Musicians - Jim Steinman

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	Musicians - Jim Steinman

James Richard Steinman (born November 1, 1947 in New York City, New York) (more commonly known as Jim Steinman) is an American rock and musical theater composer. He is notable for having written most of Meat Loaf's hit songs, in addition to hits for many other musical artists. His three biggest musical successes are an album Bat Out of Hell (1977), sung by Meat Loaf, "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" (1983), sung by Bonnie Tyler, and a German musical Tanz der Vampire (1998).

The Dream Engine

While he was a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts, Jim wrote the book, music, and lyrics for The Dream Engine (1969), a musical about revolution. The story, set in the distant future, is about a young boy named Baal who, along with his rebel fellows, don't accept the restraints and limits of their society. Baal is the leader of a group of wild boys called The Tribe, whose mortal enemies are Max and Emily, the parents of the Girl, a young woman with whom Baal has fallen in love. Steinman himself played Baal in the original production, which was staged in the Spring of 1969. Critics hailed the musical as visionary and ahead of its time. Its Steinman-composed tagline said it all: "Makes 'Hair' look like 'Hello Dolly.'" Some themes from Steinman's later songs can already be heard here, like the "Turn Around" line in Total Eclipse of the Heart. This show was remade 8 years later as Neverland (see below).

Joseph Papp, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival, saw the play and was so impressed he signed it up during intermission. He wanted to bring it to Broadway, but was stopped by the law because the play was much too sexually explicit to be represented in a public place.

More Than You Deserve

From the collaboration with Papp, another musical was born: originally titled "Souvenirs," it became More Than You Deserve (1974), co-written by Michael Weller. In 1974, Papp was producing a show; the author, Weller, said he was interested in adding a song or two to the show. Papp hooked up Mr. Weller with Steinman. Steinman had other ideas though. He envisioned a full blown Broadway musical, and pretty soon he had his way, with Jim writing the music and collaborating on the lyrics with Mr. Weller.

It was during the auditions for this show that history was made. This marks a very important encounter for Steinman. A young actor from Texas whose biggest show to date had been Hair showed up for a part in Jim's new show and tried out; his nickname was Meat Loaf. After hearing him sing a song from his album Stoney & Meatloaf called (I'd Love To Be) As Heavy As Jesus, they were so impressed that they gave him the script and asked him to tell them which character he would like to play. He surprised them all by picking Rabbit, a not too bright soldier who believed he was helping send his fellow comrades home by blowing them up with hand grenades and other ammo. The moment Steinman saw him, he realized that Meat Loaf was going to be his voice.

The story is set in Vietnam during the war in a non-combat camp run by a commander who is impotent and who falls in love with a reporter sent to cover the camp, who turns out to be a nymphomaniac when she is gang raped by the other soldiers in the camp. However, she realizes at the end that she will be even happier giving up her new found lust for sex to settle down with the impotent commander.

Neverland

In 1977 another musical saw the light (as a workshop in Washington, DC, and New York), Neverland. Basically a re-write of The Dream Engine, this time more overtly based on J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, but much more of an adult version, although it's questionable how much this 1977 version has in common with Steinman's finished concept of Neverland. Thematically all, or at least most, of Steinman songs and works, can be seen as ongoing parts of his Neverland. Meat Loaf has joked about this, claiming "He (Steinman) thinks I'm Tinkerbell!"

Bat Out of Hell

1977 was important for another reason for Steinman, as it saw the debut of the album Bat Out of Hell, that he has recorded with Meat Loaf as lead singer. The album featured music of a bombastic and Wagnerian style, not quite the style that was considered hit material in the Seventies. When they started proposing it to music companies they had a lot of trouble finding someone willing to produce it. They still needed a label and it took them some more time before they finally settled with Cleveland International Records. The album was not an immediate hit but soon grew to become the second best selling album of all time.

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