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OK, this was an interesting BATTLE. Don’t ya think? I’ll be
perfectly honest, I was $2.00 over that line of not enough sleep, and running
faster than I can, when I came up with this BATTLE. I really didn’t expect it
to be one of my best. Frankly, I kind of expected it to be a shut-out. BUT, as
usual you guys, my trusty voters, surprised me.
I’ve always kind of liked this song. I know it’s smaltzy,
overdone, over produced and pretty much typical Meatloaf, but I have always
like it. Here’s what Wacky-Watchee has to say about Meatloaf or Michael or
Marvin.
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947) is an
American musician and actor best known by his stage name Meat Loaf. He
is noted for the Bat Out of Hell album trilogy consisting of Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of
Hell II: Back Into Hell and Bat
Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose and his powerful vocals
over a three-octave range.[citation needed]
Bat Out of Hell has sold more than 43 million copies worldwide.[1] After 35 years, it still sells an
estimated 200,000 copies annually and stayed on the charts for over nine years,
making it one of the best selling albums of all time.[2][3]
Although he enjoyed success with Bat
Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and earned a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
for the song "I'd
Do Anything for Love" on the latter album, Meat Loaf
experienced some initial difficulty establishing a steady career within his
native US. However, he has retained iconic status and popularity in Europe,
especially the UK, where he ranks 23rd for the number of weeks overall spent on
the charts as of 2006. He ranked 96th on VH1's
"100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
He is one of the best-selling
artists of all time, with worldwide sales of more than 80 million
records.[4] He has also appeared in over 50 movies
and television shows,[5] sometimes as himself or as characters
resembling his stage persona. His most notable roles include Eddie in the
American premiere of The Rocky Horror Show
and The Rocky Horror
Picture Show. He also appeared in David Fincher's Fight Club in 1999 as the character Robert
Paulson.
If you read through the comments, you will note that LC of http://discconnected.blogspot.com/
who happens to be ‘somewhat’ of a Todd Rundgren fan, pointed out that Meatloaf
was having trouble getting this album produced and it was Rundgren who came to
his aid. LC also noted that his work with Meatloaf, built Rundgren a beachfront
home in Hawaii. Not bad, eh?
Anyway…before we get to my vote (unless you have already figured
out that I’m voting for Meatloaf) and the final tally, I promised to WOW you
with my piece of Flash Fiction originally inspired by this song. So here it is:
Lightning
Lightning
flashed and I immediately started counting in my head…one-one-thousand,
two-one-thousand. The thunder rolled across the ocean and crashed onto the
shore with an unusual intensity. Even expecting it, I jumped. You didn’t even
stir. I never did sleep like that. There is so much about you that I envy.
Maybe that’s my problem. Envy.
I
can’t express how or why I fell in love with you. There’s so much we have in
common and yet the differences are monumental. Oh well, there is that
‘opposites attract’ thing; maybe that’s what we have going on. I’m not sure
anymore. I am sure of one thing; it’s going on more for me than you.
“Hey,
I’m always in pursuit. I’m just not pursuing you.” You told me that from the
very beginning.
Did
I listen? I fell for every line, never realizing that they weren’t lines at
all. I’m still not sure exactly what they were. What you were or are about. I
do know one thing for sure; for me this is one big heartbreak.
Another
flash and the room is illuminated. I marvel at your beauty. Asleep or awake you
are gorgeous. I’m grateful for the time we had together. The times I looked
into your soul. The time I spent sharing mine. I needed that, still do, but
it’s time to go.
“Always
leave ‘em wanting more. Never take that extra curtain call. Slip away before
the applause completely wanes.” Sage advice. It’s time I took it and made a
graceful exit.
Another
flare granting just enough light for me to gather my things. The next burst
comes and I’m ready to leave. May your dreams be sweet and your memories of me
tender.
Lightning
flashed one more time, and I’m gone.
I wrote that piece for a contest where ‘Lightening
Flashed’ was the prompt. I did make it to the finals, but I didn’t win. I think
maybe I might have had a better chance if our entries had been anonymous, but
maybe that’s just me. If I remember correctly I lost out to a piece about kids
playing baseball. Moving on...
Let’s get back to BATTLE OF THE BANDS and
the final tally. As I stated above, but maybe no so clearly, I like and voted
for Meatloaf. As some of you mentioned Bonnie Tyler gave this song a pretty
good try, but DISCO, seriously? In the comment section I was also left a link
to Todd Rundgren’s version and sadly (for me at least) it’s also a disco
version.
The final tally including my vote is:
Meatload 12 votes including mine
Bonnie
Tyler 3 votes
I do thank the three of you who voted for
Bonnie Tyler, thus saving me from ANOTHER shut-out. To those of you who voted
Meatloaf grudgingly, I guess you’re not with the popular view that this album
is ‘one of the best-selling albums of all time’ and Meatloaf is ‘the best-selling
artist of all time’, at least according to Wacky-Wachee.
As always, I appreciate your votes and you
all coming around to join in the fun of BATTLE OF THE BANDS. I’ll be back on
December 1st with another BATTLE. This is my favorite month for BATTLE OF THE
BANDS (and just about everything else), cause I’ll be using ‘Christmas Music’.
See you then!
I tend to go back and read the comments on your battles after you post the results. (This is yet another sign of me not keeping up with blogging very well.) Anyway, I was shocked by the number of people who voted for Meatloaf with a grudge.
ReplyDeleteAh well... no accounting for taste!!!
Oh... and your flash fiction... I am sorry it didn't win:( Sounds like it did pretty well, though:) Sometimes we just have to take what we can get!
Yeah, there were very few people who were willing to admit that they liked Meatloaf, although they voted for him over Bonnie. I believe you were the only one who declared your fanship. Ha!
DeleteThat Flash Fiction was so long ago the sting of not winning is long gone. Upon reading it again, it's a little over the top and kind of makes we wince (a little bit).
>>... Another flash and the room is illuminated.
ReplyDeleteFlash Fiction... literally.
You posted this Flash Fiction on your blog a couple years ago. I remember this little story for a couple of reasons.
You were lucky this wasn't a shutout. I'm no fan of Meatloaf nor of this song (or any of his songs), but you were lucky this wasn't a shutout.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
POSTSCRIPT: ...Nah. Never mind.
Literally!
DeleteI figured you would remember it.
You know the whole shut-out thing really doesn't bother me (good thing, huh?). I figure I post what I post and see what happens. I feel really kind of lucky when I can find two really good versions of the same song. Often one or the other is a bow-wow? (no offense intended, Olaf.) If I like the song, I'll go ahead and use it anyway.
I suppose you think maybe I don't take BOTB seriously enough. Maybe that's true. But, if you'll remember I started this thing as a 'lark' and I continue to have fun with it. This time around my voters have dropped off, so maybe others aren't having as much fun with my BATTLES as I am. Ah well, such is life. I never pretended to be popular.
BOTB shouldn't be taken too seriously. It should be fun to highlight certain music that appeals to us and to discuss the reasons we like this or that tune.
DeleteBut at the same time, I do not want a shutout. And there have been a couple times when I have decided not to use a certain song because I couldn't find any worthy competitors to put against it. I want my readers / listeners / voters to have to pay attention and really concentrate on the details within the music, and if one version is just head and shoulders better than the other, then there's not much point in asking people to listen to the inferior one. That's my op, anyway.
I kind of pride myself on putting together tough "Battles", but even then one just never knows for sure how others will react. I've had a few blowouts, but never a shutout.
(That Rockets Vs. Fleetwood Mac BOTB still mystifies and irritates me a little though. But for my own vote, that WOULD have been a shutout, and I thought the Rockets' recording was considerably better in EVERY way, and I still suspect The Mac won that "Battle" primarily due to the name brand recognition and because I overhyped Peter Green's guitar credentials a little bit, thinking that The Mac was going to get creamed. It was only my second BOTB and we were just learning how to present these "Battles" to the listeners.)
Anyway... on to the Christmas songs!
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Meatloaf seems to get all the love, or most of it.
ReplyDeleteWell he got all the votes, but I'm not so sure about the love. Most of those who voted for him, did it pretty grudgingly.
DeleteThat one was a landslide, or something close to it.
ReplyDeleteLeave it to Larry to know every fact about Rundgren.
Yeah, LC is a walking Rundgren encyclopedia. Until he mentioned it, I had no idea.
DeleteI liked your "Lightning Flashed" flash fiction -- As I was reading it, it seemed familiar, then when you said it had been for that blogging event, I went, "oh yeah!" I also did a piece for that blogfest, built around the "Crossroads" myth. But I liked yours better, lol!
ReplyDeleteNo surprise to me Meatloaf won, even if it was grudgingly. ;)
Ya know, when I went looking for that piece of Flash Fiction I noticed in the comment section of the blog author that you said you were entering, but I couldn't find your piece, Of course, I had a hard time finding my own. That was a long time ago. I wouldn't mind reading yours if you can dig it up.
DeleteYeah, I'm just kind of glad that Bonnie did get a few votes, but like I said to STMc, I'm really don't get too put out over a shut-out.
Hi again. Did some digging -- that contest entry was on my old blog, which is "dead," but still out there on the innerwebs if you know where to look -- I changed the URL to "http://oldstratplayercjf.blogspot.com" and rebooted my current blog under the old address ("StratPlayerCJF.blogspot.com").
DeleteHere's the link to that old entry. The writing seems a bit clunky, but I kinda liked the twist I put at the end:
http://oldstratplayercjf.blogspot.com/2012/05/flash-fiction-bogfest-choice-at.html
I prefer not to have a shut-out simply because it's more fun when it's a close BOTB contest. But I've also done a couple where I expected a shut-out or at least a lopsided win, but went through with it anyway because I wanted to highlight a particular artist or song. I think that can be fun, too. :)
I went and read your entry again. I see that I liked it the first time around and I enjoyed it now also. It's fun to go back and read something you wrote a few years ago, ( most days) isn't it. Thanks for coming back and providing the link.
DeleteBOTB - shuts-outs - ties; you can never really predict how these things will turn out. Pick a tune you want to showcase for whatever reason, toss it out, and see what happens.
Liked the story! I;m glad ML won because I hate "plain brown wrapper" remakes that take a classic and turn it into something you tune out as you walk through Krogers.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed that little 'Flash'.
DeleteI'm not so sure I would call Bonnie's version 'plain brown wrapper', but disco, seriously? Although, if you look up Todd's version and take a listen, it sounds a lot more like Bonnie's than Meatloaf's. Go figure.
Great story. I love flash fiction.
ReplyDeleteThe lightning flashed before my eyes, unyieldingly piercing my retinas. "Stop!" I cried to the unwavering disco ball that was slowly blinding me. "Stop!" But Bonnie Tyler would not stop. It was not until the masked hero arrived that he saved me - and us all - from this hot flash of cheesy disco.
And then, like that same blinking bolt of light, he too was gone. I found myself wondering if he even existed in the first place. But in my heart I knew... I knew that I had been saved...
By the Loaf.
That was pretty good, too bad that contest is long past, you coulda, shoulda, might have woulda won.
ReplyDelete