As you know, the music world lost Michael Lee Aday, better known by his stage name Meat Loaf, this past week.
The 74 year old singer was reported to have been suffering with COVID-19 in the days prior to his passing, however an official cause of death has yet to be revealed.
And last night in Detroit, Michigan, Eric Church took the opportunity to honor the rock legend with a cover of “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” ahead of his fan-favorite, “Springsteen.”
Written by Jim Steinman, the power ballad was recorded by Meat Loaf and Lorraine Crosby for his Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell album in 1993.
Of course, it’s not hard to see the Meat Loaf influences on Eric’s latest triple album, Heart & Soul, especially on the rock opera tracks like “Russian Roulette” and “Heart Of The Night.”
Eric went as far to explicitly mention Meat Loaf regarding the latter song’s genesis in the studio.
In which I tell @ericchurch his dramatic new songs sound like Meat Loaf. Watch the full intvu, if ya wanna: https://t.co/yDv0JFWqlX pic.twitter.com/xJWbtAa7f7
— Joseph Hudak (@JosephHudak3) April 15, 2021
“[Producer Jay Joyce] goes ‘You can’t do all those hits.’ I said ‘Dude, it’s Meat Loaf. Let’s do it.’”
Eric also addressed the song’s sound on his recent Amazon Music live Q&A:
“I love the dramatic nature of a lot of the songs, I love the way they developed. I remember a moment of time and a conversation I had with my producer Jay, because he questioned ‘Is this too Meat Loaf?’
I said ‘Dude, if you’re gonna go Meat Loaf, you gotta go Meat Loaf.’
There’s no half Meat Loaf. There’s no half Loaf.”
You heard the man… full blown Meat Loaf.
That being said, props to Eric for honoring his memory
RIP.