ROCK & ROLL LEGACY RIP

Rock On, Meat Loaf! Paradise Is Indeed Brighter Now

What Meat Loaf’s Rock Operas Meant To This Gen Xer

I first recall hearing Meat Loaf’s music when I was four years old in 1978, and my mother used to play the car stereo when we were out in the garden.

Just her and I.

She had Bat Out Of Hell on 8-Track. She played “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad”, a lot, the spring & summer right before I turned 4, the year before I began kindergarten.

I remember this because it is one of a too small handful of warm spots for me to recall from when I was a tiny tot.

The stereo playing in our white car; my mother — who, to me, was a beautiful Greek goddess I lived in awe of when I was little— her huge smile as she wiped coconut tanning oil on her legs, the scent of her hands afterwards; the profusion of blooms behind the little blue house with black shutters we lived in then; it all was, to me, the ultimate in salad days.

Bittersweet, remembering myself, then a toddler — now, 47 years old, a middle-aged woman.

Meat Loaf crying out in his powerful voice.

Meat Loaf has passed away, according to a family statement made on social media.

“Our hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight surrounded by his wife Deborah, daughters Pearl and Amanda, and close friends,” the family wrote. “We know how much he meant to so many of you and we truly appreciate all of the love and support as we move through this time of grief in losing such an inspiring artist and beautiful man. We thank you for your understanding of our need for privacy at this time.”

He died yesterday, Thursday, January 20, 2022. No one has announced the cause of death as of yet.

When I saw this announced online, my heart pinched a little.

Yeah, he is a celebrity and I do not know him personally, nor do I know his family.

However, his music, and even his presence, wove in and out of and was an in & out presence within the first twenty — odd years of my life.

Meat Loaf not only recorded Bat Out Of Hell, an album which occupies a prominent place in the “soundtrack of my childhood”, he also was a cast member of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, playing an ex-delivery boy named Eddie.

That movie is a favorite of mine, mostly due to Tim Curry and young Susan Sarandon’s work, but Meat Loaf’s small role was memorable as well.

The kind where you exclaim, “oh my gosh! It’s Meat Loaf!” in astonishment when he appears on screen — an event which happened quite frequently throughout the years.

Meat Loaf was prolific in the film industry, popping in and out, guest starring and cameoing in dozens of films and television shows, to include Fight Club and Wayne’s World.

Every bus ride to a sports event for volleyball, basketball or track during my school years was serenaded by at least one play of “Paradise By The Dashboard Light”.

Every single kid onboard the bus sang every lyric with gusto in time with the mixtape playing at full volume on the Sony Boombox.

To include the “radio” part.

If you didn’t know the words, you were eyeballed dubiously.

It was even more fun when we had the guys on the bus with we girls, and we shout — sang the “boy” and “girl” respective lyrics back and forth, taking particular care to aim our words at the boy or girl we were currently crushing on or actually dating.

Oh, clueless teenagers.

Oh, nostalgia.

Meat Loaf owned the anthems heralding teenage hormon driven angst for generations.

Just when I had forgotten about his music, Meat Loaf made “the most stunning comeback in rock & roll history” after I graduated High School with Bat Out Of Hell II — Back Into Hell, released in 1993.

My first “real” grown up boyfriend played the anthem from that album, “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)”, so incessantly, I got sick of it, my friends got sick of it, and to this day in 2022, whenever any of us hear the song, we think of my old boyfriend, not Meat Loaf.

At age 74, Meat Loaf was planning a tour. He was reportedly recovering from back surgeries and hoping to take the stage again later this year, despite repeatedly swearing off touring in years past.

Instead, he has gone on alone, but not cold or lonely, to Paradise earlier than expected…

… greeted by an enthusiasm even he hadn’t experienced ever before for his arrival, being serenaded on his journey by the most Brilliant of dashboard lights.

You will be missed, Meat Loaf. Thank you for the memories.