{{ One }} Though my introduction to Meat Loaf was a “1993’s Top 10 Hits” compilation CD containing the radio edit of I Would Do Anything For Love (perhaps his most iconic hit), the song that would forever shape my fandom was Good Girls Go To Heaven, Bad Girls Go Everywhere. I was introduced to that one several years later in my dad’s beloved Ford Probe as he drove me from dance class to pick up some PopEye’s. In the months that followed, I would regularly swipe the Bat Out Of Hell II CD from his car late at night just to listen to that song — no doubt raping the “back” button when it was over — and carefully returning it to the CD folio in the car an hour or two later. He never found out.

To this day, seldom do I hear such a truthful refrain to any song:

Good girls/boys go to heaven, bad girls/boys go everywhere…

{{ Two }} People have told me in the past I could easily become the Siskel and Ebert of music. The truth is, however, that 1) I don’t write reviews, 2) never once have I been sold on any artistic work based on a review, and 3) I have such little regard for showbusiness, especially of the “mainstream” variety. Like another great renaissance man, Richard Harris, who preceded Meat Loaf in death almost 20 years ago once quipped, I am “a part of the business, but also apart from it.”

As such, to see a renegade in this trade has always been refreshing. Meat Loaf won me over with his personality in addition to his music when I discovered the following personal quote of his:

“I never fit in. I am a true alternative. And I love being the outcast. That’s my role in life, to be an outcast.”

No proof of this comment’s genuinity was necessary on his part. His signature sound — literally the Gesamtkunstwerk of the modern-day music industry — was all the proof I needed, as was this other quote that never failed to evoke sharp crescendos of laughter (in large part because of how much of myself I found in the statement):

“The day that I ever become hip,” he said, “please shoot me and put me outta my misery!”

{{ Three }} Though most fans cite I Would Do Anything For Love as his most powerful work, I’ve long maintained that only his signature sound could compellingly pull off a narrative so trite. Instead, my anima found immediate alliances with his numerous power ballads and rock opera epics delineating social isolation, personal insecurities, and a bellicose spirit. Many of my favorite verses come from his less-talked-about tracks:

On too many wasted years:
I’ve been whispering softly, trying to build a cry up to a scream
We let the past slip away, and put the future on hold
Now the present is nothing but a hollowed out dream
~ Read ‘Em And Weep

On rugged individualism:
There are winners and outlaws
And leaders and lovers
Behind every man in the news
And one thing I know is behind everyone
There’s a boy who had nothing to lose
Behind every man who has somethin’ to say
There’s a boy who had nothing to prove
Every hero was once
Every villain was once
Just a boy with a bad attitude
~ Bad Attitude

On misrepresented identity by “the system”:
What’s the meaning of life, what’s the meaning of it all?
You’ve gotta learn to dance before you learn to crawl!

…

They’ve got a file on me and it’s a mile long
And they say that they’ve got all of the proof
That I’m just another case of arrested development
And just another wasted youth
They say that I’m in need of some irradical discipline
They say I’ve got to face the truth
That I’m just another case of arrested development
And just another wasted youth

They say I’m wild and I’m reckless
I should be acting my age
I’m in impressionable child in a tumultuous world
And they say I’m at a difficult stage

But it seems to me to the contrary
Of all the crap they’re gonna put on the page
That a wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age…
~ Everything Louder Than Everything Else

On the wounded inner child:
It’s not enough to make the nightmares go away
It’s not enough to make the tears run dry
It’s not enough to live a little better everyday
Everything that they taught us was nothing but lies
~ Original Sin

On Revenge:
I’ve walked a slippery road
With revenge in my soul
Through the wind and the cold
With no protection
Just one direction
Destruction

I’ve paid for all my mistakes
Taking all I can take
Until I’m ready to break
Life can be vicious
And so outrageous
It breaks us

I’m bleeding
Still breathing
I’m tearing through these chains

The monster’s loose
And as you know the truth…
~ The Monster Is Loose

On big government (from big gov’s perspective):
How do they sleep?
Their lives are so tawdry
We’re the trash collectors
‘Cause they’re nothing but trash

What do you expect?
They’ve got no standards
So we lower the bar
‘Cause they’re perfect for us

We’ll open up Pandora’s Box
Pandora gave her keys and locks

They’re the victims waiting for their mugger
Come to the confessional
So I can tell you all that bugger off
~ In the Land of the Pig, The Butcher Is King

On the strain of not feeling a part of society:
Everybody’s got someone they don’t want to be
You don’t want to be you, I don’t want to be me
Everybody’s got a plan, everybody’s got a dream
I ain’t got nothing, I just want to be free
~ Prize Fight Lover

On betrayal:
Next time you stab me in the back, you better do it to my face
~ Love Is Not Real

Of course, the subject matter I have assigned to each verse is not absolute. Meat Loaf himself never divulged any personal ponderings as to what his songs were really about. He maintained to his audience that each album was your album, and that each individual was free to apply each word to their own lives as they felt right.

{{ Four }} There have been phases, and there have been one-offs. As very few things can maintain an image of authenticity and relatability over a period of many years, much of my entertainment ingestion never makes it past the “phase” stage. Any pneuma that remains on the same wavelength as my own — through all the ebbs and flows, droughts and storms — is something I treasure and guard with an almost possessive attention. It is mine and always will be mine.

{{ Five }} Normally, anyone who shows the slightest sign that they fancy themselves a fan of the same caliber would be met with unforgiving recoil. Today, however, that chain has been cut, unraveled, and cast aside in favor of a verse I know “Meat” would much sooner approve:

We’re crusaders of the heart
And going all the way is just of the start

Say a prayer
Say a prayer

Going all the way is just the start
Make us braver than we are…
~ Going All The Way Is Just The Start (A Song In 6 Movements)

{{ Six }} Cyclonic tenderness,
Steel-textured back beats
Inside an unforgiving ether
Symphonic thunder
And bombastic tides

A raw passion whose intensity mirrored my own… that alone is an impossible feat, but apparently not for Michael Lee Aday, affectionately known as Meat Loaf… a delivery of sound and aura… that understood my chronically tormented soul.

Until we meet again, myself a “sinner before the gates of Heaven,” and you among the angels with guitars even before they had wings, Godspeed, Meat Loaf… or should I say hang cool, teddy bear?! You will be missed!