Bad Attitude: A 30 Year Old Underrated Masterpiece

[Wario]

To mark its 30th Anniversary, Dr. Wario is going to do a little Autopsy on one of I think the greatest Albums ever made that nobody has heard of.

Please note Im going by the US Mix, tho to be frank the Uk mix is really bad sans Surfs Up which is passable.

Bad Attitude

Bad Attitude is a good opening number. REALLY good, it does sound like what Meat Loaf would sound if he was fronting the Who. Roger Daughtry is fantastic on this song and its really really catchy and well produced.
I love the laugh at the end, it sounded like they were having a blast and it shows.

Hate the UK mix that fades it out. Yuck.

The only song I don't think worked as well live. Paul Jacobs was good but, the song needs RD :)

Modern Girl

The quintessential song off the record, eveyronein the Uk is probably a little familiar with if anything.
I don't think its the best song on the CD, tho its close, but damn it should've been a bigger song than it was. The music video too is amazing.

Live it just has to be heard. During the 1984-1985 years it was the ender before the encore set, and the riff at the end was reminiscent to what Rock and Roll dreams became in the future.

In 1987 and 1988 it really came into its own live with the Goff sister taking full frontal cation on the chorus. Add on top of that with the 1987 meat loaf voice and you have a magic you just have to hear.

The extended version is even better, check it out on my channel if its not blocked in your country!

Nowhere Fast

I have to say, this track has probably the catchiest chorus on the record.
The problem is the production of the number, compared to other versions of Nowhere Fast, particularly Fire Inc, is a little lacking.

Meat is the only person i thin should sing this, but I iwhs it was less 80's sounding. It works for all the other tracks, but sadly not his one.

The one weak point on the record.

Live on the other hand...... Just check out the Bad Attitude Live video on my channel. That's something to amaze.

The Extended Version is pretty good, again a bit overblown, though its nice to not have a fade out.

Piece of the Action

This is what i think is the true masterpiece of the record. A song unknown by everyone sans the biggest of fans.
Its a deep cut that is fantastic in every aspect. The production may not be very stein man-esc, but the lyrics are!
The second verse about his Dad has an emotion to it that is mirrored in 1993's Objects In The Rear View Mirror.
On my channel yo ulna listen to a live version form 1985 in my "bad Attitude Live" video. The way he sings it on that video is fnatatsicccc, better than the record. "Punching out the local boys at night!"
So much feels. Its sas this never cam e back to stage after 1985's tour.

The extended version isn't really anything to write about, just check it out on the channel. I fact it over blows an already perfectly timed song.

Surfs Up

The Duke song. This one seems to be almost everyones favorite off the album. and I think that is well deserved.
Obviously I love POTA more and Modern Girl but this is really good. Puts the other versions by other artists to shame.
Piano and voice for the most part and its enthralling.
Wish it was performed more than on the Storytellers Tour. Would fit great in a live setting.

The UK Mix is really interesting..... adds much more percussion and other instruments. Its interesting, you can watch that too on my channel, just search "arista mix. I still prefer the piano only version, its more subtle and more wrenching.

Jumping The Gun

The duet of the album is pretty rocking. Live its really REALLY good.

Years and years ago This was one of the first tracks that clicked with me off the record and it still is really great to listen to while walking.
Wish we could've seen a Meat and Patti version. Would've whooped ass. Now I hope we see Mat and the new girls do this in Vegas! lolz.

Sailor to a Siren

Another unsung masterpiece on the record. I said POTA was my favorite, followed by Modern Girl, but this ranks high up there too.
The lyrics of this song are great. "i got another woman, i know you got another man. They all tell me I should give you up but I don't think any mortal can." is one of my favorite meat loaf lyrics OF ALL TIME.
This song is rocking from beginning to end and it is really na unsung masterpiece. I read a storytellers review saying Meat said he forgot he recorded this. Ashame its so obscure, its really a diamond.
I wish more people outside the Loaf fan community knew of it.

Dont Leave Your Mark On Me

Some people say these last two tracks are the weakest points of the album and feel rushed.
I don't see this at all in this track at least. I think this song wouldve made a fantastic single/music video.
Every time i listen to it I picture 1984 meat in a haunted house having horrific hallucinations.
This song is EXTREMELY UNDERRATED and needs to be listened to again by everyone. The visuals this song gives me are goosbump inducing.

Its defiantly the creepiest Meat Loaf song, in my opinion, and the scariest.
Turn off all the lights, listen to this song while watching Nosferatu on mute. Thank me later.

Cheating in Your Dreams

This song i can see how many may feel a it was rushed.
The volume shift at the 18 second mark always drove me crazy and the premature fade out always annoyed me (notice when it fades, drums kick in as if another section of song is about to start with "It was my dumb luck...").
Those aside, its a very very VERY dark song if you listen to it. One of Meat's darkest, If not HIS DARKEST SONG.
Meat's character KILLS his lover. Chokes her to death, all beacuse the character has a paranoia problem.
That alone sets it far from a total disaster. In fact, i love this song sans those two production flaws.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
Overall there is a reason this is my number two favorite Meat Loaf album of all time. And number 5 favorite album of all time after Bat 2, River of Dreams by Billy Joel, Weight of the World by Ringo Starr, and 52nd Street by Billy Joel.

What are all of your thoughts on Bad Attitude?

Chris

[Evil One]

I have no idea what you just wrote, but Bad Attitude is a superb album. It has some excellent songs, some great songs and some good songs. There is nothing I would give a score of less than 3 out of 5. The album does feel rushed in places though and the US remix seems half-arsed. Excellent, but half-arsed.

Top 3 songs are Nowhere Fast, and the US versions of Modern Girl and Surf's Up. They are all equally brilliant.

[CarylB]

I'm just one of those Meat fans who doesn't examine the production details in such detail Though I'd love to know what "full frontal cation" means

I loved the album when it came out .. it's Meat singing .. though it's not one I listen to a lot now, except for Modern Girl which I've always loved to bits. At the time I liked the 80s sound and rhythms .. made it a great album for parties and dancing

Favourite songs are Modern Girl, BA and Piece of the Action. Only song I always find .. hard to identify the best word, but probably vaguely disappointing is probably best I guess, is Surf's Up .. mainly because of the constant feeling of deja vu, (or perhaps deja entendu/elsewhere heard would be better ) as both the lyrics and the music keep distracting me as I am reminded of other Steinman songs and try to place them.

Not a Meat masterpiece for me, but a solidly good album

[Evil Ernie]

35 years? It came out in 1979?

[chairboys]

Originally Posted by CarylB

Though I'd love to know what "full frontal cation" means

whatever it means I'm sure the Goff girls are bloody good at it

[The Flying Mouse]

Originally Posted by Evil Ernie

35 years? It came out in 1979?

Fixed the thread title

[Adje]

Originally Posted by The Flying Mouse

Fixed the thread title

So now it got released in 1989?

People, do your maths!!!!

[Monstro]

Quick check of my ipod shows this album neck and neck with Dead Ringer for second place on my Meat albums most played and with good reason.

Have to agree with EO here, not a poor song on the album, in fact I'd struggle to find an average one, excellent album!!!!!

[chairboys]

Originally Posted by Monstro

Quick check of my ipod shows this album neck and neck with Dead Ringer for second place on my Meat albums most played and with good reason.

but a country mile behind MATLAF?

[Wario]

Originally Posted by chairboys

but a country mile behind MATLAF?

I havent listened to any songs off that record for about 2 years.

Pricilla is still my fav off that one tho

[JennaG]

I have to admit that this album is not one of my favourites and as a consequence, I don't really listen to it much. However, I'd say that my favourite songs from the album were Modern Girl or Bad Attitude.

[Cherry.Loaf]

Joint favourite for me with Dead Ringer I LOVE 80's Loaf and Sailor to a Siren is in my top 5 songs by Meat; I would love to see Jumping the Gun live; especially if it opened the show.

[Evil One]

Originally Posted by Cherry.Loaf

I would love to see Jumping the Gun live; especially if it opened the show.

As long as he doesn't bring Doreen Chanter back as well.

[Paul Richardson]

I have to say far from my favourite Meat album, although I adore Surf's Up, which sounds disconnected from the rest of the album.

That said, I've always loved Bad Attitude Live, where those songs from Bad Attitude actually work really well. Maybe its the production I don't like ...

[The Flying Mouse]

Originally Posted by Adje

So now it got released in 1989?

People, do your maths!!!!

Oh FFS

FIXED

[AndyK]

Originally Posted by The Flying Mouse

Oh FFS

FIXED

It's almost 31 now the time it s taken you to sort the thread title out :Lmao:

[Renegade Angel]

Piece Of The Action is one of my fave ever ML songs. The Bad Attitude live version is amazing. Meat's vocal on it are so powerful. Wish this had been performed on tours since the Bad Attitude tour.

[mickp]

On balance my third favourite Loaf album after bat 1 and dead ringer but very very important in my life and Meats where it marked his real re-emergence as a rock performer after the lack lustre MATLAF ( although I still like that album). After the dead ringer tour and the MATLAF tour which I enjoyed both I thought the bad attitude tour was the real McCoy for Meat, his voice was superb and lead by Paul Jacobs and Bob Kulick the band was exceptionally tight although it did miss Steve Buslowe. Thought Andy Wells did great after the tragic death of Wells Kelly. The album unfortunately was a little rushed in production and would have been far better had Paul Jacobs done the whole thing as some of the remixes allude to. Alan Shacklock was out of his depth. Paul and Sarah really relaunched Meat with great songs. The really big mistake is that Bat 2 did not follow this album and took so long to come round to. The album is highly underrated and deserves the real 30 th treatment not just a reissue with extra pictures.

[Mr. Happy]

Bad Attitude is one of those albums that I like but never actually listen to. Piece of the Action and Cheating In Your Dreams are my favourites from it, and I listen to those a lot, but it's very rare that I listen to the album in it's entirety. I don't know why, because I've listened to it through a few times over the last week or two after the talks here and it's really very solid, but I just don't listen to it for whatever reason. Those two songs I just mentioned are masterpieces in my book, and Modern Girl and Don't Leave Your Mark On Me are great too.

Can't you hear the planet groaning like a broken down machine,
Rusted with the guilty tears of fallen kings and queens?

That's a ~~~~ing awesome line

Piece of the Action is the gem of the album and one of Meat's absolute greatest songs, though. That is a million dollar song and deserves far more love than it gets.

The only ones I'm not too keen on are the Steinman songs, to be honest. I don't think Nowhere Fast is that bad (it's just I prefer the rest of the album to it), I guess, but the "MORE SNARE DRUM AND SCREAMING AND AMPS AT 11 ALL. THE. TIME" approach to Surfs Up turned a beautiful song into a formless wall of noise. It has no nuance or attention to detail whatsoever and I can't get into it

I'm going to have to go listen to the whole album now, I think

[duke knooby]

completely disagree on your opinion of nowhere fast and surfs up... but i love the passion, belief and honesty in your post... so i liked it!!

(even though you can't get into my fave song, ever!! lol)

[Evil Ernie]

Originally Posted by Mr. Happy

The only ones I'm not too keen on are the Steinman songs, to be honest. I don't think Nowhere Fast is that bad (it's just I prefer the rest of the album to it), I guess, but the "MORE SNARE DRUM AND SCREAMING AND AMPS AT 11 ALL. THE. TIME" approach to Surfs Up turned a beautiful song into a formless wall of noise. It has no nuance or attention to detail whatsoever and I can't get into it

I'm going to have to go listen to the whole album now, I think

I agree. Even though I like these versions I think that they pale to originals (even though NF is 'barely' a cover).

Especially 'Surf's Up". I think that ML's vocal performance is FANTASTIC, it's just that they took a soft, quiet song and made it too loud for my liking. That said I can understand why he wouldn't want to do a straight cover. Even though he did LBAGG EXACTLY the same as the version on BFG.

[Wario]

Originally Posted by Evil Ernie

I agree. Even though I like these versions I think that they pale to originals (even though NF is 'barely' a cover).

Especially 'Surf's Up". I think that ML's vocal performance is FANTASTIC, it's just that they took a soft, quiet song and made it too loud for my liking. That said I can understand why he wouldn't want to do a straight cover. Even though he did LBAGG EXACTLY the same as the version on BFG.

Have you not listened to the american mix of the song?

Surfs up on that version is just like the BFG version!!!!

YouTube Video

[chairboys]

Originally Posted by Wario

Have you not listened to the american mix of the song?

this concept has always baffled me.
not just Meat, but other bands as well.
why the different mixes?!
is the American ( or other countries) taste that different?

[Tina.K.]

GREAT ALBUM!

I like all songs, Piece of the Action is my favourite. Love BA and Surf's up as well. Actually I like 'em all, maybe except for the last one.

[Evil One]

Originally Posted by chairboys

this concept has always baffled me.
not just Meat, but other bands as well.
why the different mixes?!
is the American ( or other countries) taste that different?

In this specific case it's because there was a gap between the UK and US releases. Meat Loaf wasn't happy with the album and the record company gave him time to alter it. Unfortunately they didn't give him enough time and the end result is all over the place. Some tracks are remixed, some aren't. Some have crisp, clear vocals and some don't. Some have loud drums and some don't. Some tracks are louder than others. There is no consistency. While I love the remixed tracks on their own, listening to them consecutively is a jarring experience. If only the whole album had been made to sound like Modern Girl and Surf's Up do, I would rate it right up with Bat 1 and Bat 2.