# "Bat out of Hell"... what's it about?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 4, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938 "2005-01-04T02:05:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/1 "2005-01-04T02:05:08Z")
My liner notes say only that the album started out as a rock opera about Peter Pan called “Neverland.” Is it still considered a rock opera in its current form? If so, what is the storyline? Who are the major characters and in which songs do they appear?
Not exactly an earth-shattering question, but I’ve been wondering.
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### Author:  [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/2 "2005-01-04T02:08:58Z")
Just wondering, are you referring to the song Meat Loaf sang or is this a different one?
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/3 "2005-01-04T02:18:09Z")
> [@SlickRoenick](#):
>
> Just wondering, are you referring to the song Meat Loaf sang or is this a different one?
I thought at first he meant the song, but I believe, upon reading his post, that he means the entire album.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/4 "2005-01-04T14:32:14Z")
Mostly, it’s about sex, which means it’s about sex with Meatloaf and, therefore, not to be contemplated very deeply if at all. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/5 "2005-01-04T14:36:17Z")
If there’s a serious answer to the OP, I’d be interested in it. For over 20 years, I’ve been seeing this referred to as a “concept album”, but I’ll be damned if I’ve ever understood what the “concept” is.
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### Author:  [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/6 "2005-01-04T14:52:41Z")
**dropzone** is pretty close, without knowing it.
The title for the rock opera, as far as I’ve ver heard, never made it past “Neverlasnd Concept” - a kind of working title for the production. Steinman wanted to write an off-Broadway-ish production about, well, sex and drugs and rock’n’roll. But mostly about sex and rock’n’roll. His [website](http://www.jimsteinman.com/) touches on this briefly, but you gotta go look for it.
Incidently, Steinman’s solo album, _Bad For Good_ was intended to be a follow-up to _BOOH_, but Meat Loaf bailed on the project because he really messed up his voice. So Steinman took a lot of the same musicians in to the studio and recorded it himself.
Furthermore, Steinman …
Ow! Quit hitting me!
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### Author:  [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/7 "2005-01-04T15:11:48Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#):
>
> Incidently, Steinman’s solo album, _Bad For Good_ was intended to be a follow-up to _BOOH_, but Meat Loaf bailed on the project because he really messed up his voice. So Steinman took a lot of the same musicians in to the studio and recorded it himself.
>
> Furthermore, Steinman …
> Ow! Quit hitting me!
Furthermore, Meatloaf later recorded at least three of the songs from “Bad for Good” on the Bat Out of Hell II album. Which is good, because Steinman just doesn’t have the voice to do justice to his bombastic, rock opera writing style.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/8 "2005-01-04T16:03:07Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#):
>
> **dropzone** is pretty close, without knowing it.
Harumph! Contrary to the claims of some, including me, there are times when I actually do know what I’m talking about and the message of BOOH is pretty darned straightforward. (crossing my arms and snorting in feigned annoyance)
I love that album because it is the only one that captures what it is like to be a teenaged guy and it captures that maelstrom of hormones and desires. Others have touched on it briefly in their lyriics, as Eric Burdon did in _When I Was Young,_ “When I was young it was more important, pain more painful, laughter much louder,” and much of the louder punk and metal put the chaotic feelings into sound but their lyrics are too angry. Meatloaf isn’t angry; he’s horny.
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### Author:  [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/9 "2005-01-04T16:32:15Z")
Well, OK, but if the concept is “Rock Singer wanting to get laid”, isn’t pretty much every rock album a concept album?
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/10 "2005-01-04T17:58:14Z")
Well, yes, but what I meant to say was that the _character he was playing_ was horny and not angry, like a heavy metal kid, or introspective, like some folkie. Since that character is a teenaged boy it is safe to say that “teenaged boy wants to get laid” is a massive DUH! but most pretentious songwriters try to find something deeper than that while Steinman, who is as pretentious as anybody, still knows that there is no depth there, that the boy’s whole being is in that crackling electricity on his surface.
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### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/11 "2005-01-04T18:51:58Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#):
>
> Furthermore, Steinman …
> Ow! Quit hitting me!
Oh well…two outa three aint bad.
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### Author:  [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/12 "2005-01-04T21:09:55Z")
> [@vetbridge](#):
>
> Oh well…two outa three aint bad.
Dork!
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### Author:  [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/13 "2005-01-04T21:59:40Z")
OK, after all these years, I guess the mystery is solved. Wish I’d figured it out at the time.
Oh well, it was long ago, and it was far away, and it was so much better than it is today.
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### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/14 "2005-01-04T22:49:18Z")
It’s a musical journey.
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/15 "2005-01-05T16:57:23Z")
Hm, interesting replies folks, thanks for your thoughts. Not quite the revelation I hoped to receive but… we are talking about Meat Loaf after all. 😃
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### Author:  [@Pandora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandora)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bat-out-of-hell-whats-it-about/282938/16 "2005-01-05T19:30:54Z")
Meatloaf did a VH1 behind the Music special, and did talk somewhat about Steinman’s whole “Peter Pan”/Neverland thing… It sounded like it never left the “concept phase” as an actual rock opera, but is still an underlying theme in the songs Steinman writes.
Apparently, he’s a teenage boy who never grew up, and consequently really really wants to get laid 🙂