Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose - History

History

According to a Reuters report, Meat Loaf and Steinman started working on an album in 2001. During the concerts in his Hair of the Dog tour, Meat Loaf made a point to mention that he and Steinman were putting out a new album.

The composer suffered some health setbacks around 2004. Meat Loaf says that "lawyers worked for over a year putting together a contract for Steinman to do Bat Out of Hell III. It was one of the best producer's contracts in the history of the record business." Ultimately, according to the singer, Steinman was not well enough to work on such an intense project and made what he calls the "selfish" decision to go ahead without him. In promotional interviews he said that he did not want to wait a year and a half just to find out that Steinman was still unfit. Describing himself as a "really loyal person," Meat Loaf says that "the decision not to use Steinman has taken its toll on me."

However, in 2006, David Sonenberg, Steinman's manager, said:

Jim's health is excellent. That's not the reason he didn't participate in (Bat III). He had some meaningful health problems about four years ago, but he's been totally healthy the last couple of years. His health in no way impacted on his involvement in the Bat Out of Hell project.

The development problems and confusion over Steinman's involvement is a result of a dispute of the trademark "Bat Out of Hell", which Steinman registered in 1995. Meat Loaf sued Steinman and his manager, in a complaint filed May 28, 2006 in federal District Court in Los Angeles, California, for $50 million and to prevent further use by the writer/producer.

Meat Loaf has stated that he contributed lyrics to "Bat Out of Hell". He had used the phrase extensively for tours, to which Steinman had never objected "until a recent falling out." Steinman and his representatives approached Meat Loaf's labels, Universal and Virgin, asserting trademark ownership and threatening litigation to prevent the album's release. An agreement was reached in Summer 2006. According to Virgin, "the two came to an amicable agreement that ensured that Jim Steinman's music would be a continuing part of the 'Bat Out of Hell' legacy." In promotional interviews, Meat Loaf has played down the dispute with Steinman, pointing out that it was over in three weeks and was purely for the sake of business.

I consider him to be one of my best friends but the real thing is about managers: I think Steinman's manager is the devil and Steinman feels the same way about my manager. So, we had to communicate through managers and he refused to sign some papers that would have allowed for the recording of Bat Out Of Hell III without a hitch. So, really, I didn't sue Jim Steinman. I sued his manager.

Despite the fact that Steinman was not involved in the recording or production, the album does include seven of his songs, five of which are covers of previously released songs. The other two were covers of Steinman's demos intended for musical theater projects, at the time unreleased. The agreement enabled Steinman to work on a musical theatre project based on all of the songs from Bat Out of Hell. Describing the project as "Cirque du Soleil on acid," in September 2007, he expected it to open in London in 2010.