Love it or hate it, it is still fucked…
ZERO HEADED ONE LEGGED has been on a short hiatus for the last week, and it was gonna take some pretty big news to break the shackles of laziness and get back to it. The exciting news came in the form of everyone’s favourite mystery meat mash announcing that he will be touring AUSTRALIA in October. I’m, of course, talking about MEAT LOAF.
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| Meat Loaf |
Only one thing could make this huge news even massive-er, and that news has also dropped – MEAT LOAF will be playing at the 2011 AFL GRAND FINAL… Holy shit…a bunch of meatheads playing their guts out whilst MEAT LOAF tunes ring in your ears…could it be anymore epic?
Along with the footy extravaganza, The Loaf will be playing A DAY ON THE GREEN at BIMBADGEN WINERY NSW and ROCHFORD WINES VIC (It would be awesome to get boozed at a winery and watch Ol’Meaty), as well as a show at the SYDNEY ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE where you can meet MEAT LOAF as well as see the performance if you have a spare $400, and WA isn’t going to miss out either with a show at NIB STADIUM in PERTH. If ticket sales blow up then they will surely add more shows.
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| Meat Loaf |
I’m sure there are some naysayers reading this asking “what’s the big deal?” well this bloke, in one album alone has sold 43 million copies world wide, making BAT OUT OF HELL (1977) the fifth greatest selling record of all time, only beaten by MICHAEL JACKSON’s THRILLER (1982), AC/DC’s BACK IN BLACK (1980), PINK FLOYD’s THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (1973), AND WHITNEY HOUSTON’s THE BODYGUARD (1992). To put this into a little more perspective, THE BEATLES don’t get a mention until no.14, selling 11 million less with SGT. PEPPERS LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (1962).
The mind truly boggles thinking about the enormity of this album. But what are its origins?
A fella by the name of JIM STEINMAN wrote an album for an updated sci-fi version of PETER PAN titled NEVER LAND. Steinman and Mr. Loaf thought there were 3 stand out tracks, and wanted to make an album around them. The songs were BAT OUT OF HELL, HEAVEN CAN WAIT, and FORMATION OF THE PACK which would be retitled as ALL REVVED WITH NO PLACE TO GO. The 3 tracks would form the basis of the 7 track BAT OUT OF HELL album. But the guys had their balls broken many-a-time in trying to find a record label who would release it. Silly them. A subsidiary of EPIC, CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL RECORDS released the album.
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| Clive Davis |
CBS executive CLIVE DAVIS made the biggest mistake of his life turning down the album, telling the guys that “Actors don’t make records” (MEAT LOAF was an actor at the time and had appeared in THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW as well as a heap of musicals and more recently FIGHT CLUB – “His name was Robert Paulson”) and criticizing JIM STEINMAN by saying:
“Do you know how to write a song?…do you know anything about writing?…you don’t know how to write a song…have you ever listened to pop music?...have you heard any rock n roll music?...you should go downstairs when you leave here and buy some rock n roll records.”
MEAT LOAF would regain the upper hand when leaving the building by yelling “FUCK YOU CLIVE!” from the street. Well, MEAT LOAF and JIM STEINMAN gave CLIVE DAVIS an even bigger fuck you by the album doing so monstrously well.
Anyway, for an artist coming to AUSTRALIA who has the second greatest selling album within the country, only topped by JOHN FARNHAM’s WHISPERING JACK (1986), selling 23 times platinum, you can see how this is kind of a big deal…if you’re a MEAT LOAF fan.
Here are a few classic MEAT LOAF tracks to get you in the mood for his AFL GRAND FINAL appearance. Now there are 2 reasons to watch on that one day in September.
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