Meat Loaf biography
Bat Out of Hell has sold over 43 million copies worldwide, making it one of the highest selling albums of all time. In the UK alone, its 2.1 million sales put it in 38th place. Despite peaking at #9 and spending only two weeks in the top ten in 1981, it has now clocked up 474 weeks on the UK album chart, a figure bettered only by Rumours by Fleetwood Mac - 478 weeks. In Australia, it knocked the Bee Gees off the number #1 spot and went on to become the biggest-selling Australian album of all time for several years. It is now second on the list. Bat Out of Hell is also one of only two albums that has never exited the Top 200 in the UK charts; this makes it the longest stay in any music chart in the world, although the published chart contains just 75 positions.
Life after Bat Out of Hell
In 1976, Meat Loaf appeared in the short-lived Broadway production of the rock musical
Rockabye Hamlet. In 1980, he started working on
Dead Ringer. Steinman wrote all of the songs, but had little else to do with the album. The tour they planned, to support the album, was cancelled after one show, because they ran out of the money that the studio advanced them. Sonnenberg also convinced CBS to advance more money for the making of the movie
Dead Ringer, which was shown at the Toronto Film Festival and won some favorable reviews, but was poorly considered after Sonnenberg re-edited the movie.
On December 5, 1981, Meat Loaf and the Neverland Express were the musical guests for Saturday Night Live where he was reunited with fellow Rocky Horror Picture Show alum Tim Curry. Curry and Meat Loaf teamed up in a skit depicting a One-Stop Rocky Horror Shop. Later, Tim Curry performed "The Zucchini Song" and Meat Loaf & The Neverland Express performed "Bat Out of Hell" and "Promised Land." In 1983, he released the self written Midnight at the Lost and Found. Meat Loaf, a poor songwriter by his own admission, did not care for the songs he wrote for the album.
In 1984, Meat Loaf went to England, to record the album Bad Attitude, which included a duet with Roger Daltrey and two songs written by Jim Steinman; the recording of the album was rushed. During the tour to support the album, Leslie (Meat Loaf's girlfriend) had a nervous breakdown and had to check into the Silver Hill Hospital rehab facility in Connecticut. Things finally looked like they were going to turn around in 1986, when Meat Loaf found a new writer, John Parr, and started recording a new album, Blind Before I Stop. Unfortunately, the producer put a dance beat underneath every song, which resulted in critical failure and Meat Loaf going bankrupt, eventually losing everything. His relationships with lifelong friend Jim Steinman and Leslie also deteriorated. In 1985, Meat Loaf did some comedy sketches in England with Hugh Laurie. At some point, Meat Loaf tried stand-up comedy, appearing several times in Connecticut.
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