Meat Loaf - vocals; Steve Buslowe - bass; Karla DeVito - vocals; Rory Dodd - vocals; Paul Glanz - keyboards; Bob Kulick - guitar; Bruce Kulick - guitar; Joe Stefko - drums; Jim Steinman - piano
Every couple of weeks, VH1 Classics shows the self-produced biopic about Marvin Lee Aday, more popularly known as Meat Loaf. The feature delves into his troubled youth, his impassioned love of celebrity, his remarkable voice, and his triumph over what seemed to be every possible adversity.
In that movie, as in his real life, a series of early appearances at New York's Bottom Line were breakthrough moments that clearly announced worldwide that Meat Loaf was here to stay. This show was the first of two taped by WNEW for the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio concert series. Teaming up with pianist/composer Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf had developed an album of rock epics that cleverly combined pop, metal and opera, while at the same time sounded incredibly fresh and cutting edge for its time. Out in the showcase clubs of America, Meat Loaf had assembled a band to bring the album to life, and then to the masses, in a vivacious and joyfully overblown stage presentation.
His large band assembled and played on several club stages, but Meat Loaf would soon become a massive superstar and far too big to play at small clubs like the Bottom Line. This show itself is truly entertaining. It is undeniably pompous and overdramatic, which is nevertheless, a great example of the reason that America came to love this guy and his music. After the success of Bat Out Of Hell, Meat Loaf remained a working partner of Jim Steinman until after the third album when the problems between the men and their business manager forced a shut down. Meat Loaf then fell into semi-retirement before reuniting with Jim Steinman for a few more albums after settling their lawsuits. He ended up recording two sequels to Bat Out Of Hell: Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell in 1993, and in 2006, Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. Meatloaf enjoyed a renaissance in his career after losing over 100 pounds and cleaning up from various chemical addictions. Now in 2007, he is frequently spotted making random appearances on TV and film.