RIP Jim Steinman

I just saw that the king of bombastic, theatrical songwriting has passed away.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bat-out-of-hell-total-eclipse-songwriter-and-producer-jim-steinman-dead-at-73-195451294.html

I normally hate that style of songwriting (witness my total disdain for Nightwish these days) but somehow Steinman had a knack for making even the most sprawling and bombastic song "memorable". And look at the list of some of the songs he's written and the artists he's written them for. We all know he wrote most of Meatloaf's catalog but he's also written hits for artists like Celine Dion, Air Supply, Bonnie Tyler and Sisters Of Mercy. Now that's a diverse group of people. But when you hear a Jim Steinman song you know it's his songwriting regardless of who's performing it.

RIP Mr. Steinman and thanks for all the musical memories.

R.I.P. Mr. Steinman.  I can't say I knew much about him outside of his work with Meat Loaf, but you can't argue with that track record.

Oddly enough, I was just reading an article a day or two ago at Classic Rock mag's FB page about how Jim Steinman was supposed to produce Def Leppard's Hysteria...but after a couple of unproductive weeks in the studio the band decided it wasn't working out, and they canned him. The article called the Steinman sessions "The Most Expensive Unreleased Album Ever Made."

I will never forget when college football came back to ESPN this past fall and the network kept playing this ad featuring clips from various TV shows (including Family Guy) where people seemed to be remembering stuff and the entire ad was set to "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" - as if people were finally waking up from their Covid 19 comas and actually watching live sports on TV again.

I saw that ad maybe a dozen times until I finally said to myself "You know, that sounds like something Jim Steinman would write". Seriously. I've never listened to Celine Dion so I had no idea she sang it. So I googled it. Yep, sure enough it's a Steinman song and after Dion recorded it so did Meatloaf.

But I will never forget hearing that for the 13th time and thinking, "Damn that sounds like a Jim Steinman song" only to discover that it was. That's when you know you have a distinctive songwriting style.

He was an incredible songwriter and its safe to say we shall never see the likes of Jim Steinman ever again

I was surprised they covered this song.
My first thought was Judas Priest - the motorcycle intro.
Fantastic album. Everyone that year had it.

That's an excellent cover of a difficult song.  The lead singer even sounds something like Meatloaf.

Nightwish are OK now, but they never should've did Tarja dirty like they did, as she was really the glue that held the band together.

Anyway i've always been curious as to what Hysteria would've sounded like had Leppard decided to stick with him, I wonder if those recordings will ever see the light of day?

I'd actually just heard "I'll Do Anything for Love" on the radio the day before he passed.

I wonder if he was an inspiration for Savatage’s producer/songwriter Paul O’Neill. They both were into the rock opera thing.

Bombastic, theatrical songwriting isn't really my thing either, but "Bat Out of Hell" is just a masterpiece. Played it thru the other night when I heard of Jim's passing. Thanks for the music and godspeed, Mr. Steinman.