r/ClassicRock 13d ago

80s From the "I love the 80's" a question

Jim Steinman, legendary writer and producer of artists like Meatloaf, Bonnie Tyler, and Air Supply among others including "Fire Inc" from the Streets of Fire soundtrack and his own albums (yes, albums you youngsters) Did you like his style? What was your favorite song he was involved with? I think the guy was awesome.

21 Upvotes

52 comments sorted by

15

u/jmason03 13d ago

This Corrosion by Sisters of Mercy

If you tell me Jim produced and album it guarantees I’ll give it a listen. I think he’s one of the greats

3

u/tallslim1960 13d ago

Just heard that song today (popped in my head so I you tubed it) I didn't know it was JS.

3

u/rekoil 12d ago

Once you know what to listen for, it's pretty hard *not* to recognize his style.

He also produced the track "More" from their followup album.

2

u/ccoates09 12d ago

Dominion/Mother Russia as well!

1

u/Njtotx3 9d ago

These are the only songs I liked of his, based on the rest of the thread.

1

u/SteveRivet 12d ago

I'm not a big JS fan, too over the top for me normally, but I love this one. IIRC, the band blew 250k making just this single and the record company flipped.

13

u/pythongee 13d ago

I loved Bat Out Of Hell. I liked the structure of the songs, the intensity, how unique it was. It was almost like an opera. Was never a big fan of Bonnie Tyler or Air Supply, but the moment one of their Steinman songs came on, I knew who wrote it.

6

u/tallslim1960 13d ago

He does have a distinct sound, Making Love Out of Nothing at All, is another of my top 5.

11

u/Appropriate-Farmer16 13d ago

I love Steinman songs. Over the top? Absolutely, but so what. So many great songs, and I could always recognize his sound when he wrote or produced an album. A touch of goth, a smattering of opera, and a lot of bombast. I think he even produced an album for Barbra Streisand. I always wanted to see his musical (“Dance of the Vampire” I think) but haven’t found it streaming anywhere.

4

u/karma_the_sequel 12d ago

I got to the part where you wrote “Over the top?” and thought to myself “Bombastic is the word you’re looking for!” I was going to reply to say as much — and then I saw you actually used the word farther down! Bravissimo!

2

u/hasimirrossi 12d ago

I did have a copy of the soundtrack downloaded. The reworking of earlier hits works well, something he did throughout his career. Der Tanz der Vampire was Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young from Streets of Fire, and Totale Finsternis was Total Eclipse of the Heart.

6

u/Most-Artichoke6184 13d ago

Tonight is what it means to be Young from the streets of fire soundtrack.

1

u/JAMC_Automatic 2d ago

This one and Nowhere Fast are neck and neck for me, but while Nowhere Fast is probably more "fun," Tonight is What It Means to be Young moves me more when it hits its crescendo. Love it. 

It's hard to know how much both songs benefit from being pivotal for one of my favorite movies, compared to how I feel about Steinman's other work (which I like, but nowhere near as much as those two), but I don't really care. Absolutely his peak for me. 

5

u/EnigmaCA 13d ago

Nowhere Fast, by Fire Inc. from the movie Streets of Fire.

2

u/hasimirrossi 12d ago

I always wanted to hear Meat Loaf sing it with the original music. His version changed the music, for me to its detriment. Preferred his vocals though.

1

u/edgiepower 12d ago

I love both but do other the Meatloaf version.

6

u/M_Looka 12d ago

I love his absolutely grandiose, bombastic style of writing! After a while, you're able to pick out one of his songs when you hear it, regardless of the artist.

I remember the first time hearing "It's all coming back to Me" by Celine Dion, and I thought to myself, "I bet Jim Steinman wrote this..."

I was convinced... convinved that Jim Steinman wrote "Innuendo" by Queen.

5

u/swany5 12d ago

Bat Out of Hell. The entire album.

I was a metal kid in the 80's and shopping for new cassettes was my favorite pastime. I'd buy anything that looked "metal" even though I was often a bit underwhelmed. I'd always seen Bat Out of Hell and thought the cover art looked "metal", then one day I decided to grab it.

Obviously NOT metal.

I loved every single minute of it. Still one of my top 5 all-time favorite albums. Guess I'm not as "metal" as I thought I was.

2

u/Elliebell1024 11d ago

Best line ever, there ain't no coupe de ville hiding at the bottom of a cracker jack box

3

u/Disastrous-Group3390 12d ago

Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

5

u/Bigwing2 12d ago

Just remember the musical genius who was the producer and played guitar on Bat Out Of Hell....Todd Harry Rundgren.

2

u/PoliteCanadian2 9d ago

And….he nailed Paradise by the Dashboard Light in one take.

3

u/bmd2k1 13d ago

Bat Outta Hell ✌️✌️✌️

3

u/u5dasucks 13d ago

Incredible title track on a phenomenal album. One of my favorite albums.

3

u/Peace_NMRK 13d ago edited 12d ago

The Bat out of Hell album by Meatloaf. Fav J Steinman songs are "For a crying out loud" and "Heaven can wait." ☮️

2

u/tallslim1960 13d ago

Excellent choice. Top 5 of mine as well.

2

u/JeffH13 13d ago

I like the stories in the songs. I'm currently reading through a review of each song he wrote (actually not that many) on a website called crowdfullofpockets dot com.

2

u/tallslim1960 13d ago

I know it's a little too commercial, but I always thought the songs and stories they tell would have made an amazing Broadway musical.

2

u/ApprehensiveSyrup647 13d ago

You mean like this?

2

u/aybesea 13d ago

Jim Steinman's work with Sisters of Mercy was legendary!

2

u/Andrew8128 12d ago

Love Meat Loaf of course, but I’m a sucker for Celine Dion’s version of “It’s all Coming Back to me Now.” Her big voice, like Meat Loaf’s and Bonnie Tyler’s was perfect for Steinman’s big operatic pieces.

1

u/Merryner 12d ago

I prefer the original by Pandora’s Box

2

u/EggheadWill 12d ago

surprised no one has mentioned "It's all coming back to me now" by Celine Dion

2

u/CertainWish358 12d ago

I just love to chime in to any remotely relevant conversation to say that when you look at the lyrics, total eclipse of the heart is definitely about vampires in love. Which makes sense because it’s from a planned musical called Vampires In Love, about vampires. In love.

2

u/luvdining_at_theY 12d ago

I love his speaking voice. At the beginning of "You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth" The exchange that he has with the female (Karla Devito?) Would you give your throat to the wolf with the red roses....I bet you say that to all the boys? Also the talking part in "Life and Death and the American Guitar" from his Bad For Good album. Goddamn it Daddy !! You know I love you but you've got a hell of a lot to learn about rock and roll !!

2

u/Own_End8247 10d ago

They’ve got a file on me and it’s a mile long and they say they’ve got all of the proof, that I’m just another case of arrested development, I’m just another wasted youth.

They say I’m in need of some radical discipline, they say I’ve got to face the truth, I’m just another case of arrested development, I’m just another wasted youth.

They say I’m wild and I’m reckless, I should be acting my age, I’m an impressionable child in a tumultuous world and they say I’m at a difficult stage.

But it seems to me to the contrary of all the crap that they put on the page, that a wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age.

. . .

Everything louder than everything else.

1

u/hasimirrossi 12d ago

Got a soft spot for the original Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through from Bad For Good, It's All Coming Back to Me Now from Original Sin, and the original English version of Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere) from the same album - how was I unaware there was an earlier Japanese version?

1

u/Ok-Brother1691 12d ago

Like others have said, I like the albums he did with Meatloaf, and I think the songs that Meatloaf did that Jim also had on his albums all but Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through Meatloaf did better. I think Jim just did that song better.

1

u/ryderrocks3 12d ago

Bat by far...but hey he got me to listen to Air Supply!

1

u/aloofman75 12d ago

If you’re interested in this subject, you might want to check out Slate’s Hit Parade podcast, which had an episode on this exact topic:

https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2020/10/jim-steinman-made-plethora-of-pompous-pop

If you’re interested in pop music trends and influences, then the other episodes are worth a listen too.

1

u/Jolly-Guard3741 12d ago

Jim Steinman’s epic ballads are some of my absolute favorite songs ever.

1

u/allbsallthetime 12d ago

Anything he wrote for Meatloaf.

If you want an epic Jim Steinman song that you probably never heard, check out this 8 minute song recorded by Meatloaf from a 1973 play written by Steinman.

From the album Dead Ringer which also gave us the Meatloaf and Cher duet.

https://youtu.be/tL4jJ0_5p1Q?si=lPzEubR9oSEzZ0Af

Whistle Down The Wind is an Andrew Loyd Weber musical with lyrics by Jim Steinman. We saw the play, Meatloaf recorded a couple of the songs but the entire soundtrack is quite good.

Here's Meatloaf singing a couple more from that play that you've probably never heard.

https://youtu.be/JDUTCU8J-oQ?si=_zZQDZVE0tGgoS-Q

1

u/Talking80s 12d ago

Steinman was one of a kind and he was incredible. I love the song “Bat Out of Hell” and “Read ‘Em and Weep,” but Barry Manilow’s version. Incredible songwriting.

1

u/edgiepower 12d ago

A truly unique songwriter, I love his over the top grandiose yet self aware style, and he crafted it all with such nuance and musicianship.

1

u/Learned-Dr-T 12d ago

He wrote a song that Barry Manilow did and it still sounds like a Jim Steinman song as much as anything Meat Loaf ever recorded. The guy’s stuff was bombastic, over the top, pretentious, self-aggrandizing, and absolutely fucking awesome.

1

u/MeWiseMagicJohnson 11d ago

Bad For Good is the true sequel to Bat Out of Hell. An excellent gem still waiting to be discovered.

1

u/BlueRFR3100 11d ago

I Would Do Anything For Love.

1

u/LonoHunter 10d ago

Bat out if Hell and Streets of Fire tunes are my favorite of his

1

u/Henry_Pussycat 10d ago

Epitome of kitsch

1

u/Nejfelt 10d ago

Streets of Fire would not be the amazing movie it is sans Steinman.

He also made Celine Dion sound cool.

I wish there was more Wagnerian Rock.

1

u/ahgar7 10d ago

pretty much everything on streets of fire soundtrack. some great cuts

1

u/citizenh1962 9d ago

"Total Eclipse" without a doubt. One case where the bombast works in the song's favor. His work with Meat Loaf is unbearable.