They just KNEW people were going to ask about this
Steinman recorded an album himself.
Titled Bad For Good, it contained songs written for the followup album to Bat Out of Hell. Meat Loaf had lost his voice and was unable to sing. Steinman couldn’t bear the idea of his music going unheard, so he recorded the lead vocals himself on all but three of the songs. Meat Loaf eventually covered some of the songs on subsequent albums.
Get vaccinated?
God’s having Meat Loaf tonight. 
May he find Paradise by the dashboard light, or any other means.
I saw him in the Great Lakes production of Hair but at that time didn’t even know the name. I still have the playbill and can look up the date. I saw the play in Detroit.
On the old Cecil Adams Usenet group one of the regulars named Boron was in that production and sang with him. She emailed me a photo of her singing on stage. I joked that I must have seen her nude from afar. She claimed she wasn’t on that night…
I remember him telling that when he was buying airline tickets and the woman at the counter would not accept Meat Loaf as a name. She listed him as Mister M Loaf. Rest in peace, Mister Loaf.
The song states six things that he won’t do.
(skip to 2:27 if you don’t want to listen to the intro.)
I told a very abbreviated version of this story many years ago here on the Dope, but the occasion of Meat’s death warrants a full telling, I reckon.
A long time ago I lived in Tallahassee, Florida. I was the only working, full-time freelance stagehand in the entire city so I worked at a lot of different places. One of those places was The Moon (formerly The Musical Moon (formerly a Winn-Dixie grocery store)), where I did the lighting.
Sometime in the early '90s, we had Meat Loaf performing. This was before BooH2; I remember we were all kind of stunned that the place had sold out for a guy who hadn’t really been on the radar for years.
I showed up at about 8am and helped clear the stage, moved some of the lights, etc. About 10am the band showed up and loaded in. They did a brief soundcheck then went for lunch and to chill; the 3 of us that worked for the venue kept working during the afternoon. I had lights to hang and focus, the two audio guys had monitors to set up and tweak, etc. Final soundcheck was gonna happen in the late afternoon/early evening.
At some point I finished my work and went into the production office, which was right next to the backstage loading door, to sit down, eat some food and watch some college basketball (I was a big fan of basketball, in all forms and at all levels, back in the day). Chuck and Spanky, the two audio guys are still working on the mains and the monitors, respectively, so I have the office all to myself. Of course, I pull out some weed and start breaking it up and rolling a joint.
As I’m twisting the spliff, a guy knocks and sticks his head in the door. Short hair, no beard. I’ve got the joint in my mouth, giving it the final wet seal as I turn to see who it is but before I can say anything, he see the basketball game and asks “who’s playing?” We start talking basketball and watching the game; he comes fully into the room. He’s a big guy but pretty trim, wearing jeans and one of those mesh football jersey-type shirts. Before long he’s also fully into the game; I offer him the joint but he just says “no thanks”. No problem; more for me, right?
We watched at least a full quarter of the game, him just standing inside the door and me seated at the desk, stoned like bejeebus. Great conversation; he’s obviously a real sports fan. The audio system, meanwhile is making more and more noise so it’s harder to hear the TV, which keeps him moving into the room so he can hear the play-by-play better.
After a half hour or so, we’re well into the game, having ourselves a great time when some other guy who I recognize from the morning load-in sticks his head in the door and says “Hey Meat; we’re ready for you”. 
“Ok man; I gotta go they’re ready for me.”
“Right on; break a leg.”
Aye: my new basketball buddy was Meat Loaf. He’d lost weight and cut his hair off; I didn’t recognize him at all.
He proceeded to rip the fucking roof off the venue that night. Absolutely an arena-sized performance in a small 2,000 person theatre. I saw/worked for him 2 or 3 times after that and every time his performances were that same over-the-top can’t-look-away gotta-hear-it caliber.
An iconic performer, like no one else ever.
RIP Meat; thanks for the memories.
So it’s a tie with this guy?
It’s right there in the lyrics. Something about a sheep.
“But I’ll never stop dreaming of a ewe, every night of my life.”
Thanks for sharing that, Bo.
Seconded.
This one hurts. Bat Out of Hell is one of my favourite albums. Back in the day I played the heck out of the vinyl. The soundtrack for the Rocky Horror Picture Show is another favourite, which of course features Meatloaf.
RIP.
I also saw him perform live, before his BOOH2 renaissance, at the Hampton Casino in Hampton Beach, NH. He blew the doors off there, too, as he did everywhere, I imagine. What an incredible voice. I posted somewhere else that he was like the male, 1970s Adele 
RIP
I first heard of Meat Loaf a bit before BooH was released, pretty much by accident. I was in HS, and my dad was up at the local college (northern NJ) one evening for some reason. There was a concert going on and the doors were open so he ducked in to see what was going on. The next day he described this overweight, sweaty guy performing these theatrical songs and killing it - the crowd was going nuts, but no one really knew who he was, and at the time, there was noting really like it. A few weeks later he was everywhere.
Years later, I got to see him on Cape Cod one summer and he really put on a show - even though it wasn’t the kind of music I favored, it was clear we were seeing someone special.
I think this was discussed in another thread, but does anyone else remember alternate local versions of Paradise, where the baseball PBP part was done by the local guy? I mostly heard Phil Rizzuto in metro NY, but on the Cape radio, that part was done by the Red Sox announcer (Ned Martin?).
RIP, Mr. Loaf
In college, I went to visit my buddy at his school. Unfortunately, he was the Fri night DJ on the school radio station. Don’t want to hang out at his dorm w/o him because I don’t know anyone else on the floor & after about 15 mins at the studio it’s kinda boring. However, Meat Loaf was playing on campus that night. We rig up something & for the first time, they have on the spot reporting. Got to go backstage & interview him (for about 30 sec) after the show. It started, “Mr. Loaf…” 
Asked him what he thought of the crowd/venue, which turned into a promo that was still being played when he graduated.
I do remember there was some tension because the backup singer thought he was getting hands with her in Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
Christopher Lee introducing him on SNL. It’s charming.
Great thread title; needed to hear the song again…
( RIP. Or… you kick their asses… )
And now it’s being said in the tabloids that he was a vaccine refuser who died of Covid.
If true, it wasn’t his first poor life choice. But I’ll still remember him fondly.
That’s a rather tasteless joke!