Ian Anderson’s opinion on Meat Loaf

One of the most influential Progressive Rock musicians of all time, Ian Anderson is the leader, singer, and main songwriter of Jethro Tull, one of the most important bands in Progressive Rock.

Although he was crucial to the evolution of the genre, he was influenced by many different kinds of music. He has praised many artists that fans would never expect him to be a big fan of.

Ian Anderson’s opinion on Meat Loaf

One of them was the late American singer Meat Loaf, known for albums like “Bat Out of Hell” (1977), which was his debut with songs written by Jim Steinman. Besides the title-track, that concept album had songs like “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” and “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”. To this day is one of the best-selling albums of all time. It sold an estimated amount of more than 43 million copies worldwide.

But Ian Anderson told The Quietus in 2013, that the sequel is one of his favorite albums of all time. He listed “Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell” (1993) as one of his favorite records. But he also noted that at first he was not a fan of the singer Meat Loaf.

“Ever since I’d been aware of Mr Meat I’d not been a fan at all. I thought he was bombastic, loud, churlish, arrogant. There was nothing about him that appealed to me, including his overtly showbizzy operatic voice. I’d never been a fan, until I was desperate for a track for some radio show I was doing. I needed to find an example of storytelling.”

“I was looking for examples of people who told authentic observational tales, and I was stuck. Then my wife called to me from the other side of the office saying, ‘life is a lemon and I want my money back’. I said I was terribly sorry to hear this. She said, ‘no, the Meat Loaf song, ‘Life Is A Lemon (And I Want My Money Back)’, although Jim Steinman actually wrote the song.”

Ian Anderson continued:

“So I found the song and became, if not a Meat Loaf addict, at least someone who had established a degree of reverence for both Meat Loaf at his best and the lyrical and musical writing of Jim Steinman. I think it’s a great song, and it just happens to be on this album. I’m not saying I enjoy the whole album or most of Meat Loaf’s work, but that is a very good track.”

“As soon as I heard it I told my wife, ‘damn, I wish I’d written that,’ which is probably the biggest compliment anyone in my position can pay to somebody else. In fact, I think that should be the epitaph on my gravestone,” Ian Anderson said.

“Bat Out of Hell” sequels

Like the first record, the sequel was also written by Jim Steinman and was quite successful again. With songs like “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” and “Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back”, the record sold an estimated amount of more than 14 million records worldwide.

A third sequel would be released 13 years later, in 2006. However, this time Jim Steinman wrote and co-wrote only a few songs. The record was produced by the successful songwriter Desmond Child, who also wco-wrote a few songs. Were also credited as songwriters artists like John 5, Nikki Sixx, Diane Warren, Holly Knight, Marti Frederiksen and Russ Irwin.

The record was subject to a legal dispute between Loaf and Steinman. The songwriter had registered “Bat Out of Hell” as a trademark. He attempted to prevent the album from using the name. But in the end, seven songs Steinman wrote for other projects were included. The record failed to reach the success of its predecessors. For example, it sold an estimated amount of more than 500.000 copies in the United States.