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Meat Loaf gets Q gong

Grunting calorie-fan Meat Loaf is to be lauded for the 47,000th time for his 31-year-old song Bat Out Of Hell, saith the Beeb. The voluminous ditty, which goes on and on and on for just a whisker under ten minutes and is roughly a fifth as good as Bohemian Rhapsody, has been praised to the heavens for years on end but apparently …

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Anonymous Coward
IT Angle

But, but...

Where's the IT ang... oh, who am I kidding? The wondrous Sarah Bee can publish whatever she damn well pleases!

Allan Dyer
Gates Horns

A typo?

Where it says,

Related stories

* Wind turbines put bats under (low) pressure (26 August 2008)

* Prof says fatties a bigger menace than bin Laden (14 August 2008)

I think you meant the heading to be "Sarcastic Comments".

Icon? Where did you say the bat was from?

amanfromMars
Alien

Rocky Drivers for Crazy Systems = Positive Direction?!.*

Sarah Bee,

If you lived a Rock Star life, you'd Laud the Longevity. That Achievement alone has many Casualties Burned Up and Dropped Out and on their Way before urTime/ Before they Leave an Indelible Mark.

*What ever is Needed Back Up Driver/Lead Operating System.

Chris Thomas
Flame

10 minutes?? You lucky bastard

10 minutes!?!? I've heard a 20 minute EXTENDED EDITION

omg, what drivel, the song isnt even that good, it just goes on and on and on and someone ban tht fat bastard cause I'll be dammed if I wanna listen it again, let it die already, you got your money, fuck off to the carribbean and live out your days surrounded by hot women like all the other hard rock people did.

Tony

@Sarah

"The voluminous ditty, which goes on and on and on for just a whisker under ten minutes and is roughly a fifth as good as Bohemian Rhapsody"

So you're not a Meatloaf fan then?

I vaguely remember that the song was supposed to be recorded by Jim Steinman who wrote the song - but he had had an accident and broken his nose so couldn't sing.

I think music went downhill after Lonnie Donegan and "Does your chewing gum lose it's flavour on the bedpost overnight?" These kids today just don't know what good music is!

We need a flat cap icon for all the grumpy old men (like me) out there.

Mike Crawshaw
Thumb Up

But it has to be said....

that he sounds / performs a damned sight better than Amy Whinehouse!

*grins, ducks, and runs like hell!*

Johan Vavare
Thumb Up

am I the walrus ?

I am sooo tired and all worked out, I've been up for some 29 hours now trying to fix

a broken server from hell.. ..I jump into a quick check on El Reg just to stay awake,

and there it is: "capering about like Mick Jagger inside a walrus"

Now, thinking about Mick Jagger jumping into a gutted walrus corpse to impersonate

Meat Loaf will not only serve to keep me awake for another hour, but it is also adding a well-needed smile to my wrinkled face.

Thanks Sarah for that one! :)

David Cornes
Happy

Good honest reporting

Nice one Sarah ;-) Like it a lot!

Anonymous Coward
Paris Hilton

In death we have a name

He was good in Fight Club though. I think that outweighs some of his musical sins.

Will Leamon

What no props for....

Fight Club? His name was Robert Paulson and he did a rather kick ass job of it folks.

Plus just because Mons. Mercury and Crew totally own the whole extended rock ballad thing with BohRhap (which btw is also complete drivel - that the freakin' point of these songs Chris) doesn't mean there's not a little more room in the cupboard for other extended tripe. Both songs got me through highschool quite nicely thanks.

Oh and some songs from Yes. Now there was a glorious bunch of long winded bastards right there.

Martin
Happy

Bohemian Rhapsody?

The most pretentious excuse for a rock song in the last fifty years.

"I see a little silhouetto of a man - Scaramouch - Scaramouch - will you do the fandango?

Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightning me - Galileo Galileo Figaro-ro-ro-ro-ro."

Yeah, right, that's brilliant, that is.

At least Bat Out Of Hell IS a rock song.

Tim Groven

At least...

his singing is a damn bit better than his acting. *shudders*

Sarah Bee
(Written by Reg staff)

Re: Bohemian Rhapsody?

Damn straight. What would Wayne's World have been without it?

Point taken on 'Bob' though, moobs and all.

SpeakerToAliens
Coat

@Tony

> We need a flat cap icon for all the grumpy old men (like me) out there.

I've got one with a Bat symbol on the peak (a cap that is, not an icon). Got it when he did the Albert Hall a couple of years ago. Meat Loaf, with full orchestral backing. Magical.

Mine's the one with a Meat Loaf key fob in the pocket.

Mike
Thumb Up

LMAO

That is all

Scott
Stop

Leave the Meat alone.

Fine, the reporter doesn't like Meat Loaf. But there are those who do, so why knock him? "Bat Out of Hell" is timeless, it's passionate, and over-all is a great song. Steinman deserves a lot more credit for the song (and the album) than Meat, but I only Meat could perform it (in my opinion).

So leave the Meat alone, unless you really like beating it.

Sarah Bee
(Written by Reg staff)

Re: Leave the Meat alone.

It's true, Scott, it's very easy to knock him.

Fun, too.

Anonymous Coward
Paris Hilton

Bah

You just caused a drink problem- escaped tea, natch. The image of Mick Jagger capering inside a walrus is a haunting one.

xxx

John Munyard

Please... let it die... please

If there was ever a story which illustrated the how 'Smashy & Nicey' Q magazine is, or the sheer desparation of a record industry to keep recycling tired old products then this is it. And there was me thinking that the last Stone's tour set the benchmark.

So this is an appeal to the great man of Rock himself : Meat - please refuse to accept this award. Try creating some new music, or just retire gracefully so we can enjoy the memories. Please stop flogging a horse you killed on your third tour in 1980.

Please - make it stop.

SImon Hobson

On dangerous ground

Well all I can say is that if you don't appreciate his music, you have a very closed mind ! Bat out of hell it, like his other works, a complete mini opera - going through several scenes whilst telling a story. Not too surprising when you consider his background on Broadway before his solo music career.

Far better than some modern talentless 'singer' that gets on stage, screeches something claimed to be a song, and then leaves.

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

I saw Meatloaf live earlier this year

He was really, really, awe-inspiringly crap.

His voice is completely shot and he has lost the ability to sing in time.

If it wasn't for the backing singers I would not have been able to tell which song he was murdering most of the time.

He used to be good. Bat out of Hell is a classic song and deserving or awards.

I too agree with the island/women suggestion given above.

Sarah Bee
(Written by Reg staff)

Re: Bah

My work here is done.

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

What about Gordon Lightfoot, eh?

"Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is timeless, or seems so to one stuck in earshot without means of escape... And there was one Led Zeppelin tune of the late 1970s that I recall as lasting about the middle 2/3 of the Missouri stretch of I-70.

Simon Buttress
Thumb Up

lolz @ Sarah Bee's article

Aaah Meatloaf, the human burger van.

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful

Meatloaf ate them all

Tom

Au contraire..

Fat outta hell is a masterpiece compared that piece of lightweight fluff, Bohemian Raphsody, which was sung by a bunch of tights-wearing frilly shirted nancy boys.

Dave
Unhappy

WPW Syndrome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wpw_syndrome

Dave

Aaron

Rather Meat Loaf than Staind

Or whatever the kids are listening to these days. Lot of jangling, dissonant garbage, if you ask me, you could listen to it for a week straight and never hear a single melody. Or harmony. Or a single thing ever again, if you're really that foolish, and if you're going to destroy your hearing then why not just borrow Granny's ice pick and do it the old fashioned way? It's over a lot faster and with less pain, and there's the added bonus that people are less likely to question your sanity and good taste.

Mind you, new music's been going downhill since about 1825, 1830, in my judgment. There's not been a single thing worth listening to released since well before I was born, so I suppose it's to be expected that what's being released now doesn't even count as *music*.

Graham Hawkins
Dead Vulture

@AC

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Well, thanks for dredging that up from from somewhere >30 years deep in my memory... shame it didn't had 26,000 tons of iron ore to hold it down!

Richard
Paris Hilton

@ Lee

..Likewise say him play this year, he sucked unfortunately. He should retire gracefully, or fix his voice properly.

Fortunately Patty Russo still has it. :)

Paris, coz her album is awe inspiring.

Chris
Unhappy

I like that song

So what if it keeps the old man in burgers, get off his case, jesus.

Gav
Thumb Down

37 Million

Somehow I don't think Meatloaf will be losing much sleep over this article.

Girl IT hack doesn't like decade-spanning, multi-million-selling, 7th top selling in the world ever, record. Singer cries all way back to millionaire's mansion with yet another award.

Sarah Bee
(Written by Reg staff)

Re: 37 Million

Y'see, if I'd realised that he was that popular, I would never have written anything mildly derogatory about him. We all make mistakes. Forgive a poor girl IT hack (who appears to have never actually written anything about IT per se)?

Niall
Coat

@37 Million

Well we've had Gidget, so would girl IT hack be a Git? An old Git perhaps.

sean
Paris Hilton

Re: What about Gordon Lightfoot, eh?

"And there was one Led Zeppelin tune of the late 1970s that I recall as lasting about the middle 2/3 of the Missouri stretch of I-70."

That would be the live version of Dazed and Confused that they managed to drag out to around 43 minutes then? And yes I have a recording of the gig when they did this.

Meatloaf was OK in his day, as were Zep, but I wouldn't give either of them an award now for what they did circa 30 years ago.

Paris, as I know she knows how to rock and moan.

jake

John Peel (RIP)

May be the 7th best seller, but it's still one of the few "rock" albums that I remember John Peel describing as pompous, bombastic noise and then unceremoniously breaking on the air, probably 1978ish ... The other one was ELO's "Out of the Blue", both platters, roughly 6 months later. (Note to the younger readers: Music used to come on grooved vinyl discs. Ask your parents).

Also first heard on John Peel's radio program was the now classic

Q: What happens when a Cockney body builder cocoons a member of the Goodies?

A: Bow he-man wraps Oddy ...

Dave

Age Problems

I suspect Sarah's problem is that she's too young to appreciate the track. She's grown up with all the crap from the 90s and 00s and Meat Loaf is still better than at least 90% of the artists from that era. How many of them will we remember in twenty years' time? I reckon Bat Out of Hell will still be played even then.

It's good for travelling through Milton Keynes, I remember entering the Roundabout Warehouse one night on the A421 from the east as the track started on my CD player. I'd passed the last one out Bletchley way before the track had finished... Sort of appropriate, except I didn't lose it on the bend like he did. (13 roundabouts, 6.7 miles, just over 7 minutes.) Couldn't do it now, I'm older and more sensible and there's a lot more traffic, even at 1am.

Mr. EMan
Happy

Batty

hmm... I would have gone with Paradise by the Dashboard Lights.

Anonymous Coward
Coat

I grew up in the "era" and I still hate meatloaf

...and what of the song "I would do anything for love except for that" Just what is he referring to anyway? Going on a diet? Putting puppies in a blender? Finding out that Bobcat Golthwaite is his half-brother? Rebuilding a 62' Mercury?

Just wondering...

t1mc

Bank out of hell

Well I went to Castle Howard to see him this year. The young (including the not so youthful me) were rocking in front of the stage and singing their hearts our, the elderly were sitting in their fold away chairs further up the bank...they went to see a rock gig and sat in chairs...they were there in the 70's rocking and rolling and now they're in their chairs rocking and moaning

Kurt Faasse

Goo-goo-gah-joob

I thought the walrus was Paul?

Kurt Faasse

Top o' the world, ma!

Or, if his health gets the better of him, it could be him and Karen Carpenter doing duets at the Pearly Gates. They could bill as the Walrus and the Carpenter.

Nicky

The real WTF...

...is honoring him for Bat Out of Hell and not Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

Trix
Thumb Up

Nice one

Anyone who takes lines like "Then I'm dying on the bottom of of a pit in the blazing sun / torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike / and I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell / and the last thing is see is my heart /still beating / breaking out of my body / and flying away / like a bat out of hell" seriously (or composes/sings them) deserves to endure a similar fate.

Oh, and the reason I know every damned word of that pox-faced album is that my parents had it on high-rotate in my early teens. Blech.

I can't decide between that PoS and the stupid Led Zep song based on LoTR (Ramble On) for stupid moments in boganhood, but they're pretty damn neck-and-neck.

Anonymous Coward
Thumb Down

I don't like Coldplay.

Can I have a job on The Reg too, please?

fred scuttle
Thumb Up

Yer can't shag em to meaty!!

I remember back in the good old days when I used to court girls in the good old ways of yonder days - the only trouble was that when Sir Meaty was playing the build up to the chorus it usually took about 15 minutes and when that amount of time had elapsed both the lady in question and the 'old fella' had lost interest - we didn't have them new fangled blue pills in them days!! - So to hell with Meaty, to hell with his crap time munching, celery wilting ballads.........

Back of the net.................. I'll get my meat-less coat..........

Sarah Bee
(Written by Reg staff)

Re: I don't like Coldplay.

>Can I have a job on The Reg too, please?

Of course. You can have my job, it's a total doss. Meet me on the baseball field at midnight. Dress all in black.

Ron Eve
Heart

LMBO

As I sit here sinking in a mire of debt and unwashed dishes, I suddenly find the will to live after reading this piece and the comments.

When all the world is going tits up around us, bankers are down to their last billion, is the most important thing to argue over the merits, or otherwise, of a cheap-meal themed, salad-dodging pork star and his overblown opus to a lone chiroptera leaving Hades?

It most certainly is.

Thank you Sarah and thanks to everyone here. My day, nay, week, is considerably enhanced.

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

@SB

Bee-san, you're too cool for school.

Signed: Unashamed fanboy.

Sceptical Bastard
Coat

Stop praising La Bee, 'tards

Oy! You bloody Sarah fanbois better back off! Unashamed sycophantic arse-licking of our beloved Moderatrix is my job!

I deeply resent protestations of love and lust by other commentards. I've got her photo set as my wallpaper and she's *my* masturbatory fantasy. Mine, y'hear. So leave it out, the rest of you slags.

On a (very slightly) more serious note, Mister Loaf may well be the ludicrous fat bastard portrayed by Ms Bee but the much-vaunted Bohemian Rhapsody must be the most over-rated six minutes of overblown mindless drivel in the history of music. Sorry, Sarah; that's not an opinion that's a fact.

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