News

RIP Jim Steinman

Songwriter and producer dies at 73

By Paul Sinclair

Comments

64

Jim Steinman 1947-2021

Sad news tonight, as we learn about the death of Jim Steinman. Best known for his work with Meat Loaf, and in particular the Bat Out Of Hell album, Steinman was a master when it came to overblown rock. There are many highs, although SDE would choose Bonnie Tyler‘s ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’ as our favourite Steinman work. It’s impossible to get bored of that song.

The cause of Steinman’s death is currently unclear. Rest in peace.

SuperDeluxeEdition.com helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.

Related Content

64 Comments

64 thoughts on “RIP Jim Steinman”

  1. So sad to hear the news. Remember the first 7″ single I purchased with my pocket money from Woolworths, back in the day, was Bat out of Hell. Since enjoyed his work with Meat, Bad for Good, Sisters of Mercy, Pandora’s Box, and Bat out of Hell Musical Soundtrack. OTT as always, rock on Jim, thanks for the memories, Rock in Peace.

  2. “It’s impossible to get bored of that song.”
    I disagree but it’s probably also due to several radio stations playing it virtually EVERY DAY, at some point I really couldn’t stand it anymore!

    I think the tracks he did with Meat Loaf are generally brilliant, though. Bat Out of Hell itself is a good example. RIP Jim.

    1. Bonkers but brilliant sums him up well I suppose. Reading the obituaries yesterday and they were all very nice and gave him his due. This quote from the man himself also shows great self awareness:
      “If you don’t go over the top you can’t see what’s on the other side,” Jim Steinman said. “So I start at ‘extreme’ and go from there.”  RIP.

      Been listening to Sisters of Mercy’s three albums (haven’t listened to them for possibly twenty years or so) and what fantastic albums they still are – due a super deluxe treatment? ‘This Corrosion’ still sounds fresh and vital – Eldritch and Steinman seemed way ahead of their time with this one.

      1. Jay,

        They had kind of a super deluxe treatment a couple of years back, when each album (plus Some Girls Wander…) was released in a vinyl box along with all of the 12″ singles that related to said album. I have all four boxes.

  4. Seems no one wants to mention Boyzone.

    Sisters of Mercy and Boyzone, the most peculiar CV double since Pete Sinfields work with King Crimson and Bucks Fizz.

    RIP Jim.

    1. He certainly wasn’t shy of some unusual challenges. The Boyzone thing was part of his collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the “Whistle Down The Wind” musical. I haven’t heard the soundtrack yet so can’t comment but with song titles like “Tyre tracks and broken hearts” it certainly seems like Steinman was leading on the lyrics

  5. Browsing the internet last night, killing time looking for anything Steinman related that I might have missed (I wasn’t aware of the Sisters of Mercy connection until I read it here yesterday), and I found a bunch of very interesting Steinman demos on You Tube. They’ve been there for some time so possibly wont be news to some here but were new to me. I hadnt realised that he recorded some of the Bat demos as far back as 1972.
    They are posted by a user named “The Historian” and it states they are posted with permission. If you search Youtube for “Steinman Heaven Can Wait Demo”, you’ll find them

  6. “You’re never alone cos you can put on the phones and let the drummer tell your heart what to do…” RIP, gone when the morning comes!

  7. RIP, Jim, I would definitely rank Making Love Out Of Nothing At All up there with Bat Out Of Hell and Total Eclipse Of The Heart for sheer bombast. I’m going to give my vote to For Crying Out Loud as THE Steinman song to listen to right now……

  8. Sad to hear that he’s gone, though I’ve gathered he’d been unwell for quite some time now. Either way, his ordeal is over and he’s left behind a very rich legacy – love or hate the guy’s style.

    Incidentally, I can’t be the only one who would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for his sessions with Andrew Eldritch. While his work with Meat Loaf will probably always be the bold face aspect of his list of projects, his contributions to the Sisters of Mercy rank high in my esteem.

    Thanks for the music, Jim.

  9. Check out Steinman’s 1981 solo LP “Bad For Good” – it’s basically “Bat Out Of Hell” version 2 minus Meatloaf with Steinman on vocals.

    1. make sure you get the version that starts with The Storm and ends with Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through as these tracks came with an EP with the early vinyl editions and were supposed to bookend the album as the whole thing was too long for vinyl. Part of the spoken work after left in the dark again (or before it) seem to be permanently lost although you can find it on the internet if you look

  10. My cousin gave me a cassette tape for my 8th birthday with Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out Of Hell” on it. It is still one of my favorite albums of all time. It’s very sad news that Jim Steinman has passed away. Rest in peace

  11. So sad to hear about Jim’s passing yesterday.

    I remember back in 1989 there was a late night show called The James Whale Radio Show – but on the telly – that would be on when I stumbled in from the pub. One week it showed a bonkers music video, set in a cemetery with flaming torches and motorbikes, and directed by Ken Russell – and, apart from thinking it sounded amazing, that was the only thing that registered in my befuddled head. Of course, there was no internet or Google to search for a title or artist. So I tuned in the following week, slightly more sober, on the off-chance it would get mentioned.

    Turned out I wasn’t the only one impressed by what I’d heard. Due to the sheer number of callers during the week, Whale played the video again, and that’s how I was introduced to Pandora’s Box, and the song “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now”.

    When their album Original Sin came out at the end of 1989 I bought it straight away, and nearly 32 years on it is still my favourite album. Steinman has said that if Original Sin had been a financial success he probably would not have done Bat Out Of Hell II (which I also love), so I have mixed emotions about there being no more Pandora’s Box – but like the album, Steinman was a one-off, a genius, and I will always be grateful for the music he gave us.

    Rest In Peace, Jim. And thank you.

    1. I’ve always been saddened Pandora’s Box didn’t go big. A chance buy in a cheapie bin of the double vinyl back in 1989 in New Zealand led me onto Steinman. And I collected all PD stuff voraciously.

  15. I remember meeting Jim and Meat at a signing in Korvettes in Paramus, NJ when Bat Out Of Hell came out and they both signed everything I had. Including 3 blank white sheets of paper that Jim signed all three and Meat signed each with part of his name so the three sheets formed name and hello. They were so cool and friendly. I also remember taking a poster that was strung on rope to form a row to line up along. They both signed that also for me. Years later at a Chiller Theater convention I met Ellen Foley who did the female vocals on the album and then I also met Karla DeVito who did the video.
    Jim will be missed. His rock opera was released at a time when rock and roll was back with a vengence after the disco phase.
    Bat Out Of Hell is part of my history and will never be replaced.

    David Rubin

  16. Sad Day Indeed. Bat Out Of Hell was a constant of my youth, it was a monster and bought it’s producer, Todd Rundgren, acreage in Hawaii. Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through on his 1st solo LP (which I believe was inserted as a single), is almost the perfect rock song. RIP Mr. Steinman

    1. Bob,

      You are correct, the vinyl version of Steinman’s “Bad for Good” album came with a 45″ single (referred to on the cover of the album as an EP) of which side #1 is “Storm” and side #2 is “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through” – I’m looking at my vinyl copy of this and listening to the CD as I type this. Interestingly, the CD version of the album inserts RaRDCT between sides A and B, and places “The Storm” (the “The” is added on the CD track listing) at the end.

      As far as I am aware, “Bad for Good” was Jim’s only solo album, although he was the brains and motivation behind other projects, including Fire Inc. and Pandora’s Box.

      One of my favourite albums he was heavily involved in is Meat Loaf’s “Dead Ringer” (Jim wrote all of the tracks and produced the album), which I think is seriously under appreciated, and was released the same year as BfG – 1981 was a productive time for Jim it seems.

      I am one of the ones who appreciates his overblown style of rock, and am saddened that we will get no new songs from him.

      1. On some CD reissues of the solo album the two EP tracks are more correctly placed as the first and last tracks. On the original 7-inch EP, the tracks were listed as The Storm (Prologue To The Album “Bad For Good”) and Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through (Epilogue To The Album “Bad For Good”).

        R.I.P. Jim

      2. Wow, what a typo! A 45″ single. I’ve yet to see a turntable big enough. Of course I meant a 7″ single, that incidentally spun at 33 rpm.

  17. I always adored how he was so unapologetic in his grandiosity. Love him or hate him, one could never be bored listening to him. My favorite work from him was his songs from the Streets of Fire soundtrack. Those songs never fail to get my heart racing and are as effective while watching the movie as they are just listening to the album.

  19. For me, Bat Out of Hell is one of a few, not many, albums. That on first listen I thought “Wow” from start to finish.
    My family and I have song along to this on many holiday journeys. Happy days.
    Thank you Jim, RIP.

  20. Re the Sisters songs : As Andrew Eldritch once put it : “With This Corrosion, Steinman won. On More, I won.” I personally prefer This Corrosion. Didn’t realise he did Dominion / Mother Russia too.

  21. Always remember being intrigued by the cover of Bat Out of Hell 2, which I nicked from my mate’s CD shelf when I was a teenager! Great album and Steinman’s theatrical, grandiose arrangements really chimed with me. That kicked off my love of Queen, Muse and many more OTT rock gods! RIP, Jim.

  22. Just a few days ago, I had to think about the story of Jim Steinman, Def Leppard and their Hysteria recordings. The band later complained about the work with Steinman. They said, he dind’t act, like he is the genius , as everyone thinks.

    They said, the band had just noodeling around in the studio just to setup the mics. Nothing serious and Steinman said “Ok, boys. Thats it. We have it” and said they have just a hit.
    The band just looked at each other and could not believe whats going on.

    Joe Elliot said, he had this tapes in his safe, but they will never release anything of it, because it is so bad.

    1. I think this was confirmed in an article I read about Joe Elliot saying the tracks would never see the light of day when he said that Steinman was a brilliant song writer, but it really didn’t equate to a brilliant producer – something they learned the expensive / timely / hard way on the initial production of Hysteria.

  23. ‘Tonight is What it Means to be Young’ (from the soundtrack to 1984’s Streets of Fire movie) may not be Mr Steinman’s best known song, but it sums up his oeuvre perfectly – the completely-over-the-top production, the youthful angst, the desire, the sex!

    Great songwriter. Great producer. He will be missed.

  27. He was a top songwriter RIP Jim, I got into him via my uncle who had Jim’s solo album bad for good which I still play and love.
    update from English news is
    Bill Steinman said his brother died at his home in Connecticut on Monday from kidney failure, having been ill for a long time.

  29. Jim Steinman was a master of production, orchestration, drama and excess but he also wrote some of the most beautiful, intricate and intelligent lyrics. I loved the fact that he just did what he wanted. If it resulted in a 10 minute track, then so be it and it was always fun seeing how the record label would squeeze the extra long title onto the label. Jim had unfortunately been unwell for some time so the prospect of any new work from him was already probably long gone but that doesnt make his passing any less of a loss. I have no idea what sort of archive Jim had, but with such a lengthy career, I bet there’s some unreleased treasures in there and I hope it has a good custodian.

    I think Jim’s last “project” as such was overseeing the production of “Bat Out of Hell – The Musical” – something he had been planning for years, so I’m glad that one of his rock and dreams came through. (Incidentally the 2CD Musical soundtrack is worth a purchase – some stunning performances from the West End’s best cast)

    Strangely enough, I last played a Steinman song in the car only yesterday (“It just wont quit”) and last bought a Steinman product only a week ago (“Bat Out of Hell” Clear vinyl – Sainsburys £20.99). Dont know how many versions of Bat I already have but i’m a sucker for coloured vinyl. I hadn’t planned on opening this version, but I might just break the seal this afternoon as a tribute. Steinman music has given me much pleasure over the years, and I expect it to in the future also.

  30. I was quite surprised to read on here that Steinman had produced This Corrosion, which is one of my favourite Sisters of Mercy songs. But now that I know that, and having heard other Steinman produced tracks, I’m not surprised. Music needs more people like him but I don’t think we’ll see his like again.

  31. Jim Steinman’s music never seemed to be fashionable or cool to like, but the songs are timeless and sold in bucket loads. There almost seemed to be a shyness for some people in revealing how much they like his music – a little like there was with Abba for many years before it was okay to celebrate how great they are. I’ve always loved the songs.

    Some of the narrative around Jim and Meat Loaf was the struggle to sell Bat Out Of Hell to record companies, and almost more remarkably, the struggle to sell Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell to those same companies. Give the public a great melody, a bit of boy meets girl drama in the lyrics, a huge production and a brilliant singer(s), and what’s not to like?

    I’m sure there are other examples, but the quality of the sequel alongside the original Bat Out Of Hell, must be hard to beat.

    Bat Out Of Hell didn’t quite fit on one side of a DC90 tape, so the last minute or two of For Crying Out Loud was on side B – not exactly the best way to end the album, but we played that tape to death.

    As someone who likes to play the piano, and somehow hear in my head that what I’m playing and groaning along to is reminiscent of Meat Loaf, the songs of Jim Steinman are a joy to play – they all translate well to sheet music, which really is no surprise, but is still a delight.

    I could list a whole of songs I love, but three of my favourites are: Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are, It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, and Dead Ringer For Love.

    1. That song is even more overplayed over here! And it really annoys me. To me, the song is just way too frantic and over-arranged with useless effects and horrible sounding electronic drums.

  33. I was the first person in my town to buy “Bat Out Of Hell” – I know this because our only record shop had to order it in especially when I asked for it after hearing “You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth” on Radio Luxembourg (FAB208!), which I think was just before the breakthrough Whistle Test performance… I still love the album to this day, one of those rare timeless records that exists in its own universe, and lest we forget, all credit is due to him for getting the “Songs by Jim Steinman” strapline on the front cover of the album, all but unique for a songwriter. RIP.

  34. I had the solo Original Sin album back in the day, a huge camp spectacularly over the top album. As Paul said you just cannot ever get bored of listening to Total Eclipse Of The Heart, one of the all time great pop singles.
    R.I.P. Jim

  35. My ex was obsessed with Steinman, to the point I think I’m going to check in with him and see how he’s doing. I always appreciated the massive almost symphonic approach he took to rock music, though I wasn’t a massive fan. Of course, I love the classics, but I also suffered from some over exposure while I was with my ex, including going to the premiere of the US version of Dance of the Vampire, which was horrendous. (Steinman agreed–apparently Michael Crawford interfered quite a bit during the production process, insisting it needed to be “lighter” and instead made it kitschy–the audience was laughing hysterically at points that were not supposed to be funny. I don’t remember if the show eve made it out of previews.) But his work with Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler was amazing, and I will always love Pandora’s Box and even have a soft-spot for Steinman’s solo album. It’s definitely a loss to rock music.

  36. I prefer More over This Corrosion but all praise goes to Total Eclipse of the Heart. RIP Jim Steinman. “… like a sinner I come crawling on back to you…”. And Mutt Lange.
    Will we ever get to hear Steinman/Def Leppard demos? Probably not. A different Wall Of Sound.

    1. I wasn’t aware ‘This Corrosion’ was produced by him – and indeed ‘Dominion/Mother Russia’ – makes complete sense though with the brilliantly bombastic choruses for which he apparently hired a 40 voice choir. Used to love the Floodland album in my youth – might dig it out again in tribute and rediscover my inner goth. Love the Bat out of Hell song too – although I can have too much Meat Loaf very quickly (insert joke here). Stay safe.

  37. I remember buying ‘Bat Out of Hell’ in W H Smith in Woking in 1977 purely because the cover looked so awesome. At that moment i had no idea what it was going to sound like, very rarely heard anything better since that afternoon. Still have the vinyl to this day. RIP Jim and thank you.

  38. He took an almost operatic (well maybe stage musical) approach with his songs. Just for the record (pardon the pun) Bat Out of Hell was produced by Todd Rundgren.

  39. “It’s all Coming Back To Me Now” was first written for the 1977 ” Bat Out of Hell” LP, but then Jim Steinman, RIP, considered it for a woman to sing, Celine sang it 19 Years after it was written, & MeatLoaf wanted to sing it all that time. Andrew Lloyd Webber told Steinman he thought this song was “the greatest love song ever written,” and on hearing Dion’s version reportedly said: “This will be the record of the millennium”, according to UK Sunday Times.

  40. Remember watching in Old Grey Whistle Test when Bob Harris introduced Meatloaf, it was a wall of sound and powerful new style written by Jim Steinman. Really liked it for first year until it was over played. RIP

    1. Ditto. I absolutely hate Total Eclipse and have to leave the county if it comes on the radio but there’s no denying this guy’s contributions to music…

  47. Very sad. You didn’t need to hear too much of a song to know that it had Steinman’s leather gloves on the mixing desk. I’m voting for This Corrosion as my favourite production of his.

Leave a Reply