地狱蝙蝠 (1977)

Bat Out of Hell is the debut studio album by American rock singer Meat Loaf. Composed by Jim Steinman, the album was developed from the musical Neverland, a futuristic rock version of Peter Pan which Steinman wrote for a workshop in 1974. It was recorded during 1975 and 1976 at various studios, including Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York. The album was produced by Todd Rundgren, and released in October 1977 by Cleveland International Records and Epic Records. Bat Out of Hell spawned two Meat Loaf sequel albums: Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006).

Bat Out of Hell has sold over 43 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. It is certified 14× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It is the best-selling album in Australia, having been certified 26× platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). As of June 2019, it has spent 522 weeks in the UK Albums Chart, the fourth longest chart run by a studio album. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked it at number 343 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album inspired Bat Out of Hell: The Musical, staged by Jay Scheib in 2017.

Pre-production

The album was adapted from a musical, Neverland; the play is a futuristic rock version of Peter Pan which Steinman wrote for a workshop in 1974, and performed at the Kennedy Center Music Theatre Lab in 1977. Steinman and Meat Loaf, who were touring with The National Lampoon Show, felt that three songs were "exceptional" and Steinman began to develop them as part of a seven-song set that they wanted to record as an album. The three songs were "Bat Out of Hell," "Heaven Can Wait" and "The Formation of the Pack," which was later retitled "All Revved Up with No Place to Go".

Bat Out of Hell is often compared to the music of Bruce Springsteen, particularly the album Born to Run. Steinman says he finds that "puzzling, musically," although they share influences; "Springsteen was more an inspiration than an influence." A BBC article added "that Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan from Springsteen's E Street Band played on the album only helped reinforce the comparison."

Steinman and Meat Loaf had difficulty finding a record company willing to sign them. According to Meat Loaf's autobiography, the band spent most of 1975 writing and recording material, and two and a half years auditioning the record and being rejected. Manager David Sonenberg jokes that new record companies were being created just so the album could be rejected. They performed the album live in 1976, with Steinman on piano, Meat Loaf singing, and sometimes Ellen Foley joining them for "Paradise." Steinman says that it was a "medley of the most brutal rejections you could imagine." Meat Loaf "almost cracked" when CBS executive Clive Davis rejected the project. According to Meat Loaf's autobiography, Davis commented that "actors don't make records" and challenged Steinman's writing abilities and knowledge of rock music:

Do you know how to write a song? Do you know anything about writing? If you're going to write for records, it goes like this: A, B, C, B, C, C. I don't know what you're doing. You're doing A, D, F, G, B, D, C. You don't know how to write a song.... Have you ever listened to pop music? Have you ever heard any rock-and-roll music.... You should go downstairs when you leave here...and buy some rock-and-roll records.

Meat Loaf asserts "Jim, at the time, knew every record ever made. [He] is a walking rock encyclopedia." Although Steinman laughed off the insults, the singer screamed "Fuck you, Clive!" from the street up to his building.

In one 1989 interview with Classic Rock magazine, Steinman labeled Todd Rundgren "the only genuine genius I've ever worked with." In a 1989 interview with Redbeard for the In the Studio with Redbeard episode on the making of the album, Meat Loaf revealed that Jimmy Iovine and Andy Johns were potential candidates for producing Bat Out of Hell before being rejected by the singer and Steinman in favor of Todd Rundgren, whom Meat Loaf initially found cocky but grew to like. Rundgren found the album hilarious, thinking it was a parody of Springsteen. The singer quotes him as saying: "I've 'got' to do this album. It's just so 'out' there." They told the producer that they had previously been signed to RCA.