OK. Stephen...
Try and answer this. Get out a copy of BAT OUT OF HELL or BAT OUT OF HELL II. Study the covers for (about) 5 seconds...
In blazing capitols, larger-than-life, is a name that reads "MEAT LOAF". Underneath is a similarly large title that reads "BAT OUT OF HELL". Not as large as the Meat Loaf, but large enough.
Then take a scroll down the page, like a bomb falling through the air, and you'll find a name (literally) in the midst of an explosion. In tiny capitol letters it reads... SONGS BY JIM STEINMAN. Some albums don't even have this credit.
Originally, it was to read: in large blazing capitol letters: MEAT LOAF & JIM STEINMAN, BAT OUT OF HELL. With, preferably, PRODUCED BY TODD RUNDGREN in big enough letters underneath.
It's the same deal with BAT OUT OF HELL II.
On the 25th Anniversary CD there's been a slight correction: which would have been good enough to use in 1977 (but noooooooooo they didn't LOL)
It reads, better than it was, but not how it should have been:
MEAT LOAF
BAT OUT OF HELL
SONGS BY JIM STEINMAN
Walk up to a person and say "BAT OUT OF HELL". What's the first name that springs to their head? MEAT LOAF.
Walk up to a person and say "BAT OUT OF HELL" and they'd probably 80% guarantee never mention the name of the man who write all its songs: and without that man's help there wouldn't have BEEN a BAT album. Some people seem to forget that. Some people seem to forget that Jim is partially responsible for that album, and while he's enjoyed success and accolades from it, people remember the singer's name and not the songwriter. This is only wrong because Meat and Jim were doing this together; not Meat Loaf or a record company paying a songwriter. This was against all the rules, but it was changed.
Even I, when I first brought BAT 2, said: "who the hell is Jim Steinman?"
Sad...
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