Jim Steinman productions - search/destroy

camp is fundamentally american. fuck clement greenberg.

It's not sanitary, and it's not particularly aesthetically pleasing

Story of my life, Jim, story of my life.

i taught a lesson to 9th graders today about kitsch. there is a character in a juhmpa lahiri story who appreciates christian kitsch, to the horror of her husband, who likes tasteful decor and mahler. i taught them that this openness, this resistance to aesthetic snobbery, could be seen as a virtue, not a sign of the character's immaturity or whatever.

i planned this before i knew jim steinman died.

guy had a real talent for translating teen horniness into intense metaphysical psychodramas that did not know the meaning of the word "overblown," and his gift for melody made these weird unwieldy campy sagas of intense loneliness and lust into legit hits over, what, the length of like two decades? god bless him.

Solid description of how Springsteen worked at his best too.

Bonnie speaks

I am absolutely devastated to learn of the passing of my long term friend and musical mentor Jim Steinman. pic.twitter.com/TvR01AUXKr

— Bonnie Tyler (@BonnieTOfficial) April 20, 2021

http://nobilliards.blogspot.com/2021/02/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-ii-back-into.html

Tyler getting to do "Total Eclipse" instead of Meat Loaf thanks to label fuckery was an accidental blessing. He rules, obviously, but she takes it to a level he wouldn't have even attempted.

interesting

My closest friend in Junior High School died. Jim Steinman, the creator of Meat Loaf and the songwriter for "Bat Out of Hell." I would go over to his house in Hewlett and listen to Wagner. Always planned to reconnect with him. I guess I waited too long.

— errolmorris (@errolmorris) April 22, 2021

Huh. It's always wild when paths cross like this.

Gates of Heaven meet Bat Out of Hell.

Meat remembers:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/meat-loaf-remembers-jim-steinman-1160041/

But we were never apart even though we were apart. We never lost each other. We also never sued each other, no matter what people write. It’s a fuckin’ lie to say otherwise. I never sued Jim. Jim never sued me. Our managers sued each other. But my heart never sued Jim. And I know Jim’s heart never sued me.

<3

yeah, that's a read and a half.
what an interview.

Wow

I don’t want to die, but I may die this year because of Jim. I’m always with him and he’s right here with me now. I’ve always been with Jim and Jim has always been with me.

We belonged heart and soul to each other. We didn’t know each other. We were each other.

honestly that is one of the most interesting interviews I've ever read

that was amazing. i fully cried at the end.

I recall reading an interview with Steinman in Kerrang or something years ago. He was saying that Meat Loaf had some difficulty in separating fact from fiction, like he'd be reminiscing about when the two of them would eat burgers at the beach and cruise around in a convertible and Jim would be saying "Meat, we never did that!", and Meat would convince himself it was true anyway. So I'd take anything he says with a pinch of salt, but I think he does get to some kind of emotional truth in what he's saying. Also I'd forgotten he sang on a Ted Nugent album!

Total Eclipse of the Heart is a killer karaoke number btw, if you're feeling brave.