The Bat Out of Hell songwriter who specialized in bombast

1947–2021

Jim Steinman did not believe in moderation. Known as the “Richard Wagner of rock ’n’ roll,” the songwriter composed some of the most grandiose hits of the past four decades. For Bonnie Tyler, he wrote the power ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” a melodramatic monster that spent four weeks at No. 1 in 1983. For Céline Dion, he came up with 1996’s tormented “It’s

All Coming Back to Me Now.” But his career would be defined by the seven songs he wrote for Meat Loaf’s 1977 debut album, Bat Out of Hell. In an era when three-minute songs were in vogue, the title track was a 10-minute gothic mini-opera overloaded with thundering guitars, pounding piano, and Meat Loaf’s vocal theatrics. “If you don’t go over the top,” Steinman said of his writing style, “you can’t see what’s on the other side.”

Jim Steinman

Raised on Long Island, N.Y., Steinman grew up listening to Little Richard and Wagner, said The Washington Post. After studying at Amherst College in Massachusetts, Steinman began writing for off-Broadway musicals. He met Meat Loaf (born Marvin Aday) while casting for one production and was impressed by the Texan’s “operatic singing voice and uninhibited performing style.” At the time, Steinman was working on a sexed-up, post-apocalyptic rock musical based on Peter Pan; he ran into copyright difficulties and so recast many of the songs for Bat Out of Hell.

The writer and singer fell out over royalties but reunited on 1993’s “international blockbuster” Bat Out of Hell II:

Back Into Hell, said the Los Angeles Times. Steinman lived alone in the Connecticut countryside, happy not to see anyone so he could focus on music. A song “walks around, it haunts you,” he said. “My brain never stops. It’s so hard for me even to sleep.”