Meat Loaf & Jim Steinman - Overview

Ferrari,
I hear what you are saying but......you need to put everything in context.
Bat Out Of Hell was imho a classic album,over the top sure but it contained a great set of songs and don't forget the classic production of Todd Rundgren.
It was/is a pretty derivative piece of work however,classicly done maybe but it did recieve a lot of derision because of it.
Steinman did go on to write the odd other great song (Bad For Good was THE lost Meat Loaf album)but Meat Loaf imho has been living off the back of one classic album therefore not an artist I would hold up as a shining light against the ills of the current music business.
99Golf on the other hand has just made a very crass generalisation.
Whatever the state of the current music business there are some great young talent artists out there,you just need to search for them or be informed.
The Strokes,The White Stripes,Coldplay just for starters.
Cher? Good grief is that truly so far away from Britney Spears?

I hear what Ben is saying and I agree somewhat on the Meat Loaf issue. But the resurgence of the great bands of the 70 and 80s is a pure lack of new talent in contemprary Rock N Roll. The record companies are not totally dumb. People buy the records of these groups,as oppose to the free downloads.To me that speaks volumes. One is worth buying,the other is not. Why the record companies didn't really go after the Napster sytle of business is still a mystery to me. Just another form of piracy and when at CBS we went after the pirates with an intensity that is hard to describe today. Although Columbia is no longer a CBS property. Not only Columbia but RCA as well. We were not always successful,but the determination was there and in the end severly crippled the piracy movement. In another vain todays business relies far to much on agents to bring in the talent. The days of a group submitting a demo to a label appear to have vanished. Just no way to get in today unless one has an agent. If Santana,Aerosmith,Peter Gabriel and others just starting out submitted a demo to a label,it would never see the light of day. There is just not any personal contact between label and artist. The only possible exception is Clive Davis with Arista. Now there is an Icon of the music business. But I see no one to take over from Clive Davis at the moment.

Ferrari-I'm sure there is a lot of truth in what you say however I'm sure nostalgia plays a big part and so does the lack of desire for a lot of older music fans to search out new music.
These two play as big a part as anything else in the big selling tours however clearly some newer bands such as Pearl Jam and Radiohead would probably outsell a lot of the nostalgia acts-who incidently a lot of whom are great-I saw BOC this year-:-)
I disagree though I believe talent will see out-yeah sure the current trend is for a different type of artist and probably the current music business is more distant but those artists you mention (with the exception of CS)took a long time to establish any kind of record sales.
There are bands/artists getting signed up who have major talent but it is just the situation at present that things are more fragmented and in their seperate compartments.
Contemporary Rock n'Roll perhaps no longer exists just as that,the Nu Metal bands are huge perhaps replacing the Aerosmiths of the day and the trend is towards a more indie/experimental type sound in newer "rock" bands and the contemporary songwriter is still alive as David Gray and David Matthews massive success proves.
I agree it is a lot harder but the world has changed-I believe there is room for both-you can go see somebody you loved from way back and go to some club and see a smaller band.
There is still an awful lot of music out there and I believe talent will still make it.

Ok - took some advice here. This week end bought 2 Gov't Mule CDs and one Dream Theater CD. Could not find any Kings X CDs. Well time to eat some humble pie here. Gov't Mule really rocks,just a load of talent in this group.Warren Haynes,has in my opinion a killer voice and a superb guitar player. Matt Abts one of the best drummers I have seen of late. Allen Woody on bass is just fabulous. Understand Allen Woody passed away not long ago. Lets hope the MULE will continue. The new cd "The Deep End Vol.2 is a tribute album to Allen Woody and features no less than 25 different bass players. This is one fine album and should be in every music library. Dream Theater is for the most part a heavy metal band, I think. They are different,not sure where to put them. Another vastly talented group. Not really into this type of music,but I can surely appreciate the talent there. With that being said,this is a keeper as well. Many thanks to Ben Campbell and Tsugury, for the enlightenment.

Interesting discussion. Just wanted to put in a plug for Bat Out of Hell 2. It has some really great stuff--"Objects in the Rear View Mirror","I would do anything for Love", "Life Is a Lemon (and I want my money back")and the classic Doors-"The End" spoof that introduces "Wasted Youth".