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| re: Jim Is In The New Issue Of Classic Rock | |
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Dr_Rock 03:24 pm UTC 03/26/10 |
| In reply to: | Jim Is In The New Issue Of Classic Rock - steven_stuart 11:05 pm UTC 03/22/10 |
| Thanks for this. You can post in a civilised and adult when when you really want to. Just to clarify this article doesn't actually appear in the printed magazine. It is on the website only. > Jim is in the new issue of Classic Rock Magazine, as one > of their series on Cult Heroes. > > How exciting. This is more proof that Jim could be made > very famous in the UK with the right publicist. > > Cult Heroes No. 7: Jim Steinman > > In the latest of Classic Rock’s ongoing series, Dave Ling > explores the strange world of Jim Steinman – the man, the > myth, the legend… the menu! And if you wanna check out all > of the Cult Heroes we’ve written about so far, you can > find them here. > > Words: Dave Ling > > As the man who wrote all the music and words for Meat > Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell album – with worldwide sales of 43 > million and counting – Jim Steinman should need no > introduction. And yet, in contrast to the array of artists > that he helped to make famous, the 62-year-old New Yorker > is something of a recluse. Consequently, many of the > stories about the flamboyant Steinman are quite likely to > have been exaggerated. > > One that is often recounted – namely that Steinman loves > to order the entire menu of the restaurants that he > visits, taking a tiny bite from each course – was later > confirmed to me by someone who actually saw it happen. > Furthermore, said individual revealed that Steinman, just > like a member of the Royal Family, sometimes conveniently > ‘forgets’ to bring his wallet, leaving it to another diner > to pick up the tab! > > Steinman is also known to be nocturnal. “People often > wonder if I’m a vampire, because I usually sleep during > the day,” he once told an interviewer. “My nickname is > P.O.D. which stands for Prince Of Darkness.” > > As one of life’s genuine rule-breakers, we have come to > expect such flagrant unpredictability of the man who Todd > Rundgren, the producer of Bat Out Of Hell, calls: “The > only genuine genius I’ve ever worked with.” > > And quite rightly so. From the stark-staring mad monologue > of Love And Death And An American Guitar (‘I took my > guitar and I smashed it against the wall/I smashed it > against the floor/I smashed it against the body of a > varsity cheerleader’) to the wordiness of Objects In The > Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are, a > Steinman composition tends to be recognisable within the > first few bars. > > Jim’s career began in the theatrical world, his musical > direction having solidified as 12-year-old following a > 21-hour session that paired Wagner’s The Ring Of The > Nibelungen with a blast of Jerry Lee Lewis. “I just went, > ‘Wow! These things go together!’” he recalled to Sandy > Robertson of Sounds magazine in 1981, adding: “I used to > listen all the time to rock’n'roll and classical (music); > it never occurred to me that there was much difference.” > > Having met Meat Loaf whilst touring the National Lampoon > Road Show in 1977, Steinman began to lay plans for the > album that became Bat Out Of Hell. Luckily, he had a thick > skin." > > I think it was turned down by 18 record companies and 10 > to 12 producers,” Jim later recalled. “Bob Ezrin was my > first choice (as producer) but I couldn’t even get his > phone number.” > > The eventual success of Bat Out Of Hell served as the > ultimate textbook validation of Jim and Meat’s belief in > the project. Sadly, however, the pair would later fall > out. It took them until 1993 to release a sequel. However, > Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell reached No.1 in 28 > countries, selling more than 15 million copies. > > By the time of 2006 and Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster > Is Loose, Meat and Jim were feuding so badly that Steinman > – who had registered a trademark for the name Bat Out Of > Hell – tried to prevent the album’s release after it was > produced by Desmond Child. All seven of the Steinman > compositions that it featured had been written for other > projects. The matter of the album’s title was eventually > settled out of court. > > The man who the L.A. Times once called ‘the Richard Wagner > of rock’, Steinman has now served up hits for artists as > diverse as Bonnie Tyler, Barbra Streisand, Air Supply, The > Everly Brothers, Sisters Of Mercy, Celine Dion, The Opera > Babes, Barry Manilow and even Boyzone. Clearly, he still > has the golden touch. > > But things haven’t always gone entirely to plan. In 1984, > Steinman was hired to produce the follow-up to Def > Leppard’s Pyromania album. The arrangement was abruptly > terminated, neither side speaking fondly of the other. > > “When I arrived, Leppard had no guitar amps and they > didn’t know where to get them,” Steinman would recall of > the sessions, later picked up again by Robert John ‘Mutt’ > Lange and released as Hysteria. “They’d look at you like > these little puppies, ‘Oooh, what are we going to do? We > thought you’d have them…’” > > Perhaps in keeping with the aforementioned ‘everything on > the menu’ story, Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott dryly > responded: “All that Jim Steinman knew about the studio > was that he didn’t like the colour of the carpet.” The > results of the recordings, assuming they even got that > far, remain under lock and key. > > What’s frustrating is that aside from all of his many > collaborations, Steinman has released just one bona fide > solo album, 1981’s Bad For Good – a set of tunes > originally lined up as a second Meat Loaf record… until > Meat lost his voice, reportedly recapturing it after a > doctor prescribed the miracle cure of injections made from > his own urine. Issued eight years after Bad For Good, the > conceptual Original Sin album was the product of an > alliance with the all-girl band Pandora’s Box. It was > described at the time by Classic Rock’s own Malcolm Dome > as follows: ‘Sheer genius. Baroque eroticism. The > Shangri-Las invoked by the spirit of Ken Russell and Lord > Byron.’ > > As an intended companion piece of Bat…, Bad For Good in > particular remains an especially underrated album, full of > fabulously overblown songs such as Lost Boys And Golden > Girls, Stark Raving Love and Out Of The Frying Pan And > Into The Fire that would have perfectly suited the Loaf’s > inimitable delivery. Indeed, somewhat controversially, > Steinman later claimed that he had to tutor Meat how to > sing the songs on Bat Out Of Hell. > > Since 2004, various reports indicate that Steinman > suffered a stroke, a heart attack or even multiple > strokes, but nobody knows for sure. For what it’s worth > his lawyer has gone on record as stating that Jim’s health > is ‘excellent’. > > Steinman’s roots gradually drew him away from rock’n'roll > and back to theatrical and cinematic endeavours. His film > music includes Footloose, Streets Of Fire, The Shadow and > Mask Of Zorro, and he also wrote the score for Tanz Der > Vampire, a 1997 musical staged by Roman Polanski, and in > 2003 was involved in an MTV production of Wuthering > Heights. > > Songs from Steinman’s ‘music performance group’ The Dream > Engine still can be heard at a MySpace site– click here – > which remains online although the project has been > inactive since 2006. > > Jim has also spoken of a theatrical show based on the > songs from Bat Out Of Hell, which he called “like Cirque > Du Soleil on acid”. > > In the meantime, a wealth of information can be found at > the following website: www.jimsteinman.com > > Steinman also has a blog – though it has not been updated > since September 7, 2008. > > > | |
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