How did you become a Meat Loaf Fan?

[Keep Rocking]

Hi! I'm new to this forum and I would like to know since when you are a fan (why I don't have to ask, I think it's obvious).
Here is my story:
I was born in 1975, so when BAT comes out I was to small to remember it, but my Dad must have listened to it very often(see later).
Throughout my youth I sometimes had a certain melodie in my mind, but I wasn't able to sing it or remember which song it could be.
Then I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR LOVE came out. I liked this song very much. When I next visited my Dad, I said:"have you heard about this new song IWDAFL and the new band MEAT LOAF?" He laughed and answered:"New?! Long time ago he has a great album!" And my father put the BAT-LP on the player. There I instantly recognized HOT Summer Night as the melodie which followed me in my youth.
This was the beginning. The next day I started of and bought BAT1, and it was my favourite CD untill CHSIB came out.
It takes even longer to visite a show of Meat Loaf:
after BAT2 he came to Mannheim,Ger (near my hometown) but noone would come with me and I had fear of all the "rockers" (I was a little naive by then
Years later I lived near Munich,Ger: there he gave a show in a small club, but I heard it on the radio at the date of the show and there were no tickets left...
This spring: at the instant the tour dates in Germany came out I buyed tickets for the show in Frankfurt. I hardly could wait until october. I went to the show with my sister, my father and his girlfriend. The four of us were all the same opinion: MEAT ROCKS (to say it in short words).
I spontanously decided to go to Stuttgart the next day (alone this time)-it was also just great. But I couldn't get enough:
the next sunday I drove to Trier(somewhere in Germany )
And this show topped it all: I was in the first row, Meat gave about 200% of frankfurt/Stuttgart and in the end I was able to catch one of the sticks of the drummer. JUST GREAT
Now I hope MEAT will come back to Germany next year!!!!!!!!

[kaz]

okay, so i was a meat loaf fan from the cot- the only thing my parents could do to stop my crying is play i would do anything for love (but i won't do that) even at a very young age i learned no one interupts meat when hes singing.
then i guess it just came from the fact my parents are fans and used to play hes cds all the time, until recently when i decided enough was enough i had to have all my own copies of all the albums and begged my parents endlessly for 2 weeks to let me go and see him at birmingham
short and sweet really but i have't really had that much life to extend it past that

[MasterEngineer]

Hi,

I'm student, 21.
Got Meat-fever in 1993 hearing AFL on the radio. Then went into the local music shop and wanted to buy BOOH2. As an 11 year old boy, I got some loughs and was sended home.
Then my dad helped me gettin' the disc and that was all. Fever increased!

ME

[Clairet]

I think I got into Meat with bat out of hell 2 and my dad liking him! Also went to see Meat Loaf 2 which totaly made me into a fan and first saw Meat last year in Liverpool!

I'm only 22 btw :)

[krolok]

It could be at this day exact 10 Years.

The first Song ive ever heard from Meat was "anythign for Love" at at this time i was 13, all my money was spend for Meat CD´s Concerts etc etc but worth it! fFrom that day on iam a big Fan from Meat, and Iam sad that this is his last world tour !

[Sapphire Lady]

Originally Posted by kaz

i was a meat loaf fan from the cot- the only thing my parents could do to stop my crying is play i would do anything for love

I suddenly felt rather old there. Then I realised AFL was released only 10 years ago. So it looks like kaz is very young, rather than me being very old.

[ChoccyBat]

Wow - spooky! I'm also 22, I also got into Meat through my Dad, and I also saw him for the first time in Liverpool last year!!!

When my mum was pregnant with me, my Dad got a new car, the first he had ever had with a tape player. He had got BOOH and Mum says they always had it on when they went to pre-natal classes. (I think thats what you call them.)

Obviously while I was growing up Meat's music would always be on, and my Dad collected all his albums, even during the 80's when his success fell. I also grew up with a melody in my head - I often found myself singing Took The Words. Although I didn't become a real big fan till a few years back, Meat Loaf has always been there at times in my life.

Like I said, his music would often be on, and we often used to laugh and joke about the lyrics - like on New Years Eve if we had an album on and were all a bit drunk!

Then when I was quite young, I got my own TV for my bedroom for Christmas. The first thing I watched when I set it up was a Meat Loaf concert on BBC I think. I think it was for Welcome to the Neighbourhood, and I remember thinking how powerful he was.

Then, a few years later, I was sat at school in the common room listening to some music when a girl called Kelly came and sat with me (turns out she'd fancied me for ages), and asked me what I was listening to. I said "oh, nothing" and tried to hide it as I thought she would laugh. When she saw it was a Meat Loaf tape she said "oh my god, i love Meat Loaf", and that formed the start and basis of a really good relationship between us two. Unfortunately we split up when I went to Uni but we had some great times following that, many involving Meat's music ( ).

Then some time later I saw someone on Stars In Their Eyes who worked in a garden centre, and was doing Meat. He got to the final I think, and meat sent him a signed copy of his autobiography. I asked dad to get me it for xmas, and by New Year I had read it all! I thought it was an incredible book and was intrigued by Meat's amazing life. From there I have never looked back. I was desperate to see him in concert before it was too late, and last year in Liverpool was perfect. The weather was amazing, the concert was superb and it was a fantastic day out. This time I have been lucky enough to get tickets for Newcastle a week on Monday and then MEN Arena in December.

So thats my story - on the way to Liverpool last year on the M6, with my dads car stereo playing the same BOOH tape as back in 1980 on the way to pregnancy clases, it did cross my mind how incredible it was that the unborn baby back then was now in the passenger seat listening to the same tape, but now on his way to a concert of the man himself. What a testament to the longtevity of the man!

[ChoccyBat]

Oh, missed something. As well also being 22, also getting into him through my Dad and also seeing him for first time in Liverpool last year, I also saw MeatLoaf2 first and found it brilliant!

Saw it in Whitehaven, Cumbria first then Hull.

[Cheese Head]

My story is a little embarassing. When BOH was released I was only 9 and I was a Tom -boy growing up. I was very much into baseball. I would act out the baseball part of Paradise, not aware of the sexuall meaning to. I would run around the bases and before I reached home, I would scream out STOP RIGHT THERE. I was a very stupid kid, however now when I hear Paradise I laugh and think of my innocents.

There a many more storys of Meat Loaf that I have growing up. Too many to type.

[RSG]

It all started when my dad took his sister's copy of Bat Out Of Hell CD before she moved far away. Well I thought it was wrong for him to do that so I took it from him. And I was curious what would make a grown man take a CD of his OWN sister for his own use. Well I heard the title track for the first time around 10:32PM and I said to myself, that's why. I have played that CD since I Was 6 (10 years ago.) Don't worry she has it back, the cd that is, not the case. couldn't find it. well i bought Bat 2, 4 years ago, and since then i'm i've been lookin for them. so ya, now i have 9 meat stuff.

Bat Out Of Hell, Dead Ringer, Bad Attitude, Back Into Hell, Welcome to the Neighborhood, Very Best Of, Vh1 Storytellers Audio, Couldn't Have Said It Better. And Bat Out Of Hell vinyl. - A taste of Paradise

[Cheese Head]

RSg- I know why your Dad took the CD from his sister, because I did the same thing to my sister when she moved out of our parents house to get married back in '89. My sister and I would listen to BOH all the time in her room while growing up. I was helping her to move and was carrying her box of cassettes and load and be hold BOh was on top. i told myself that there was no in hell I was going to let her take it away from me, so i stole it from her. Later on she invited me over for dinner one night and wanted to listen to BOH with me just like old times. However, she couldn't find it. I wonder why . She blamed her husband for taking it, poor guy. I didn't the heart to tell I had it. This wnet on for a few years until Bat2 came out. By that time the BOOH cassette was very wore out, so I bought a CD of Bat 1 and 2. I finally brought down and told my sister that it was me who had her tape. Boy was she mad at me. I appolized and bought her CD's of Bat 1and 2 to make it up.

[Vickip]

In 1999, I saw his VH1 Storytellers CD sitting on the shelf in my local record store and bought it :) Up until that point I had no idea who he was ..... but as soon as I listened to Paradise, and watched him and Patti sing it on the Storytellers program I was hooked

Vicki

[Bigmomma]

we were sitting by a pool on a compound in saudi arabia and one of the
american fellas was playing this great music, well i had just turned into
my teens and it was a case of, dad can you ask him, what it is i love it!
i was to shy to go over to ask so after a lot of pestering he went to
ask, and it was bat out of hell, my poor father, had the hell of a time putting up with me till i got it, and blimey i feel old reading you guys
saying about your mothers, i too gave birth to my daughters and sons
whilst listening to meat, its great .....but you lot have a way to go yet.
kezzina

[Woman of Steel]

Hi, I am a huge Meat fan, have been ever since the first time I heard his voice. My parents were working, so they left me & my sister home with a babysitter, who was watching the music video channel, and Anything For Love came on!!!! Of course, even though I was 2, I was in loove!! My parents were in shock when they came home, but my dad ended up buying the CD and was forced to play it all the time, and then they hid it from me!!! Then I found it again, fell in love again, and became a huge fan . Of course, now I have taken the Cd and claimed it and I won't give it back . After all, Dad doesn't need it as much as I do.

[Debbi V]

So, let's see if I can remember that far back??!! Anyway, there's a group of us at (God, I even remember her name) Donna Ciccone's house practicing for the church folk group and we had MTV on in the background. I lived in Massachustetts then. Must have been about 1976 or 1977 and Two Out of Three comes on the TV. OK, I'll say it, I was 15/16 at the time!!

I'm thinking "what is that - it's so different! Then I catch a glimpse of this adorable man (I just love big men!) and I'm totally hooked. What a doll! That baby face just floored me back then and it still does today (pardon - I'm gushing again!) If I close my eyes and put BOOH on the stereo, I can go right back to that point in time *sigh*

Been hooked ever since! Debbi V

[shadow1000001]

Originally Posted by kaz

okay, so i was a meat loaf fan from the cot- the only thing my parents could do to stop my crying is play i would do anything for love (but i won't do that)

I did the same thing with my daughter and now I feel old too


Maria

[dottie]

I also saw MeatLoaf2 first and found it brilliant!

Saw it in Whitehaven, Cumbria first then Hull.[/quote]

Hi choccy bat, there are a couple of photographs of Steve Steinman in Off Topics - Meat Loaf 2, go take a look

[Renegade Angel]

I remember my sister was mad on Meat around the time of Deadringer and the rest of the family thought she was a bit odd for liking a fat sweaty guy but we all watched the video for Deadringer on TOTP and we were all hooked instantly and I remember my dad bought Bat and Deadringer on vinyl and he made a cassette for me with Bat on one side and deadringer on the other and this was the only tape I had for years, so I listened to it a lot!

Then my dad went to see Meat on the Bad Attitude tour in 1985 but he said I wasn't old enough to go as I was only about 8 or 9 at the time but for the few years after I spent my pocket money on anything to do with Meat Loaf - Vinyl, cassettes and videos and I built up quite a collection.

Then my dad bought us both tickets to see Meat on the Lost Boys tour in 1988, which if you know anything about this tour, you'll know is a very special tour as Meat played a lot of songs from Bad For Good - What a show!

Ever since then I've always been a bit of a die hard fan and have gone to see him on every tour apart from the welcome to the neighbourhood tour as I was in hospital having surgery.

I feel like Bat Out Of Hell is a soundtrack to my own life as it's always been played through good times and bad times in my life.

[Hellcat]

That´s a short story. There was, You Took The Words......
on the radio and I got lost in his voice, then I bought the CD and got lost in his music.

[RoknRollJesus]

Man! I feel really old after reading some of these posts!
I was introduced to Meat via a K-Tel record compilation back in 1977 I believe. I bugged the h*ll out of my Mom to get it because it had "Hot Child in the City" by Nick Gilder on it -DON'T EVEN ASK I WAS 9 YRS OLD OK! (Talk about wasted youth)

The album also had "Two Out of Three" on it. Needless to say -both my Mom and I were hooked and never looked back!

Jo

[jewson34]

I can't remember when or where i first heard Meat Loaf but my kids have been bought up on Meat Loaf. When the kids were born we bought them the record/cd that was No1 when they were born. My eldest daughter will be 10 on Tuesday so she was lucky enough to get anything for love.
We took 3 of them to the NEC on Tuesday and they loved it.

[Louise]

I remember seeing him on an Elvis Tribute programme when it was the 10th anniversary of his death (Elvis's!) in 1987 and one of the song's he sang was the American Trilogy.

Louise x

[kaz]

Originally Posted by Sapphire Lady

I suddenly felt rather old there. Then I realised AFL was released only 10 years ago. So it looks like kaz is very young, rather than me being very old.

okay my bad - i'm actually 17 and it was just meatloaf in general that shut me up i have been re-informed by my parents but AFL was the first one i really remember and learned all the words to- sorry!

[ChoccyBat]

Originally Posted by dottie

I also saw MeatLoaf2 first and found it brilliant!

Saw it in Whitehaven, Cumbria first then Hull.

Hi choccy bat, there are a couple of photographs of Steve Steinman in Off Topics - Meat Loaf 2, go take a look [/quote]

Love the photos - he must have thought all his Christmas's had come at once!!

[Kathy]

Heck with feeling old - I don't and I think I'm NEARLY as old as Himself. Anyway, I was watching TV this past May, and a car commercial came on with interesting background music. I turned to my friend and said "I like that! What IS that?" (It was a snippet of Paradise) He said, with infinite patience, "That's Meat Loaf." He loaned me the BOOH CD and I was amazed that this heartbreakingly beautiful voice had been around for so long and I didn't even know it. My only excuse is that I worked practically night and day for years and was not exactly up on pop culture (an understatement).
BTW, I couldn't tell you what car the commercial was for, proving once again that I am part of a worthless demographic

-Kathy