Credit: Far Out / Alamy
Tue 12 May 2026 21:28, UK
Following the monumental success of Meat Loaf’s internationally acclaimed debut album, Bat Out of Hell, it felt like he had the world at his feet. However, Michael Lee Aday was soon consumed by personal turmoil, and it would be another four years before he finally released a follow-up record.
Second album syndrome has been a hurdle that has been too stark for many to overcome, and that list includes our man Meat Loaf. A lot had changed in the four-year interim between the two records, and his first attempt at a follow-up release was aborted due to health issues. The mammoth world tour, which coincided with the release, took its toll on the musician, who spiralled into a drug-induced hell.
What made the collapse even more startling was how invincible Meat Loaf had seemed only months before. Bat Out Of Hell was a phenomenon that refused to die, slowly building through word of mouth until it became one of the defining rock records of the decade. But the sheer madness that made the album so exhilarating also demanded physical self-destruction from its frontman. Night after night, Eday performed like a drowning man trying to survive the songs in front of thousands watching on, throwing himself into operatic melodrama with such force that burnout almost felt inevitable.
With his life descending into chaos, a general disregard for his own well-being, and a lifestyle that made Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy look healthy, Eday eventually lost his voice, putting his career in serious jeopardy. For a time, it seemed as though Meat Loaf might never return, and he instead began exploring acting opportunities. Meanwhile, his songwriting partner, Jim Steinman, wrote the album Bad for Good, but ultimately released it alone due to pressure from the label.
In an excerpt that was featured in Louder Sound and taken from Mick Wall’s biography on Meatloaf, Like A Bat of Hell, Wall recalls what Steinman told him about the dark period during the two albums. The songwriter said: “I can tell you very specifically his voice was great for about month but he didn’t do anything to train it, or keep it going right, it just got abused or something happened psychologically, which was part of my [original] point to David Sonenberg”.
He added: “About a month into the tour his voice basically had gone, and he didn’t take time to rest it. And it just was a very kind of horrifying, fascinating situation for me to see crowds of up to twenty thousand screaming along with this record and performer of my music. And I’m on stage at that point … where he didn’t sing one good note the whole night.”
“He stopped going to doctors and started going to faith healers and oddballs – guys that hit him with kitchen implements while he hung upside down like a fucking bat”.
The biography also claimed: “Steinman later told an incredulous Sandy Robertson about ‘the witchdoctor’ in California that Springsteen’s manager had recommended. Claiming the guy had fixed things for Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt.”
Further reading: From The Vault
In hindsight, the entire period feels strangely symbolic of the excess and confusion that swallowed so many artists once success arrived too quickly. There is something deeply fucking sad about one of rock music’s great natural performers hanging upside down while searching for miracle cures instead of simply resting his voice. Having said that, you could also probably argue that this desperation was exactly why audiences remained emotionally invested in Meat Loaf for decades. Beneath all the bombast and leather jackets was someone painfully human, clinging (albeit upside-fucking-down) to the only thing he truly knew how to do.
Eventually, Meat Loaf recovered, but America wasn’t receptive to his comeback.
The lead single, ‘Dead Ringer For Love’, failed to chart in the United States, despite becoming a hit across Europe, which set a precedent for the album. Critically, Dead Ringer was slammed. Most notably, Eday’s vocals were highlighted as a disappointment, and it took him another 12 years to recover his reputation in the US. All of his projects until 1993’s Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell failed to capture America’s attention. Yet, somehow, against all odds, he returned from the brink and reminded his homeland of his immense talent.
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