Rocker Meat Loaf Quits Music
It’s not every day that an international superstar quits music only days before tickets to an international gig go on sale, but that’s what Meat Loaf did in the middle of a performance two days ago. He stopped in the middle of one of his hits to declare that it was his final performance.
“This is my last ever gig. Thanks for 30 years, I can’t do this any more,” he declared in the middle of Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
Meat Loaf was reportedly slurring his words, so could it be alcoholism, or is the man just fed up with the abuse
that the record industry perpetrates on artists for the sake of their own deep pockets?
This iconic artist has taken a beating from the Music Mafia over the years. After having success only at a regional level, the industry was already stealing creative control from him:
With the publicity generated from Hair, Meat Loaf was invited to record with Motown. They suggested he do a duet with Stoney Murphy, to which he agreed. The Motown production team in charge of the album wrote and selected the songs while Meat Loaf and Stoney came in only to lay down their vocals. Excerpted from Wikipedia.
We all know that the industry is constantly forcing signed artists to sing along to the lyrics and music of hired songwriters; this just goes to show that their mafia techniques have been around for many decades, and even then they weren’t afraid to pressure an artist who had barely started making a name for himself.
I’d put my money on interpreting “I can’t do this any more” as meaning “I can’t be abused by the industry any more” - and that’s why he’s quitting music.
It’s important that musicians know their copyrights, especially when dealing with the industry. Knowing things like this allows artists, with the help of an able intellectual property lawyer, to negotiate with businesses so that the artist in question doesn’t sign a slave labor contract and both parties end up with an equitable deal; this allows artists to do what they like within the realm of that equity, even if the industry doesn’t like it (just because it’s fair, doesn’t mean they will).
Take Meat Loaf’s abuse as a lesson: learn your copyrights now, and be smart when dealing with people who will use deception to take advantage of you.
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Tags: meatloaf, music industry, music mafia, copyright, intellectual property, bat out of hell
November 5th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Wow– what an interesting article. I can’t help but wonder what was going through his mind during the moments leading up to his resignation. When it happens suddenly in the middle of a performance, it seems to hint at a secret, but persistent haunting torment. How strange that such a successful musician would have to endure that suffering.
I will recommend this site to my fellow aspiring musicians. For those who haven’t read up on these issues, it seems that the biggest challenge is just for our music to be wanted, even demanded. After all the hard work an artist goes through to reach that point, you really would have to be quite a jerk to sabotage them for your own profit.
I’m going to start a Maroon 5 spin-off band called “Turquoise 6″ and our first release will be a themed album called “Songs About Jerks”.
Thanks a lot for putting me in the blogroll! I am honored!
November 11th, 2007 at 7:49 am
[...] the mafia in its worst days, but smart enough to get out now they no longer need the industry that bleeds talent dry until it “just can’t do it any [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
[...] But we know that money is always the first order of business for the record companies; they don’t really care about the wellbeing of artists. [...]
November 27th, 2007 at 1:55 am
Apparently he had a cyst on his vocal chorss which meant he had to stop or totally ruin those marvelous pipes.
I admire the heck out of Meat Loaf, for his achievements not the least of which are making a strong come back after such betrayals. as he has experienced. There’s a lot to be learned from such a performing/recording artist about persistence, determination and passion.
Lastly, it’s a damned shame that his PR people or news hounds didn’t tell the whole story fast about why he had to walk off the stage. But there you go.
Just glad and relieved to know he’s still singing.