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Posts with tag MeatLoaf

War Detainees Tortured With Meat Loaf

For those of us of a certain age, a happenstance hearing of Meat Loaf's 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light' brings back the 1970s in all its ridiculous, overblown glory. But to hear the song repeatedly, end-on-end, all day long, would be pure torture.

That is what the U.S. military is banking on, evidently, in the War on Terror. In Errol Morris's 'Standard Operating Procedure,' a soldier says that the ear-splitting playback of songs such as Naughty By Nature's 'Hip Hop Hooray' and Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' is a routine part of "futility," the Army's diagram for getting obstinate prisoners to talk. Many detainees can withstand onslaughts of those songs, the soldier says. It's the country music that kills them.

As Alex Ross points out in the New Yorker, Manuel Noriega was bombarded with heavy metal when he barricaded himself inside a Panama City compound in 1989, and the government rained annoying music on David Koresh's followers at Waco a few years later. The practice, apparently, has been stepped up during the current war. "I remember they played Meat Loaf and Aerosmith over and over," reports one former detainee.

Another man, a Pakistani-Englishman who spent time in American prisons at Kandahar and Guantanamo before his 2005 release, has written a memoir. "Once they even played the Bee Gees' 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack all night long," recalls Moazzam Begg. "'Hardly,' I thought, 'enough to break anyone I knew.'" What, does he cater weddings for a living?

Other notable instruments of torture, according to an NYU musicologist who is an expert on the subject, have included the relentlessly benign music of James Taylor and the audiobook version of Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo's self-help parody 'Feel This Book.' Most observers, writes Suzanne Cusick, believe that "unwanted" music becomes truly torturous when combined with other interrogation methods, including "nakedness, humiliation, fatigue, and the self-inflicted pain of stress positions."

Funny, that's precisely when we're most likely to slap on the headphones.

Continue reading War Detainees Tortured With Meat Loaf

Stage Name Stories: Meat Loaf

Born: Marvin Lee Aday

What's in a Name: The 'Bat Out of Hell' blockbuster's first band was called Meat Loaf Soul; he debuted, oddly, with Motown, as half of a duet called Stoney and Meat Loaf. Recently changed his given first name, which no one knew anyway, to Michael.




Listen to Meat Loaf on Napster

Meanest Love Songs: No. 13

'Two Out of Three Ain't Bad'
--Meat Loaf (1977)

The Kiss-Off: "I want you, I need you/But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you"

Writer Jim Steinman wrote this after hearing Elvis' 'I Want You, I Need You, I Love You' on the radio. "Baby, we can talk all night," sings the Loaf, rather sweetly, speaking for all men in relationships. "But that ain't getting us nowhere."
Download Meat Loaf on Napster

Rockin' Football Facts: No. 18

Fantasy Paradise

A member of 30-plus fantasy football leagues, being an NFL fan is pretty much Meat Loaf's second job. In fact, he told the New York Times that he watches every single NFL game on Sundays, monitors free agent pickings on Tuesdays, calls into NFL radio shows during the middle of the week, sets his lineups on Fridays and watches injury reports on Saturdays.

Twisted Tales: Unwitting Phil Rizzuto Broadcasts Meat Loaf's 'Home Run'

This Twisted Tale links this week's rock 'n' roll oddity to two baseball topics currently in the news -- monumental home runs and the recent death of beloved New York Yankees shortstop and announcer Phil Rizzuto. The Baseball Hall of Fame member known as "the Scooter" subsequently became the voice of the Bronx Bombers for 40 years, becoming famous for his exclamation "Holy cow!" as well as his frequent stream-of-consciousness tangents from the ballgame at hand, where he would rhapsodize on whatever topic entered his head. Rizzuto's claim to rock 'n' roll immortality, though, stems from his contribution to Meat Loaf's 1978 hit single 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light,' in which the Scooter describes, in full baseball announcer mode, Mr. Loaf's attempt to "hit a home run," to employ teen romance nomenclature.

Continue reading Twisted Tales: Unwitting Phil Rizzuto Broadcasts Meat Loaf's 'Home Run'

Rockin' Gay Moments: No. 15

Night at the Rock Opera

Inspired by '70s glam rock, Queen and Meat Loaf's 'Bat Out of Hell,' playwright John Cameron Mitchell and songwriter Stephen Trask had an Off-Broadway smash with the transgender-rocker fairy tale 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch.' The show's songs were later covered by cool rockers like Sleater-Kinney, Rufus Wainwright and Bob Mould.



Most Monumental Album Flops: No. 20


'Dead Ringer'
Meat Loaf, 1981

Rise:
The big fella's surprise blockbuster, 'Bat Out of Hell,' came with a prophetic play-by-play: "Holy cow, I think he's gonna make it!"

Fall: A broken leg, shredded vocal cords and general exhaustion led to a critical delay for the follow-up. Despite help from Cher, the stillborn 'Dead Ringer' couldn't keep Meat out of bankruptcy.

Stats: 'Bat Out of Hell' (1977), 14 million; 'Dead Ringer,' less than 500,000

Meat Loaf Drives People to Drive Faster

The notion that the music of Meat Loaf would prompt people to drive a little bit -- okay, a lot -- faster than normal seems perfectly rational to us, particularly if one were putting the pedal to the metal to get out of earshot when the portly pepperpot goes for one of those high notes. Video game vendor Electronic Arts, however, found that even fans of the Loaf can't drive 55 when confronted with speakers pumping out a zesty version of 'Bat Out of Hell' -- the song that was determined most likely to hamper the judgment of drivers across the land.

Continue reading Meat Loaf Drives People to Drive Faster

The Chum Bucket: Sgt. Pepper Remake, Dita vs. Manson + More


Oasis and the Killers are on board to remake 'Sgt. Pepper.' In the wise words of Amy Winehouse, "What kind of f*ckery is this?" [Pitchfork]

Kevin Costner sues a concert promoter for not promoting... the Kevin Costner Band. [Best Week Ever]

The New Pornographers song 'Bleeding Heart Show' becomes the University of Phoenix theme song. Damn liberals. [Stereogum]

'American Idol' freakshow Sanjaya is "an object of ridicule" in India. In America, on the other hand... [dlisted]

Dita von Teese says she and soon-to-be ex-husband Marilyn Manson are just air-quote "friends." Oh no she didn't! [A Socialite's Life]

Meatloaf's nightly onstage makeout session. One word: Ew. [TMZ]

3x3 Number Two (of 3): Neko Case, Paolo Nutini and Imogen Heap

Gather 'round, folks -- here's the second of 3 monthly installments of our new program 3x3. Like Mr. Loaf informed us in song, two out of 3 ain't bad. In fact, it's darn tasty.

Need a refresher on the concept? Here goes: It's a tri-monthly show that features 3 live videos from 3 acts that excite us. In addition, the program features a 3-question interview with each artist or band, 3 things you need to know about that performer and what 3 other blogs are saying. Triple your pleasure, triple your fun.

For this second episode, we've collected some great live videos from Neko Case, Paolo Nutini and Imogen Heap. Click here to have a look.

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