“My friends call me Meat…” A Love Letter to Meat Loaf from WMMR
I distinctly remember buying Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out Of Hell” at Sam Goody in Ardmore in the winter of 1977. Being a Springsteen devotee’ by then, I wanted to hear more from E Streeter’s Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg, and with Upper Darby’s Todd Rundgren producing, it was worth 7 bucks to check it out.
Oh My God! Talk about an epic, cinematic tour de force of sound and vision! The opening 60 seconds of the title cut let you know you were in for quite a ride, and the rest of the album soared from there. To this day, I crank it up wherever I am.
Not long after, I heard Meat Loaf on MMR being interviewed by Ed Sciaky to promote a Tower Theatre show. Asked by Ed what he should call him, he replied “My friends call me “Meat,” YOU can call me “Mr. Loaf.” I loved it. I went to that show, and remember Meat dropping the mic and screaming so the balcony could hear him. “That’s one big mouth,” I thought to myself.
And then there’s my friend Rammer. In those days he tooled around in a Chevy Vega with a cassette player. When the cassette player’s eject button broke, we were all grateful that “Bat Out Of Hell” was the album stuck in there. We listened to it for years, I kid you not.
The attached photo was taken on Meat’s visit to MMR to promote his “Back Into Hell” release. I was thrilled to meat, er meet him. And when I did, I told him every story I just told you.
Along with Jim Steinman, (And “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”) he’s achieved rock n roll immortality, and I’m a captive fan.
Thank god for leftovers.
- Kevin Gunn | WMMR
