January 2018 Rock ROTM - Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell: 40th Anniversary Edition

January 2018 Rock ROTM - Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell: 40th Anniversary Edition

Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell

In 1971, Marvin Lee Aday, better known as Meat Loaf, was starring in the Broadway musical "Hair". It was during this time in NY where Meat Loaf met Jim Steinman who became his principal collaborator on the creation of the album "Bat Out Of Hell".  Although they started the album in 1972, it was not released until 1977. During this production window, Meat Loaf played in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (both movie and play) and sang lead vocals on Ted Nugent's "Free-for-All" album when Derek St. Holmes had temporarily quit the band. 

The album was produced by Todd Rundgren, who has produced artists like The Band, Grand Funk Railroad, Hall & Oates, Patti Smith and Cheap Trick, to name a few. He also played lead guitar on most of the album. When they finished the record, no label would pick it up because they didn't fit ant known musical format. The labels had no idea what to do with it. In 1977, Cleveland International Records decided to take a chance on the album and released it in October of that year.

Bat Out Of Hell has sold an estimated 45 million copies world wide. It has sold over 15 million in the US alone. These numbers make it one of the best selling albums of ALL TIME. It still sales over 200,000 copies a year. In the UK, it is one of only two albums that has NEVER left the Top 200 UK Chart. That's the longest stay in any music chart, anywhere in the world. Bat Out Of Hell also spawned a trilogy consisting of Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose. The combined sales of the trilogy is well over 50 million and Meat Loaf earned a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for the song "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That" off the second album.

Bat Out Of Hell, 40th Anniversary Edition is our January Rock Record of the Month.  We picked because it is one of the biggest records of all time and because it is still so unique that no one can truly categorize the album, even today. Yes, its a classic rock album, but it's like none we've known outside of the Bat Out Of Hell trilogy. The vinyl we curated for the January subscribers is a 40th Anniversary limited edition, 180 Gram Audiophile translucent red vinyl, with a gatefold cover.  This album will forever be one of rocks most enduring masterpieces.
  • Translucent Red Vinyl

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TRACK LISTING
1 Bat Out of Hell
2 You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)
3 Heaven Can Wait
4 All Revved Up with No Place to Go
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1 Two Out of Three Ain't Bad
2 Paradise By the Dash Board Light
3 I. Paradise
4 II. Let Me Sleep on It
5 III. Praying for the End of Time
6 For Crying Out Loud