RIP Jim Steinman (and thanks for all the music)
Jewish Telegraph, April 2021
IN the late 1970s, I was just starting to form my own musical tastes.
In 1977, punk and disco ruled, but as a 10-year-old I had just discovered the likes of Kiss, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC and Rush.
But that year also heralded one of the most defining albums of my life . . . Bat Out Of Hell.
It was only seven songs long, but each one was an over-the-top epic, a mini-opera.
The voice on the album belonged to Meat Loaf, but the words and music were crafted by Jim Steinman, who died on Monday, aged 73, from kidney failure.
I had heard nothing like it and the fact he had a Jewish-sounding surname made it even better.
I remember seeing Meat Loaf twice in the early-1980s with my father and I would be blown away by the songs every time.
Steinman had Meat Loaf’s second album planned, but the singer had vocal issues. Instead of waiting, though, Steinman recorded the album with himself on vocals.
And Bad For Good, released in 1981, sits in my top 10 albums of all time, alongside Bat Out Of Hell.
Whereas Meat Loaf had this larger-than-life voice, Steinman’s was rather fragile, making the songs sound even more emotional.
Over the years, we have heard Meat Loaf’s versions of most of the songs, but I always prefer them on Bad For Good.
But the album I turned to when I heard of Steinman’s death was Original Sin by Pandora’s Box.
Released in 1989, this was performed by an all-female group put together by Steinman, which included tracks like It’s All Coming Back to Me Now and The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be.
Steinman’s list of credits is incredible too — Bonnie Tyler, Sisters of Mercy, Air Supply, Barry Manilow, Boyzone, Take That . . .
He even got me to listen to Celine Dion with her cover of It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.
A new generation has been introduced to his music thanks to Bat Out of Hell: The Musical, which had its world premiere at the Opera House in Manchester in 2017.
I’ve seen it several times and feel like I’ve passed the flame to my daughter, who also loves his music because of the musical.
Steinman was also the king of the brackets. He loved adding them to his songtitles — You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night), Out of the Frying Pan (And into the Fire), I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) to name just a few.
But New York-born Steinman’s Jewishness is a mystery. Wikipedia reports he was “was of Jewish ancestry” — probably on his father Louis’ side, not his mother Eleanor.
And as we report on Page 14, he believed his name wasn’t included on the cover of Bat Out Of Hell because it sounded “too Jewish”.
And in one interview he described himself as “half-Jewish”.
He made the claim while being quizzed about his love of the composer Richard Wagner, a favourite of the Nazis.
He replied: “I’m half-Jewish so maybe my other half is really vicious!
“The thing about Wagner, I totally separate what he creates from what he talks about.
“If you really start caring about that, I mean who knows about Elvis Presley’s politics . . . Wagner wasn’t nearly as bad as his reputation, I mean Richard Strauss, now he was a real vicious antisemite and a real maniac.
“Wagner was just enthralled by the ideas of a superworld and a super race. I think it was more abstract, but who knows, he could’ve been a real schmuck and a s*** too. Wagner was definitely out of his mind!”
Of course, not everything Steinman touched turned to gold. In the mid-1980s, he worked with rock giants Def Leppard, but after eight weeks, they cancelled his contract and have never released anything that was recorded.
Many tributes have been paid to Steinman, including from Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote the musical Whistle Down the Wind.
And Jewish guitarist Bruce Kulick, who also performed with Kiss, wrote on Facebook: “He was a brilliant songwriter, with his own unique style of creating songs. I will never forget him asking me during my Meat Loaf days (as lead guitarist with my late brother Bob), ‘make your guitar sound like a milk shake!’ RIP Jim Steinman, it was always a pleasure to perform your great music.”
