The song Lemmy called “everything wrong with rock”
Most of the best rock and roll songs earn their accolades through swagger alone. It’s one thing to make a great tune based on the intricate chord changes, but if there’s an all-star vocal performance delivering everything or a guitar lick anchoring everything together, that was really all you needed to get by. There was a limit on how far people could go, though, and Lemmy knew that Meat Loaf had taken things one step too far over the line in his post-Bat Out of Hell years.
But Meat Loaf always toed the line regarding what was considered truly rock and roll. No one was going to question whether or not the man could sing his ass off any time he opened his mouth, but the appeal of Bat Out of Hell was just as much about the spectacle of the tracks rather than its ability to be played alongside the Led Zeppelins of the world.
Sure, the title track was a long journey through a tragic car accident and ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Light’ is still a jam, but everything seemed to stall the minute that the grooves ran out on the vinyl. He could keep singing all night at any venue that would have him, but how do you change it up when you’ve pushed everything to 11 right out of the gate?
Meat Loaf and songwriter Jim Steinman figured the next option was to go into ballad territory. It wasn’t out of the question considering the success of ‘Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad’, but ‘Razor’s Edge’ was far from that type of melodrama, and Lemmy could see the cynicism the minute that he hit play on the record.
When reviewing the latest singles for Record Mirror, the Motörhead frontman thought that the crooner had taken every tired trope about American music and crammed it into one song, saying, “Suitably emotionally charged drivel. This is what is wrong with American rock. It is written mainly with the cherry on top in mind. Beautifully played, flawless vocal, but as interesting as a date with Neil Kinnock.”
It’s not like Lemmy doesn’t have a bit of a point. Meat Loaf’s presentation of the track is absolutely immaculate, but chances are that someone could swap out any of the latest singers on The Voice and get the exact same results if they tried recording it today with modern production.
For all of his rough-and-tumble background, Lemmy also knows what the hell he’s talking about. He is responsible for ballads like ‘Mama I’m Coming Home’ for Ozzy Osbourne, but the reason why that works is because it’s easy to hear Osbourne at the centre of the track rather than something that feels hollow like Meat Loaf.
Because that’s really the mark of any good rock tune. It can be sentimental, or it can be badass, but if doesn’t have any heart behind it from the start, they may as well go back to the drawing board and start all over again.
