One of the greatest rock albums of all time puts a baseball spin on a power ballad about teenage romance.
by Rich Watson
He was born Marvin Lee Aday, but the world knows him as Meat Loaf, the plus-sized rock star with the bombastic voice and operatic songs. He has toured with Janis Joplin, Van Morrison, The Who, The Grateful Dead, Bob Seger and more. He has also acted on TV and in movies such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club.
In 1977, after appearing on stage in musicals such as Hair and touring as part of several acts, he released a debut solo record, Bat Out of Hell. It wasn’t a big hit at first but it would eventually go multi-platinum.
One of the best-known hits from that album was “Paradise By the Dashboard Lights,” a song about teenage lust with an unusual twist: a spoken-word movement halfway through performed by a baseball Hall of Famer.
