The Meat Loaf song that changed Ezra Koenig’s life forever: “It’s so dramatic”
Since the late 2000s, Vampire Weekend have built their identity on peppy and preppy art pop that borrows influence from classic singer-songwriter tradition, New York’s rich cultural heritage, and a smattering of Soweto pop music for good measure. At no point is there mention of blown-out glam rock, and it’s doubtful that they’ll ever enter that sort of territory in their career, bar some bizarre change of tact and style.
While this heady concoction of styles has often rubbed some listeners up the wrong way, with it being considered too pretentious or conceited in its efforts to seem hyper-literate, it’s also tough to deny their musical dexterity as a group, and while they may wear many of their major influences on their sleeves, there’s a wealth of knowledge of other styles beneath the surface and a greater appreciation for pop music across the board that informs their output.
Frontman Ezra Koenig has also dabbled with various other projects that cover more genres, appearing as a guest on releases by Diplo’s Major Lazer project and post-dubstep act SBTRKT, and Vampire Weekend have even taken to performing a multitude of fan-selected covers at their shows, ranging from Chicago’s ‘If You Leave Me Now’ to The Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Today’, and even to the Seinfeld theme tune. They’re nothing if not diverse in their tastes, and this is something that’s been present since Koenig’s childhood.
Like many children with parents of a certain age, Koenig was raised on the music of The Beatles, which was something that he said he “understood” from his early years. However, there were contemporary songs that were popular in the early 1990s that he had no reference points for, that he claims changed his perception of music forever, and among those was hard rock troubadour Meat Loaf with his 1993 smash, ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’.
It may not have been an unusual song for Meat Loaf himself, but 16 years on from the original release of Bat Out Of Hell, nobody saw him releasing a sequel to his rock opera. Predictably, the track is insanely over the top, and the album version clocks in at 12 minutes, proving that he and writer Jim Steinman weren’t shying away from creating another hard rock epic. In addition to this, it poses one of music’s longest unsolved questions – just what is it that Mr Loaf wouldn’t do for love? All of the above fascinated Koenig as a child, and the song has seemingly stuck with him ever since.
In an interview with Radio X, he revealed that the song was one of a handful that had changed his life in a major way. “It reminds me of when I first had my own radio. I think my parents got me some kind of little cassette radio thing so I could listen on headphones,” he explained. “I was eight or nine, and the kids at school would talk about it too. I think it really holds up, I like that songwriter, Jim Steinman, a lot, and I like Meat Loaf.”
The song’s inescapable nature was something that helped it stay fresh in Koenig’s mind throughout his childhood, and it remains with him to this day. Adding, “It was the first time there was a viral song that I can remember in the microcosm of my little home town, because everybody wanted to know what it means. It’s so dramatic, and I remember seeing the video on TV. The name was so weird, and the video was so weird, and the lyrics are so mysterious. I’ve thought about it quite a bit since then.”
It might be quite a polarising song for listeners, with plenty of people disliking Meat Loaf’s theatrics, but there’s also something so compelling about his overly-dramatic delivery that you can imagine a nine-year-old being fascinated with, and for that reason, it shouldn’t be a surprise that someone of Koenig’s age would have developed a life-long obsession with.
