Jim Steinman: Bad For Good (1981)

In October 1977, Jim Steinman emerged onto the music scene writing all of the songs for the third largest selling rock album in history, "Bat out of Hell" sung by Meat Loaf and produced by Todd Rundgren. It yielded the rock evergreens, "You Took the Words Right out of my Mouth (Hot Summer Night)", "Two out of Three Ain't Bad", "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and (of course) "Bat out of Hell". More hits with Meat Loaf followed with 1981's duet with Cher "Dead Ringer for Love" and "I'd do Anything for Love (But I Won't do That)" with Mrs Loud, a Number #1 in 28 countries worldwide from "Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell". Success would follow with Jim's simultaneous Number #1 and #2 writing and producing both Bonnie Tyler "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and Air Supply "Making Love out of Nothing at All". Yes, you know these songs, while you might not be familiar with the SteinMan who wrote them.

Jim would also contribute songs like "Holding out for a Hero", "Nowhere Fast" and "Tonight is What it Means to be Young" (seriously, if you haven't already, check out this song) for soundtracks like "Footloose" and "Streets of Fire". He wrote and produced for both Barry Manilow and Barbra Streisand, and after having a single with Barbra on "Left in the Dark", he produced "Hulk Hogan's Theme" for "The Wrestling Album". He then went on to write a little song called "It's All Coming Back to me Now", first recorded by his epic all girls group Pandora's Box and then Celine Dion which is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Mega musical composer and producer Andrew Lloyd Webber called that song the record of the millennium. He and Jim collaborated together on their 1996 musical "Whistle down the Wind", which yielded the highest selling single from a musical in history "No Matter What" for Boyzone. Jim at the same time wrote music for "Tanz der Vampire: Das Musical" with libretto by Michael Kunze directed by Roman Polanski, still a giant hit in Europe over twenty years later. In 2017, his opus "Bat out of Hell: The Musical" opened in Manchester in the UK, the result of fifty years work on his rock musical "Neverland", which had morphed from his college musical "The Dream Engine" in 1969.

In 1981, in the wake of "Bat out of Hell" and the epic concert tour that followed with members like Rory Dodd and Karla DeVito and others, Meat and Jim had been trying to find a way to deliver on a follow-up album. A 1979 release date of "Renegade Angel" had come and gone, before finally two albums emerged, Meat Loaf's original follow-up "Dead Ringer" and Jim's one and only platinum selling solo album "Bad for Good". The one time Steinman fans everywhere can listen to the Steinmaster himself performing, writing and producing (co-producing with Todd Rundgren) his own album, with guest appearances from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on one hell of an orchestral prologue, breaking out of my headphones and flying away... like a Bat out of Hoth, "The Storm" orchestrated by longtime musical partner and wizard Steve Margoshes and produced by Andrew Kazdin.

The first time I encountered this album would have been around the year 1994, probably when this album first showed up on CD in Australia. Correction: it was 1989. Titles like "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" and "Out of the Frying Pan (And Into the Fire)" immediately struck me, because I recognized these from my favourite album, "Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell". Gradually, over the years, as I would come across this album now and again, my curiosity grew to such a point that I had to hear the other songs, like "Bad for Good" and "Dance in my Pants" which I'd never heard in any other form before. So I stood there in the middle of the store listening to the first 10 minutes of the album on headphones, and by the time I was done, I knew I had to hear the whole thing. That night was the first time I heard Jim Steinman's "Bad for Good" also starring Rory Dodd and Karla DeVito.

There was also that cover art, which saw the return of "Bat" artist Richard Corben painting the second and only piece of art he would ever create for Meat or Jim, leaving a strong lasting impression with both. Here we have the image of what I believe is supposed to be Peter and Wendy from Jim's musical "Neverland" standing beneath a pale moon in the sky, surrounded by mist on all sides, and Peter yielding the American Guitar, while underneath bold letters scream the title of the album as well as the chorus of the legendary title song "Bad for Good". This is an adventure in imagery and listening. 

Before I begin examining the songs here, I wanted to give a shout out to Rory who celebrated his birthday last Tuesday. If you have not heard this album, you may recognize him as the voice which sings "Turn around bright eyes" on "Total Eclipse of the Heart". In 1983, he had three major songs in the charts which he sang on, "Total Eclipse", "Making Love out of Nothing at all" and "Tell Her About it" from Billy Joel's hit 1983 album "An Innocent Man". I also want to give a shout out to Karla, the female lead to Meat Loaf in the video for "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and the original "Bat" tour, making her dramatic return with Ellen Foley on Meat and Jim's 2016 "Braver Than We Are" LP. Obviously I also want to give another shout to Jim! Jim, Jim, Jimmy, Jim, Jim!

This year is also 40 years since the album's original release. I won't hold my breath that the record company are going to do anything to celebrate it (they didn't with "Bat out of Hell"?), but golly... to quote the Beach Boys, "Wouldn't it be nice?"

The songs:

"The Storm (Prologue to the Album Bad for Good)" --- first released as one side of the bonus EP that came with the vinyl release, and then included as the opening of the tape and CD, "The Storm" explodes inside of my headphones and keeps going for another four minutes. It feels like the beginning of a new Steven Spielberg or George Lucas movie that's about to be filmed. It feels like someone has turned Jim's "Neverland" into a movie and it's going to be the cult hit rock musical of 1982. It is just glorious. How many times have I played "air conductor" to this song? Hahaha!

"Bad for Good" --- this almighty rocker comes in almost as soon as the orchestra finishes playing its final note. This is the song you have been waiting for since the ending of "Bat" four years ago. Jim Steinman has actually done it. How do you come up with something that follows on from "Bat"? The answer is this song.

"Lost Boys and Golden Girls" --- on the Australian release of this album, "Dance in my Pants" is the next song following "Bad for Good". "Lost Boys" instead follows "Out of the Frying Pan". This is the way I expect to hear it now, that is "Lost Boys" comes after "Bad for Good", because not only does it feel like a breather but it also consolidates for me the two earlier songs. I love it, and this is one of three songs featuring Rory's lead vocals. His voice is the perfect contrast to Jim here.

"Love and Death and an American Guitar" --- this is not only the original version of that guitar monologue from "Bat II", but it's the same exact recording, identical. So I had very much heard this track before, and boy is it nuts. I love it.

"Stark Raving Love" --- instead of seguing into "Everything Louder" from "Bat II", the song goes into a number called "Stark Raving Love", the one and only time this Steinman classic has been recorded with the master at the helm. That is, before the riff became the intro to Jim's uber hit "Holding out for a Hero". I love both songs, and the reprise of "Lost Boys" is the icing on the bat cake. It makes everything feel like a musical, and yes some of these songs were intended for that very purpose. The play-out here is like the 1981 "Life is a Lemon" and it's got Davey Johnstone from Elton John's band on duelling guitars. It's just a monster.

"Out of the Frying Pan (And Into the Fire)" --- the second side begins with this version of "Out of the Frying Pan" which is just classic, and it begs the question why it wasn't released as a major single. This never happens with both "Bad for Good" and "Bat II" and I just fail to grasp why at this point. These lyrics are spectacular btw. Look at this: "And all around the city you see the walking wounded and the living dead", "You can feel the pulse of the pavement racing like a runaway horse", "So wander down the ancient hallway, taking the stairs only one at a time", "The sun is just a ball of desire". This lyricist is like the 1980s Edgar Allan Poe or something. I just absolutely love it.

"Surf's Up" --- Rory returns with this classic with lyrics like "The waves are pounding on the sand tonight" and "I wanna drown in the ocean and the bottomless sea", before the punch line "Surf's up and so am I". Again, this is another would be single. Everything about this version is unspeakably terrific.

"Dance in my Pants" --- Karla makes her entrance here, for what has often been called the follow-up song to "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" but the one that kind of pales in comparison. I disagree. I feel like that song is about these two people looking back on their lives and the choices they'd made as young people, whereas this is just two young people rocking out ("I've got dance in my pants" and the killer line "Dancing on the edge of a grave"). Karla and Jim are a riot here, and that laughter at the end hahahaha! It just fucking rules!!!!!!

"Left in the Dark" --- Jim delivers an ominous monologue, which turns into the heartbreaking climax of this album. I didn't want to compare Jim's versions to the other ones that were done later on, but I felt compelled to say here that even though he gave it to Barbra Streisand, one of the greatest performers of the 20th century, Jim's version is still the definitive for me. The vocal, the band, the orchestration, everything about it is a masterpiece. On the record, if you were missing the bonus EP, this was it now. Imagine that, without the comedown that the next song gives to you and how it closes everything off.

"Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through (Epilogue to the Album Bad for Good)" --- the album ends with the single and the most well known song from "Bad for Good", once again featuring Rory on lead vocals. This always makes me feel like it's the end credits of a film, with Peter and Wendy and the Lost Boys gathered around in Neverland, before the post-credits scene of them all singing "The beat is yours forever" A Cappella. The A Cappella is the final straw for me, because this is greatness.

Yes, this was supposed to be the original "Bat" follow-up, as I've mentioned before, and yes, you can imagine what this might have been with Meat Loaf singing it, especially the title song. The closest we get in the 1980s is his 1988 tenth anniversary "Bat" tour and his vocals on "Bad for Good" are all kinds of awesomeness I struggle to try and describe here.

In the end though, what with the release of 1993's "Bat out of Hell II" and other albums since, this album for me takes its place as Jim's one and only output as a performing artist, with those crucial moments from Rory and Karla. It's also the last time Todd Rundgren will produce a Meat Loaf or Jim album. Production wise, I want to hear a remaster or remix, since there'll be more stuff they'll be able to bring out of it, and really now is as good a time as ever considering it's the 40th, but as an album this is a classic to me and I'm so glad this thing exists. Did it manage to top "Bat"? I don't see what album could top something like "Bat", "Bat II" included, but I think it stands as a proud successor and even perhaps an equal. "It's not a prequel, it's not a sequel, it's an equal", as Richard O'Brien once described his movie "Shock Treatment" which was released the same year, the sequel--I mean the equal to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".

Thank you for reading,

Ryan.