I Like Meatloaf

In 1993, I had a cassette player in my car, but I didn't have very many cassettes and never took the time to make cassette copies of my CDs. I did have two cassette singles, however. One was RATT's "I Want a Woman," and the other was Meatloaf's "I Would Do Anything for Love."

The problem with a cassette single, you must understand, is that it sometimes had the A-side (the main track) and the B-side (usually a so-so song), but sometimes it just had two versions of the A-side track – maybe a “radio edit” and the “album edit,” for example. I don't remember for sure, but I think the Meatloaf cassette single just had two versions of the one song. In any event, if it did have another song, I never listened to it, and because I was too lazy to switch out the cassette, sometimes I would pop it into the player and listen to it over and over and over again.

Some songs are just so bad... they're good. It's kind of like, if you go west long enough, you end up in the east. Music must have the same sort of circular effect. No one really listens to Meatloaf, right? But most people who like modern and popular music are drawn to this song. Why? Is it the passion of the delivery? Is it the power of the lyrics?

The song is what is widely referred to as a "Rock Anthem," and its subject matter is so pure, so full of chivalry and honor. The passion of the vocals, as bad as the vocals are, is a key component, but I think it's the lyrics that keep people interested and engaged. It's not just about people too lazy to change the song; it's also about people wanting to enter the fantasy of real love. And come on. What a throwback for a man to profess his true love for a woman. I mean, when one listens to this song, who doesn't think about Petrarch and Laura?

Okay, maybe nobody, but it's still a great tune.

The video attached to this post is just made by some dude and posted to Youtube for whatever reason. When I watched it tonight, it had been posted for at least a year and had received a scant 18 views. I think it's worth a few more views than that. If you do watch it, you're in for a nice surprise, too. I promise. I'll leave it at that, because I don't want to give away the secret.

Cheers.