4:58

there's no real reference to women at all

Sam 5:01

Oh that's the best way to approach

Emma 5:03

is something I did pick up on.

Sam 5:05

If you can't sing anything nice about women, don't sing anything at all.

Emma 5:09

The lines "every hero was once, every villain was once just a boy with a bad attitude." And I'm fairly sure there have been female heroes and villains.

Sam 5:18

Name one.

Emma 5:19

See entire Disney cannon.

Sam 5:21

She didn't name one.

Emma 5:23

No, I didn't. Because I don't want to, because politics and that.

Sam 5:28

okay? Oh, I thought you were just gonna be like Supergirl.

Emma 5:32

I mean, super Girl is indeed a terrible villain.

Sam 5:36

Oh, Got you there.

Emma 5:37

Ah,

Sam 5:39

Good stuff. Good

Emma 5:43

When I searched for Sarah Durkee in Meat Loaf's autobiography, I was quite surprised to find absolutely nothing. And then I searched for Bad Attitude. The very first page that came up, her name was there, just misspelled. So instead of Durkee, D-U-R-K-E-E. It's spelled like Turkey, D-U-R-K-E-Y. And all I can say is, you know, Meat Loaf get you proofreading sorted out

Sam 6:11

Yeah. Well, I say Meat Loaf, you mean Meat Loaf's ghost writer.

Emma 6:14

Meet of ghost writer, get your

Sam 6:18

Yeah, that's fair point. Although I swear I've mentioned this when we've covered Durkey songs in the past, 'cause I found her YouTube name, like she comments on some stuff. her username is Jive Durkee.

Emma 6:30

Yes. Did you know that this is a duet?

Sam 6:33

No, this is a duet. I didn't know this was a duet because I didn't hear another voice on the record.

Emma 6:39

yep. That's what I thought too. What, This is a duet with Roger Daltrey off of the Who.

Sam 6:46

outta off of the who? From

Emma 6:47

out of, off of the Who? Because him and Meat Loaf were big mates. Oh,

Sam 6:50

Oh, okay, I didn't know that.

Emma 6:51

Yeah. Yeah. They were big pals. A lot of mutual respect for each other. And yeah he duets on this song. We heard it, and when we reached the bits where I know where the duet is, I was watching to see if your face said, oh, this is a different singer. And it didn't, and neither did mine until I did the research.

Sam 7:08

So what, tell me more. Tell me more. Like does he have a car? Oh

Emma 7:16

Oh,

Sam 7:17

no. Alright. Fuck you. It's a good bit that listeners, you can use that anytime you want. Well.

Emma 7:24

Ah,

Sam 7:26

Go on, tell me more.

Emma 7:27

Late on in the song there's a verse, which is, you've got us tearing our hair. Such a bad attitude. Boy, you don't seem to care. We try to lay down the rules, but you were born to refuse. What's the world gonna do with a boy like you? You got a bad attitude. You got a bad attitude." That's sung by Roger Daltrey. And then there's a bit of a call and response with a no. You got it bad. No, you got it bad.

Sam 7:50

Right, so Roger Daltrey pops into play Meat Loaf's dad

Emma 7:54

Yeah, it's kind of like that.

Sam 7:56

Well, I suppose, you know, they would sing similarly, I guess Father and son, and that's why I couldn't tell that he'd come in.

Emma 8:02

It's more obvious in the live version that I've sent you. Okay. Because you can

Sam 8:07

see, because I can see

Emma 8:08

somebody, you can't see Roger Daltrey. He go on tour with them. But you will be able to see another singer. Okay. I think it's one of the guitarists, I'm not sure who actually did the singing on

Sam 8:20

Shall we watch it now then?

Emma 8:23

Yeah.

Sam 8:25

All right. We don't have to.

Emma 8:37

I prefer the live version of the song.

Sam 8:38

Yeah, that was good

Emma 8:39

fun. The album version, it does feel like they sort of hit the everything button on the mixing desk mm-hmm. There's an effect on Meat Loaf's voice and

Sam 8:47

Oh yeah. I totally forgot to mention that

Emma 8:49

this live version comes from a rather lovingly restored concert that's up on YouTube from the Bad Attitude era. And I love all the hair. Yeah. There is every eighties haircut

Sam 9:01

there is.

Emma 9:02

There's a bald man with, uh, massive moustache, a massive moustache. There's the tight perm mullet uhhuh. There's the shaggy mullet. Yeah. The later in it you see the women too, who both have very eighties choppy hair. Yeah. Which is

Sam 9:18

I'm pretty sure I know who those women are, but I'll save that for the next

Emma 9:21

And Meat Loaf himself has this like blown out wave kind of.

Sam 9:26

Oh, he's got it going.

Emma 9:27

From a distance. It's a very pretty girl's hair,

Sam 9:30

It is. Yeah. But it's also the perfect hair to ride a motorbike without a helmet. Yes.

Emma 9:36

Yes.

Sam 9:36

Yeah. billow. bill. Oh, lovely

Emma 9:39

It stood in front of a wind machine, it'd be perfect.

Sam 9:40

Absolutely. Two things I really loved about that live video. One is the whole concert is staged in front of a 20 foot tall motorbike.

Emma 9:48

Yeah.

Sam 9:49

I think is a replica of the one from the front cover of this album. Yeah. This big stupid Harley. I don't know about motorbikes. This big stupid motorbike thing. And then the other was that when Meat Loaf was having the argument with his dad, he started fake chewing gum to show what a badass he was.

Emma 10:06

I have a feeling that it might be real chewing gum. 'cause Meat Loaf did, used to chew quite a lot on stage. I remember that from the first time I went to see

Sam 10:12

What a silly sausage.

Emma 10:13

he would always have. In fact, I think I remember him spitting it into the crowd.

Sam 10:18

Did you catch Meat Loaf's chewing gum? Let us chatoutofhell@gmail.com.

Emma 10:23

When they were doing the big fake argue?

Sam 10:25

Yeah.

Emma 10:26

They were very, in each other's

Sam 10:28

They were, it was almost,

Emma 10:29

I I thought they were gonna kiss.

Sam 10:30

Yeah, yeah. it was So they had the big fake argue with the lyrics. And then there's a bit of an instrumental and they're still giving it in each

Emma 10:37

they're strutting

Sam 10:38

they're strutting at each other, they're writing each f there's quite a common thing of I get it a lot on my algorithms. You probably do as well. Dogs play fighting

Emma 10:47

Yeah. It looks like

Sam 10:48

it looks like that. But of often the cool thing to do on social media is to put it the soundtrack of a man going Dinosuar.

Emma 10:54

Yes.

Sam 10:54

Yes

Emma 10:56

Dhore. I'm quite obsessed with that particular sound clip. Yeah. I love that dinosaur. Ya ra. I've not had one of those for a little while. I really want one.

Sam 11:08

Well, it's all right. The algorithm's listening, Emma. You'll get one now

Emma 11:11

on, algorithm. Give me some dinosaur. Ah,

Sam 11:20

Anyway, Meat Loaf.

Emma 11:22

Dino

Sam 11:27

I enjoyed it. It is very much of the how do we imitate Jim genre. Thinking back, I think Durkee and Jacobs have written quite a lot that were filed under that, heading. So yeah. So what does Jim think of this photocopy of Jim?

Emma 11:43

This again comes from Meat Loaf's autobiography. And he said this was while they were doing some recording and they were both in the same studio. We met in the hall and he said he'd heard Bad Attitude and he said to me, 'it's not bad, it's pretty good'. I said, 'oh, thanks'. He goes, 'you're singing good'. I thanked him again."

Sam 12:04

And then we kissed. Come on. That is two exes passing each other in the street.

Emma 12:10

bit is Jim invites him over to his house and that's how they started talking about doing Bat out of Hell Two. They are the romantic leads. We're rooting for them, but it's never gonna

Sam 12:24

it's never gonna be, oh.

Emma 12:27

I have got some things from the people of the

Sam 12:30

internet. Oh, the people of the internet, they have opinions, do they?

Emma 12:33

This is from the live version that we just watched. Yeah. Moon Pies Double Zero said "the single red glove. The eighties. Cool video." And Yes, Meat Loaf does have a single red glove.

Sam 12:48

Yeah. 'cause they last twice as long that way. Sorry. It's off topic, but speaking of single gloves, do you remember at Michael Jackson's funeral, his brothers all wore one glove in, in tribute?

Emma 13:02

Yeah,

Sam 13:03

but they had alternating gloves, so they clearly got out and bought like four, two pairs and divided them up.

Emma 13:12

Oh that's really stupid. I've got another one. Seven years ago Alpha Tango 5 8 4 1 posted: "I don't think you'll ever read this, but thank you for everything and I'm sorry for what I did. I remember you by this song, this amazing music. Just something else you gave me. Thinking of you. AT."

Sam 13:37

Oh,

Emma 13:38

I know. I just thought I wanted to put it out into the world in case.

Sam 13:43

Oh, in case somebody, if you know Alpha Tango. Let's know, chat out of hell @gmail.com.

Emma 13:49

Yeah.

Sam 13:50

Yeah. What went down? Yeah. Yeah.

Emma 13:52

And that's all I've got from the people of the internet.

Sam 13:55

Fair enough. Emma, we've had a lovely chat about this song. Have, but it's time for us to put some work in now 'cause we have to rate this song on our patented magical, wonderful, all singing, all dancing rock R rebel Meat Loaf song rating scale. Nearly forgot what I was

Emma 14:15

saying. You just got so lost in the

Sam 14:17

moment. I sure did. Just like he did. So our song Rating Scale runs from Michael Lee Aday at the top for his best works to Michael Lee Okay, for okay songs, it's right there in the name all the way down to Michael Lee No Way for when he did a song about women being objects. Emma, what's this? It's fun. It's fun.

Emma 14:40

What do you think?

Sam 14:41

Ah, here's one of the tests. Car playlist.

Emma 14:44

I could see this going on. The

Sam 14:46

It is, it's a good driving song.

Emma 14:48

It's either a top end Okay, or a it's a bottom end Aday if it is

Sam 14:55

Yeah, I think this song is definitely better than the majority of his Steinmanless work. So that means it certifies as a

Emma 15:03

Michael Lee Aday

Sam 15:04

Thank Ding.

Emma 15:12

So some, what have you brought to the table?

Sam 15:15

Emma, I've brought Loaf's title track from the follow-up album. We're skipping ahead two years to the album Blind Before I Stop in 1986.

Emma 15:25

If it's a follow up album, that means that Meat Loaf's had chance to get even better. So I bet this is going to be amazing.

Sam 15:31

Well, let's have a listen now. Go away. You can find it on your YouTubes or your Spotifys. You can find it on the wind let's listen to Blind Before I Stop. Grow up.

Emma 15:51

Never. Oh,

Sam 15:55

Blind Before I Stop 1986. Emma, what do we think?

Emma 16:01

is that about wanking?

Sam 16:04

So I dunno if you remember very early on you were the first of us to bring a track from Blind Before I Stop to the pod. I said, is that album about wanking?

Emma 16:13

And the album's about wanking, isn't it.

Sam 16:14

Yes. The album's about wanking, Emma it's the motherfucking eighties now.

Emma 16:20

Oh,

Sam 16:20

big time. The more I listen to this album, I'm not gonna say I like it. I'm not gonna say I love it. I do enjoy that Meat Loaf said I want to be in Miami Vice. How do I be in Miami Vice? I'm just watching him from a a helicopter shot as he drives down the California highway. He's got the soft top down his long hair's streaming in the wind.

Emma 16:44

He's got a white blazer on.

Sam 16:46

Yes. He's wearing a white suit with a pastel coloured shirt. Yeah. He's got a sexy babe in the car with him. So that was the second single off the album. Released 1987, number 89 in the uk. Yep. No other chart. We've already talked about Rock and Roll Mercenaries off this album. yes, we have. Which is an absolutely atrocious song that we love. I'm gonna file this under the same thing. Yeah.

Emma 17:11

I can get behind that,

Sam 17:12

The album, if you might remember, was produced by Frank Farian. Yes. Who was a German megastar producer. Yeah. And most of the other people performing on the album are German or Scandi session musicians, but crucially, none of them have Wikipedia entries in English. So what you gonna do? Song though, was written by Meat Loaf John Golden and Paul Christie. Right. So, Paul Christie we've talked about, I think last time. He's the guy who does all the art forms. He's a standup comic.

Emma 17:41

Yeah.

Sam 17:43

Slash a man with bills to pay. John Golden, he was the bassist in the Neverland Express at the time. He's done a lot of producing, lot of bassing. But the interesting thing about this song, guitar credit, Peter Weier and Meat Loaf.

Emma 18:00

I think in the live show that we've just watched later on for one of the other songs. I think I've seen him play guitar in that. And I'm fairly sure I remember him playing guitar when I saw him

Sam 18:11

Yeah. I tried to find out how Meat felt about playing guitar. 'Cause he is very rarely credited. I think this is only one or two other songs where he's credited as playing on. Mostly he just sings. But later on when he was releasing Hang Cool Teddy Bear, He did an interview with Ultimate Guitar.

Emma 18:28

Ultimate Guitar uh,

Sam 18:29

And the head of the in interview, he said, "Steven, this is my favourite interview of all time, right here, right now. Ultimate Guitar. Yes. I'm so excited" Meat exclaims over the transatlantic phone line. I thought he was just needling me and said, "well, sarcasm aside" but he was dead serious. And he went on to explain, "this is a really important interview. I'm being really honest with you. I've been saying for the last week, you've got to get me interviews with guitar magazines. I've been saying that, and you should have seen me run across the room when they told me what it was. I'm not being sarcastic. Oh no. You'll know if I'm being sarcastic." And later on, his publicist sent an email confirming that Meat really wanted to talk to guitar magazines. "He's been dying to speak to a guitar magazine slash website. So that timing was awesome." In that interview, he did not talk one bit about his own guitar playing. Hang Cool is of course the guitar album. It's got Brian May on it and Justin Hawkins and a lot of other great guitarists and he's enthusing about them, but he doesn't once mention "I play a bit as well", so I, why, I don't dunno, dunno is the answer to that. This song like I said, not well received Matt Snow of the NME said "this is not a patch on his elephantine Rock and Roll Mercenaries." Imagine a song not a patch on rock and roll mercenaries.

Emma 19:43

I feel like we possibly mentioned that at Rock and Roll Mercenaries. We were dreading listening to the next

Sam 19:50

There are some banger lyrics in this.

Emma 19:52

It's, a

Sam 19:53

fun. in a it we'll skip ahead to the wanking.

Emma 19:56

Yeah let's just straight to the wanking.

Sam 19:58

Straight to the wanking. There is a sustained like middle eight I don't know, musical words. I've only been doing a music podcast for three years. Shut up. It goes, "doing it in the market, doing it in the mall, doing it in the buses, in the high school hall Doing it in the alley. Doing it for free. Now they're doing it baby. On MTV. I'll go blind before I stop. I'll go blind before I stop."

Emma 20:23

Oh no there's more.

Sam 20:24

Oh, there is more. Yeah. "Doing it in the backseat, doing it on the beach, doing it in the grandstand. Just dancing on the seats, doing it in the movies, doing it on the train."

Emma 20:32

Don't do it on a train.

Sam 20:33

"Doing it a mile high in a big jet plane." That's the most tragic place to wank. If he can't join the actual mile high club, w, just have a plane wank. in a big jet plane as well. Not a private jet. He's on a 7 4 7.

Emma 20:50

Oh God. Oh, you don't wanna be sitting next to that, do you? I hope he's at least got the blanket on.

Sam 20:59

Oh dear. That's an awful red eye. Um.

Emma 21:03

It's if it goes in the, anyway. Oh,

Sam 21:06

Oh, Emma, this is a family show. The verses are almost Steinman esque in their levels of lyrical bullshittery. Yes. There's a two tonne fireball burning through the headphones cutting up my head, making ashes of my soul. A lightning bolt petition, tonight I'm gonna sign it, trouble out my window, and I'm gonna find it." A lightning bolt petition.

Emma 21:28

Absolute nonsense.

Sam 21:29

"Moonlight madness. Masquerade. Got my invitation, baby. Time to play. Rip off the headphones, shove my arm into the socket. Sound comes rushing through me like an intravenous rocket."

Emma 21:39

That's not how any of that equipment works.

Sam 21:44

I'll go blind before I stop. They're gonna have to come and lock me up

Emma 21:48

and they will, if you

Sam 21:50

That

Emma 21:50

sort of places, it's a crime. Don't do it. Production wise, it does sound a little bit like Meat Loaf's in his well again.

Sam 21:58

Yeah. Meat isn't happy with the production on this album. It's massively overproduced. He's got very little say, I think in what Frank Farian sticks over the top of it. Yeah. It works as a sort of eighties time capsule retro fun thing I can imagine at the time. It's just a bit, sort of,

Emma 22:16

yeah, a bit nothing.

Sam 22:18

Would you like to do a quiz?

Emma 22:20

Yes.

Sam 22:21

You don't have to do a quiz

Emma 22:22

I like I do have

Sam 22:24

I mean, yeah. It's a really simple question this week, Emma. Okay. Which of these is the link with Mambo Number Five?

Emma 22:30

You're not even trying anymore,

Sam 22:34

Is it a, both songs were produced by the German Megastar producer, Frank Farian, who, if you remember, also produced Boney M and Milli Vanilli. Is it B The Goff sisters, Amy and Elaine, who sang with the Neverland Express, were backing singers on this record and played in the horn section in Lou Bega's Band. Or is it C? There is no link between these two records. Don't be ridiculous. How could there be a link between the 1987 Meat Loaf single Blind before I stop and the 1999 Lou Bega, single Mambo Number Five? Come on.

Emma 23:06

You play these mind games with me, Sam. I'm gonna Go with option A.

Sam 23:11

You think they were both produced by Frank Farian? They could be. So Lou Bega is from Munich, I believe he's German. Okay. Yeah. Should have said that at the top to make it more believable. So it's not a no, but if you were to Google Frank Farian, Lou Bega as I did on the way in really hoping to find that link, you do get some sort of Wiki page that claims Frank Furry and produced it. But it's AI written bullshit, Emma. Like a proper journalist I verified my sources and found that it was made up nonsense. And actually his producer was called Frank something else. So yeah, B or C then. Did the Goff Sisters play horn or am I just playing mind games with you Yeah. I'm just playing mind games with you. Yeah. Did my homework in a hurry last night. Had to take the easy way out.

Emma 23:58

Thought you'd just break Emma's brain. Thanks.

Sam 24:02

Bit of fun. Bit of fun.

Emma 24:04

Harmless bans.

Sam 24:08

Nothing's stopping you picking a nineties dance hall smash and weaving it into every single episode of a series till your brain leaks out of your ears.

Emma 24:17

The amount of effort required is what's stopping me.

Sam 24:21

Would you like to hear what the people on the internet have to say?

Emma 24:23

I would love to.

Sam 24:24

Yorkney Trail Rider, 1751. Speeding. Ticket music. Amazing. Sad loss to the music industry. Sad emoji. Just, to clarify that it is sad. We've got a brief Meat Loaf memory, Meat Loaf memories, Clifton photographer. So rare to find singers like this. You can hear the soul in his song singing to you. That's sort of a lovely thing to say. song, not about a song about wanking. Come on mate. Got to meet him in the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, New Jersey at Sam Goodies and got my CD autographed, to which somebody said, Sam Goodies. Bro, that brings back some memories. was a record store shop. Record store shop at, yeah. Sold record Anyway Mr Five Gold has added this to his list of best Meat Loaf songs. Has he? Because he said, California isn't big enough for me. Los Angeloser, If I Can't Have You, Elvis in Vegas, Like a Rose Living on the Outside. Peace on Earth. Did You Ever Love Somebody? All great songs. Now, I don't know all of those songs, but all them yet, but all the ones on that list that I do know are horseshit

Emma 25:45

California isn't Big Enough. Come on.

Sam 25:48

it but it is,

Emma 25:49

yeah. Yeah.

Sam 25:52

California isn't Big Enough is Blind Before I Stop, after you've run out of patience for pretending you're not talking about dicks. Finally at Adobe Act 2006, 14 years ago, he said, I'm 41 now. Been doing it since I saw those backing singers in 1987. Not blind yet. but don't worry. Two years ago he checked back in 53 now, still not blind.

Emma 26:21

the internet.

Sam 26:24

So should we rate this song Emma? So let's wipe clean the uh the Meat Loaf song scale and remind ourselves of how it runs. Is it a Michael Lee Aday for his very finest work? Is it a Michael Lee Okay, for his all rightest work? Or is it a Michael Lee No Way, get that thing away from me. Could you hear a pub band do it?

Emma 26:51

I want to hear a pub band do it.

Sam 26:53

I was just wondering if that should be our new test.

Emma 26:56

I really wanna hear a pub band do it.

Sam 26:58

Oh, in fact, we've heard ukulele covers of Bat Out of Hell and we do have some talented ukulele players listen to us. Could you please do us a ukulele cover of Blind Before I Stop?

Emma 27:10

That would be incredible. Come on gang. Crack on. Do it.

Sam 27:16

Has that helped us rate this?

Emma 27:18

No.

Sam 27:19

Okay. I do think it sits in the same sort of category as rock and roll. It's probably better than Rock and Roll Mercenaries. 'cause that is very po faced. It's fun and stupid despite its po faceditude. Uh,

Emma 27:30

if anything, that makes it more

Sam 27:31

fun. Yeah. Whereas this is in on the joke, but still stupid. Yeah. So for that, I'm maybe saying Okay.

Emma 27:38

Yeah. I think it's an okay.

Sam 27:39

think Is it Michael Lee? Oh, it's okay. Okay. Okay. Fine. So that was our song this episode. Did you enjoy those songs? Do you dispute our ratings? Well, you can let us know by emailing chat out of hell@gmail.com, like what some of our listeners have done. Emma, let's dive into the mailbag.

Emma 28:01

Yay.

Sam 28:10

Claire Muncaster's, been in touch.

Emma 28:12

Hi Claire.

Sam 28:12

Hi Claire. And she says email loading. Yeah. Sam and Emma. I recently saw a Meat Loaf tribute Paradise Found fronted by Matt Shaw. I think he and his band were better than Celebrating Meat Loaf. Matt was easy on the eye too. I don't know Matt Shaw, but I guess the sound went right through me. It felt fantastic. Who are the best and worst tributes to Meat Loaf that you've seen? Still love the podcast and can't wait for the song, Claire. And yes, for newer listeners, we are ostensibly writing a Jim Steinman style song that we will premiere at the very end of this podcast in another five or so years. Um, we've got plenty of time to get on with that, but yeah. Meat Loaf tributes, parodies, that sort of thing. I don't think I've seen any, we've talked about Steve Steinman. Who we've not been to see him yet. Every now and then I check on his website to see if he's doing his shows nearby.

Emma 29:09

Yeah. I think the only tribute that I've seen that we've both seen was the Meat Loaf by Candlelight.

Sam 29:14

That was fun.

Emma 29:15

It was fun. I think the venue let it down a bit.

Sam 29:19

Yeah,

Emma 29:19

It was the wrong...

Sam 29:21

it was the wrong kind of cathedral.

Emma 29:22

Kind of cathedral. And not enough candles.

Sam 29:26

Not enough candles. But I think that has hit on something good though. good. Interesting. Meat Loaf: theatrical, thinks of himself an actor, musical theatre, blah, blah, blah. The best people to give Meat Loaf tribute performances are people from that world,

Emma 29:40

Yeah. Definitely. They've got the theatrical sensibilities that you need to be a big big daft Meat Loaf.

Sam 29:48

Yeah, a big daft Meat Loaf. And of course the Neverland Express Meat Loaf's own band have continued without Meat. They had Caleb Johnson singing lead for a little while, and actually they I think I learned while I was researching this. That was before Meat died. There was a tour scheduled that Meat wasn't well enough for. And Paul suggested Let's get Caleb Johnson in who they'd all seen on American Another reality star that Meat, wanted to bring into the circle. With Caleb filling in until Meat felt well enough to jump back in wherever they were in the tour.

Emma 30:20

Yeah. In January this year Caleb Johnson departed from the Neverland Express

Sam 30:26

okay.

Emma 30:27

And now it's a rotating set of vocalists. It's either Andrew Polec, who I think did the musical.

Sam 30:33

Yeah, I I wanna say he originated Strat, but I might be wrong.

Emma 30:37

And then Travis Cormier and Sam Pope as well. dunno anything

Sam 30:43

They cool dudes. Cool big

Emma 30:46

voices.

Sam 30:47

We're in trouble if they're not. We have talked occasionally about seeing the Neverland Express. And whenever they've been nearby they have been expensive and we've been a bit broke. But listeners, if you do have recommendations for tribute or Meat Loaf aligned acts, do let us know. Chatoutofhell@gmail.com and that gets us onto another email that we've received. So this is from Kayleigh. This email is called an update also. I still don't what to put in subject lines. Also, Sam please show Emma the Nice Art I've linked in if you can. Thank you.

Emma 31:21

I have seen the nice art that

Sam 31:24

And put what you want in subject Yeah. Hi, Sam and Emma Kayleigh again, since it's been over a year now and I've gained some confidence in emailing people. I thought I'd give you guys some more details of my weird Meat Loaf connection, even though I never met him or went to one of his shows. Also, Sam, this may make you dudes overrun your usual times. Sorry about that. But yes, you are right that seventies music is better than the modern stuff.

Emma 31:47

I don't think that's our entire opinion.

Sam 31:49

No, but I do like the fact that I've clearly called out as the headmaster of this podcast, and I'm the one in charge of the timing.

Emma 31:57

Yeah, you are in charge, Sam. I'm just kind of coasting here.

Sam 32:00

Yeah,

Emma 32:01

I think that's very heavily implied.

Sam 32:03

This is very much a seventies Doctor Who experience. Your job is to scream and ask the obvious questions.

Emma 32:15

Ah,

Sam 32:17

What's that scary monster and is it a scary monster? Yeah. Why? That's a blogulon. Anyway.

Emma 32:23

Oh no, not the blogulon

Sam 32:25

Anyway, back to Kayleigh's email. I mentioned in my last email Meat's body type and I just wanted to clarify that I prefer guys and ladies that are on the Meat in the seventies side of life, they seem nicer, such as Mama Cass, for example. She's very important, but that's a tangent for a different podcast. I've binged all the episodes so far and I'm now on a second listen. We don't recommend that.

Emma 32:44

don't do that.

Sam 32:47

I'm also looking forward to the song you guys write by the end of this podcast. Yeah, Yeah. But in response to an early call of action, so we talked about things Meat Loaf should have covered Uhhuh Kayleigh's suggestions. Werewolves of London.

Emma 33:01

Oh, that could be fun.

Sam 33:02

That would've been fun. Yeah. Yeah. I a spell on you. I could hear him belting that out in quite a scary way. That's a good one. They both fit his spooky gothic vibe and he did cover Johnny B. Goode at least one show in Germany that you can find on YouTube. I will have a look for that. Yeah. Especially in light of what we just talked about with his guitar playing. When I got into Meat Loaf, if I did what I do whenever I get really into any character person and started writing a series with them in. It started out as a Leap of Faith yes, the Steve Martin movie fan fiction as Meat played the bus driver. I don't think we've got that on Film Club recommendations, so I'm popping that in there. And then it just morphed into writing Meat Loaf based fan fiction and developing a fictional band. And Kayleigh has attached artwork of that fictional band.

Emma 33:44

is really good.

Sam 33:44

It's really good artwork. Kayleigh throws in more compliments to us and says, we're great. But yeah. Kayleigh, I, if you wanted to give us a URL l if you wanna share your work with other listeners, we'd be happy to share that out. Absolutely. But this brings us onto a topic which you and I, let's say we have difficulty engaging with. I don't know how to, I think it's really cool, Kayleigh, that you've done this stuff. Yeah. But could never in a million years have done it. We are cynically raised millennials and

Emma 34:18

Yeah. We were like formed in the

Sam 34:23

nineties. Yeah, When things is not cool. No.

Emma 34:28

Was all very cynical and

Sam 34:30

let alone liking things enough to make more of the thing.

Emma 34:33

And yet that's a really healthy, lovely thing to do. I'm a big fan of enthusiasm. Yeah. Now that I'm in my forties. Exactly. But But as a teen and 20 something to be seen, to be into something was not done unless it was ultra cool, depressing indie music

Sam 34:50

well, yeah, because the way to be into ultra cool, indie music is to sit there and stare at your shoes. Yes. Even this podcast, which is some people might call it a fan podcast, and that makes me go, oh, but it sort of is, but at the same time, we feel an obligation to be silly and to not entirely take our subject matter seriously a lot of the time. And that probably says something about us oh no. Sorry, Emma.

Emma 35:18

My therapist bill's gonna go up again.

Sam 35:21

Yeah.

Emma 35:22

Yeah, we're horrible and cynical,

Sam 35:24

So the word fandom, way. Society made us this way. Definitely. It's not us. We could not put in any effort to change. People can't change. That's proven. I was just gonna say the word fandom itself always makes me do a little shudder, and that's not at all fair.

Emma 35:43

I remember being really into things. Mm-hmm. But being super quiet about it.

Sam 35:49

Yeah.

Emma 35:50

And I would find it embarrassing when my enthusiasm bubbled over.

Sam 35:53

Yes.

Emma 35:54

'Cause I was when I was a teenager I was really into a few comedians but I was also still quite like, sort of sonic the hedgehog type stuff. And that wasn't cool. That was, I mean, I think it's cool as fuck now.

Sam 36:10

obviously he's cool. He runs really fast and is blue

Emma 36:12

Yeah. And he's like a blue hedgehog and he has all these animal friends and they're really cute. And And as, as I've got older, I realise it is actually fine to like the things that you like.

Sam 36:22

Yeah.

Emma 36:23

And I feel like my house has become a museum to that.

Sam 36:28

Absolutely. Emma's house, which we're recording in today, is stuffed with cool artwork models. toys. yeah. Expressions of your personality.

Emma 36:40

Yeah.

Sam 36:42

And that's why I hate coming here.

Emma 36:46

ow that cut deep.

Sam 36:49

See incapable of sincerity.

Emma 36:52

Yeah. Yeah. Because you've not done the work, have you?

Sam 36:54

No, I haven't done the work. I've done. a lot of the work.

Emma 36:55

work. I

Sam 36:56

done the work? Yeah.

Emma 36:57

is why I'm fine with my plush toys.

Sam 37:00

nice that you've got me as a control experiment. Anyway thank you Kayleigh, for sending that in and we genuinely would be interested to know about. Fandom. Yeah. I'm using the word again. I don't like to say it.

Emma 37:18

It's okay.

Sam 37:19

do you know what? do You know what, word I hate hurt you. Do you know what term I hate, Emma?

Emma 37:22

Go on

Sam 37:22

Friendship group

Emma 37:26

but we've got a lovely friendship

Sam 37:28

off. What we have is a circle of friends. Friendship group. It's so clinical, it's like you've all met up to swap cards and then go home again. I'd like to bring my quarterly earnings report to the friendship group. Yeah, I'll put that on the agenda.

Emma 37:48

So we have a circle of friends, not

Sam 37:51

Anyway, I've done it again. Meat Loaf fan stuff. Please do let us know 'cause we are slightly disconnected from that world and it would be interesting to know what other people who like Meat Loaf are up to. So drop us emails, chatoutofhell@gmail.com. Or you could use that email to let us know what you think about our songs for next time. And as I said at the top of the episode, next time we are gonna dedicate both songs to Bonnie Tyler, who we lost recently. But avid listeners will have noted that a Bonnie Tyler song tends to pop up in our rotation after we've been a bit put off by what Jim and Meat have been up to. So we pop a couple of songs in and they might also have noticed that there's only a couple of Jim written Bonnie songs that we haven't yet covered. So as part of our Bonnie Tyler tribute special, we are gonna lift our self-imposed rule and we are gonna cover songs performed by Bonnie Tyler that weren't written by Jim Steinman, but don't worry, they were still produced by Jim. It's fine. So Emma, what song are you gonna bring?

Emma 38:55

I'm going to bring, If you Were a Woman and I was a Man written by Desmond Child,

Sam 39:01

And I'll be bringing Band of Gold from the same album. So that's Band of Gold, as in the song made famous by Freda Payne. Yeah. You all remember who Freeda Payne is? You'll know when you hear it. It's a brilliant Motown song. Let us know what you think about those. Drop us an email to chatoutofhell@gmail.com Suggest any other Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman, Bonnie Tyler songs to put in our rotation. Give us five stars on your podcast listening app of choice. Recommend us when you're out for a walk in the lovely sunny weather. Just go up to the ice cream man and say hi. I'd like an ice cream. And also listen to chat out of hell at Gmail. Get the ice cream man to play Chat out of Hell through instead of the jingly jangly tune bow now. No, No. Ding. That could be the signal for ice cream now. Yeah. Are you an ice cream man? Let us know. Chat out of hell@gmail.com. Keep your Bonnie Tyler thoughts and anecdotes flying in for our special next week. Perhaps you saw her propping up the bar at the Crown and Anchor and getting a round in for everyone in the pub. That definitely happened a lot. Let us know. Chat out of hell@gmail.com. Any other business, Emma? No other business. Okay, well in that case, we'll see you next time. Not on chat Out of hell, but on total eclipse of the chats. Oh,

Emma 40:18

Oh, no I'm kind of here for it.

Sam 40:23

I got See you all in two more weeks time. Bye Bow.

Emma 40:34

Ding.