January 30, 2012

Meat Loaf Monday: "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through"!

It's Monday, so you know what that means: no, not work, but the inaugural edition of Meat Loaf Monday! You might have thought I'd start off with "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" or "Paradise By The Dashboard Light," but if you thought that, you'd be wrong. Meat Loaf Monday is all about throwing my readers curve balls... or should I say curve meatballs! Watch and be amazed:



One of the reasons I decided to start with this song is because I heard it on my alarm radio the other morning, but there was one major difference: it was a cover version of the song, but it was subdued and laid-back. Almost country music-esque. That struck me as strange; if you're going to cover a Meat Loaf song, you need to try to be louder, more exuberant, more over-the-top, and even more full-on than the Meat Man himself, and that's a pretty tall order. You don't cover Meat Loaf songs, he covers your songs, and he sings the hell out of them. That's just his M.O. (a Latin abbreviation for meatus operandi).

So that got me into this Meat Loaf Monday idea, but this song is also pretty good. OK, I'm not going to bullshit you: the song's spectacular. It's got a sweet opening line ("You can't run away for ever / but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start"), and in classic Meat Loaf fashion it builds up more and more grandeur with each beat. 

The video is great, too, but in a weird way. I guess it's about... hmm, Rock and Roll being awesome? The redemptive power of sweet music? Motorcycles? It's hard to tell what's going on. Frankly, if I had about $500,000 and the rights to a Meat Loaf song at my disposal, I'd probably make a pretty similar video with similar bizarre crap: random explosions; a sexy cyborg that appears to be half juke box, half supermodel; dangerously flying radios; fog machines; flashy-light necklaces; and Angelina Jolie. I'm pretty sure the idea of the video is that Meat Loaf saves some kids, but at the beginning he looks like he's trapped in a Zoltar machine, and later on he seems to be some kind of homeless wanderer/warrior (and are those prosthetic ears??). It's hard to tell if he's trying to save, seduce, or kidnap Angelina Jolie. In any case, it's certainly her best acting role ever, although not Meat Loaf's (that'd be his role in Fight Club).  

So, happy Meat Loaf Monday! I hope it starts your week off with a nice, meaty bang, and we'll see you next week!

365: Picture a Day Project    365 Leftovers    All My Pictures    Sitzbook

4 comments:

Paul said...

I know that girl that was trying to read braille was having a hell of a time with it, but I still had trouble comparing her struggle to that of the kid with the shotgun or Angelina Jolie with the lips and all.

Either way, I think I could get used to this Meat Loaf Monday. And speaking of which, I haven't had meat loaf in a long time. A highly under-rated loaf, just like the man was a highly under-rated rock star.

Sitzman said...

Haha, I agree about the Braille girl... actually, it seemed like pretty weird Braille, almost like bas relief Hebrew letters, but maybe that's just the crappy video quality.

But you're right that it pales in comparison to Angelina Jolie's lip-based persecution. I imagine at the beginning of the video her dad was yelling, "You stupid girl, ain't nobody ever gonna love you with yer big ol' lips like them'ns!"

And we didn't even mention that Meat Loaf didn't even try to rescue the poor girl trapped in the Matrix Juke Box.

I'll try to do Meat Loaf Monday as much as possible. I think one of my Mediocre Bucket List items (check out TCGTE if you don't know what I'm talking about) is to listen to Meat Loaf while making meatloaf.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

dentremo said...

You know, this was my favorite track from that album, but I've heard it only once or twice since 1994. I had the cassette back then. However, those days I was working for a sub shop delivering sandwiches, and one day while taking a turn too fast, I spilled some creme of something soup on the cassette, ruining it.

And yes, the video was great. But in that era, it seemed like everyone had a few hundred k to blow on videos.

Sitzman said...

Thanks for the comment! You're right, I think the 90s was much more focused on making music videos instead of movies, which is probably why at the moment I'm having trouble thinking of any movie I liked that came out of 1994.

Sorry to hear about the cassette, but I can dub it for you if you want.