After re-listening to Celine Dion's incredible full-length "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (written by Jim Steinman), and revisiting a few tracks off of Meat Loaf's explosive Bat out of Hell (written by Jim Steinman), I had to do a little more research about Jim Steinman! Here are two great quotes!!!
From a fun essay by DB Fishman:
He may not have been of the rock & roll world, but he was definitely of its attitude. Inspired by his heroes – Wagner, Hitchcock, Spector – Steinman’s music uses elaborate and convoluted, multi-part arrangements, channelling in bombast and excess the emotional storm of teenagedom. He regarded the songs on Bat (average length: 7 minutes) as single edits, as he’d already whittled them down from 20 minutes each.
Then, from his Wikipedia entry, after describing the wild-sounding play he wrote in college that started his musical theater career:
Several motifs, lyrics, and monologues from this show appear in songs Steinman later released. For example, the lyrics "turn around bright eyes" from "Total Eclipse of the Heart" can be heard in the song called "The Formation of the Tribe". This was originally a reference to the blast flash of nuclear explosions, and the full riff of the original Dream Engine composition can be heard in the musical break of the Bonnie Tyler recording, (including symbolic musical "blasts" to punctuate each phrase.)
Not only did I not know he wrote absolute legend and karaoke showstopper "Total Eclipse of the Heart," the fact that "turn around bright eyes" is about a nuclear explosion is one of the most ridiculous and hilarious music facts I've ever heard! 😅😲🤣
Anyway, I once described Jim Steinman as "rock music for dads who would never admit to enjoying a musical," and I stand by it. I truly love his songwriting!