Meat Loaf Here in Australia
 

Just have a quick rant here - earlier tonight, I was out shopping, and decided I'd buy a DvD copy of Bat with MSO (I still don't have it :(). Beats waiting for it to arrive off eBay.

Now, I normally buy my Meat Loaf merchandise off the internet. So I don't really know what's available around here and what isn't. As it turned out, I didn't end up getting my Bat with MSO. Why? Because there was literally ZERO of anything Meat Loaf in the shopping center.

Wait. Correction. They had a single copy of Bat 1, three of HCTB and a VH1 Storytellers DvD.

I asked my parents about this lack of Meat - why is someone with so much talent so unknown around here. Well. Apparently they thought he had a heart attack and died shortly after Bat, which is why no one has heard from him in the last 30 years :shock: I WTF'd, then asked about AFL. Their response?

"What do you mean? Anything For Love was on Bat out of Hell."

Yeah, they thought Meat's been long gone since 1978. The only songs outside of Bat they knew was AFL and RRD. Which, apparently, were on the original album. :roll:

Now, this got me wondering - why is there no such thing as Meat Loaf here? There was literally ZERO promo for HCTB, with the one exception in the day or two Meat was on the radio. Now that it's out, it's been completely forgotten and just left to rot (where I am, at least). I haven't heard Los Angeloser on the radio or any promo material. Now that I think about it, the only Meat I heard on the radio is Paradise. And that's very, very rarely.

I'm depressed - I'm literally the only person in my corner of the world that has heard of Meat Loaf. I've never really talked about my obsession with Meat Loaf; I know there's fan sites like this, so I just took it as liking Meat was something pretty common. Apparently not. Has promotion for his material really been this bad? Long story short, does my lonely corner of the world just have horrible taste in music, or is this a world-wide problem? Is this why HCTB hasn't sold as much as it should? Is this why ALL of his work hasn't risen to the extreme levels it should have. HORRIBLE promotion? Please tell me it's been better around the rest of the world. PLEASE.

Normally, I wouldn't post something like this, but the fact that my parents seemed to think that he's been dead for the last thirty years has me worried :shock:

You'll find that most Americans think that Meat only produced one album: Some strange hybrid called Bat Out Of Hell that also features Anything For Love and Dead Ringer. There are probably a fair few in this country who spent much of the early 90's moaning about Anything For Love constantly being played on the radio, who if asked now would swear blind that Meat died after the Bat tour or that they thought Meat Loaf was a band.

The simple answer is that many people don't pay attention and accept gossip as fact.

My New Facebook Status Update :cool:

People don't buy an album just because it's on the shelves. Even if there was a lot of promo it wouldn't be a guarantee for sales. I was at a Saturn store over here recently and HCTB had occupied the "new releases" shelf again. Did it help to boost album sales? I doubt it. Even if I see dozens of copies of a new album right in front of me, I still don't know why I should buy it. How do I know that it might contain some cool tracks? How do I know that it's different from the usual Meat Loaf stuff? The only ad I've seen in a magazine so far rather appeared as if they were promoting a CD that sounds like any other Meat Loaf album or whatever you associate with the Meat Loaf cliché.

Let's face it, at the moment Meat Loaf's main audience consists of a rather small number of die-hard fans and nostalgics. So what does Meat Loaf (or the image people have of him) convey to attract young rock fans?

The record co. is not the most important factor with regard to how long and how successfully an artist remains in the public eye. It's the artist who establishes (and has to care for) a loyal and growing following.

By the way, is it important how well-known someone is to Joe Bloggs (aside from the financial aspect)? Some of the best albums ever recorded where made by artists unknown to the general public. ;)

Just to supplement to the thoughts here:

In the states, our big retailers have automatic reorders via sku numbers. So, I can't tell how many of the copies of HCTB have sat and how many have been reordered. Target store (nearest me)...upon release they averaged about 10 copies of HCTB as well as a one copy each of BAT 1 and Bat 2. Now there seem to be an average of 5 HCTB and Bat 2 was missing last week. I didn't go so far as to ask the electronics clerk because you can pick a copy up and shop the rest of the store possibly checking out in the garden section as well as the front registers.


Best Buy had both versions w/wo California. I haven't been there in over a month :( FYE has moved the copy to the Rock/Pop area under his name about two months ago. Again, they had both copies. But now average 5 total copies of HCTB, more BAT 1 than Target, and a Bat II. The clerk at FYE had no idea who Meat was (very young out of high school person) the last time I was there (last weekend back to school shopping).

I think this autoreorder by corporate chains can be misleading because the mindless just receive it and place it under the right name.

I totally feel where you are coming from, I get so frustrated with the lack of promotion for any Meat stuff over here. The last album that got any sort of promo here was CHSIB, but his tour dates were announced at the same time the album went on sale so they were advertising his concerts with the album, so that may have had something to do with it. We had no ads for the MSO DVD, or Storytellers DVD or The Very Best Of, I actually bought it in the US when I was on holidays there, as I had not seen it over here. No ads either for his documentary the other year. But The Rolling Stones put one out, and hey presto plenty of ads for them, and some other artist that I can't remember. Every time I see an ad for an album, I get so frustrated that they don't advertise Meat like that. But his concerts always sell out over here, so obviously he still had a huge fan base over here, they just don't seem to buy the albums. Meat comes out here and makes all sorts of radio and TV appearances to promote, but when it comes out a month or so later, zilch and except for the die hard fans like us who are hanging out for it, the rest of the world forgets. I don't know who to blame for it all, the record compamy, or the TV networks. But I really want to kick someone's arse over it. The Today Show did show a snippet of the Los Angeloser clip, but that was it, as far as I know it was never played on Video Hits. I bought the MSO CD when I happened to be out shopping with friends and we went into a record shop, so I just checked under Meat Loaf to see if there was anything I didn't have, and got really excited when I saw that, so I bought it. I hadn't seen any ads for it and wasn't in the fan club back then so would never have known of its existence if I hadn't seen it in that shop. Then when I got home and read the back, saw that there was a DVD too, so couldn't wait to go and get that too.

Carole

Why be worried? :shrug:

What happens if his parents turn out to be right? :shrug:

how is that misleading?? if you can sell 12 meat loaf records a month, how is it commerically viable to buy in and hold in stock 30 records???

when you go into a record store, do you browse the new releases, and often purchase from there? do you browse the chart, and often purchase from there? do you go to check whats in your favourite artists section, and often purchase from there?

why would you promote meats new album in your store when the record company will pay you to place someone elses album in the prime selling space in your store???

It rather worries me that there are people who are worried about the fact that their parents don't worry about their favorite singers. What happened to rock and roll? :shock:

Well thanks to me, my parents know Meat is still very much alive and kicking!!!!!

Carole

The first time I ever met Meat, when he was here for a signing for the CHSIB album, afterwards, still on a high, I went into a shop and bought something and excitedly told the sales girl, I just met Meat Loaf, and she said who? I explained he'd been around for around 30 years, and said he sang Bat Out Of Hell and Took The Words, but she didn't know them. I thought, even if she wasn't familiar with him or his music, she worked in the shopping centre where he was appearing and there were posters all over the place advertising the fact.

Carole

My parents (well my Dad now) wouldn't care and I don't feel the need to keep him informed.

Misleading only to those who go in and see a stack of 5 and think the album isn't selling at all. Meanwhile it could have been reordered and restocked between visits to a store. And believe me they exist. I've overheard the conversations/erroneous observations.

I browse everything...time permitting :mrgreen:

IMO, the only scenario applicable to this question would be mom and pop record shops which don't exist in my 100 mile radius. However, if it were my mom and pop store and I loved certain artists, you can bet that I would promote the heck out of that artist at my shop. Unfortunately, in corporate it is about the $ paid per sq. ft. of space and the prime location is given to the records who pony up the most $.

You know, at the beginning of the title of HCTB, Meat's vision was for people to walk past a poster in a record shop and pause for 3 seconds right? Well, unfortunately commercial record shops don't have promo posters anymore (not in the states anyway). It's very feng shui contemporary coffee shop generic blah. Best Buy is basically an electronic warehouse with no p.o.p. either, Target has it's own decor and Walmart too. All of which are, unfortunately, the anti-Meat vision.

I have a feeling as if music is not being regarded important anymore. Look what has become of MTV, what's played on the radio (haven't listened to the radio for years, at least not willingly)...

The music sections of the department stores are getting smaller and smaller, many CDs are flogged for 3 to 6 € nowadays. At first glance, the price drop is nice as it gives me the chance to enhance my collection without going bankrupt but on second thought, I'm afraid that is just indicating the death of the CD and that I'll be forced to purchase crappy MP3 files one fine day.

Another observation: I daily read the website of a particular Danish TV station. They have a gossip section on that site and until recently it was divided into the categories movies, music, TV, royal, etc. The category music has been abolished, so apparently music does not seem to matter much anymore. By the way, as far as I remember, HCTB did pretty bad in Denmark while this guy was #1 of the charts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYITrbTaahE. :shock: (Don't ask me why they fancy an Austrian singing that kind music and German lyrics... :shrug: Even Lady GaGa couldn't compete with him.)

Depressingly sad isn't it? :(

How many albums has Meat released now? Eleven? Yet people only know of the existence of ONE? That's what has me worried (well, annoyed is probably a better word). Meat's been providing us with amazing music for the last thirty+ years, but as far as my section of Victoria, Australia is concerned, it's all been for nothing, because he recorded Bat out of Hell (7 songs)...and then that was it (not over 100).

My point being, why has there been such a lack of awareness about his work here? There obviously SHOULD have been, because Meat came out here himself to promote it. Bat out of Hell is just one aspect of his work. There's a lot more than the original Bat to enjoy when it comes to Meat, but someone somewhere is doing nothing to ensure that people here the rest -.-

I think you need to accept reality Fenechboy and realise that maybe most people don't regard Meat Loaf in the same way you do and that they probably don't really care one way or another.

Now I'm not a big fan of Barry Manilow, but I'm sure if I went onto one of his forums, some of the fans there would be feeling the same way as you are here about Meat Loaf. The difference being, most of us here would be thinking the Manilosers are losing the plot there because how can anyone like Manilow when he's shit boring?. Maybe most of Australia is feeling that way about Meat Loaf these days, even if it isn't your view point :shrug:

Maybe the problem is that Bat and Bat II were extremely outstanding albums compared to everything else he's released. The older folks remember him for Bat, the younger ones for Bat II. I believe having recorded two of the best albums in music history can be a burden.

People buy CDs because they like the music or the way in which that music is performed. Meat can travel from one continent to another, from show to show (radio and TV that is), talk his head off about that Patrick guy and play the album to journalists who complain that they are "forced" to listen to it - that does not necessarily result in huge album sales. If potential buyers don't get a good bait, they will not feel the urge to check out the album.

Firstly,they haven't played any new Meat Loaf on radio's out here since Bat 2.... andSeconly, there are at least 2 other aussies on this site that I know of, so that makes it 4 ofus in our little corner of the world ;)

Imust admit, when I mention new CD's I often get the, "Meat Loaf, he's still alive?"

Yeah, I've had that a couple of times too, and I set them straight right away. The last 'new' song played over here, was Couldn't Have Said It Better, when it came out it got played quite a bit on the radio, even though it wasn't actually released as a single over here. But now if they play Meat, it's only ever 2 outa 3 and Took The Words. I've often felt like writing to them and saying, you do realise that they are not the only 2 songs Meat Loaf has ever released don't you? I used to listen to the radio all day at work, but where I work now we can't have a radio on, so I only ever listen for a couple of hours while getting ready for work, so I have even less chance of ever hearing Meat on the radio and if I do it's a moment of great excitement.

Carole

It takes you a couple of hours to get ready for work? :wtf:

Women... :lol: