The theme of “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” is teenage lust. It’s about a teenage boy trying to convince a teenage girl to have sex with him in the front seat of a car. Ellen Foley, the female singer who duets with Meatloaf in this song, was also on that National Lampoon tour and she said that many of the songs that became Bat Out of Hell were born on that tour. She also said of [Jim]Steinman, “I don’t want to be a shrink, but I think it was probably him working out his own teenage desires that he hadn’t done in real life…”

Amy LivelyFebruary 3, 2023quadrophenia, pink floyd, bat out of hell, rock operas

Episode 20: I Hear a Symphony: 70s Progressive Rock

Challenging the idea of art, which is entirely subjective, in the 70s is a very 70s thing. This is the “Me Decade.” The decade of psychotherapy and liberation -- or at least attempts to move toward liberation -- raising consciousness. We did not have a collective vision of what progress meant. It was up to us to explore that, as individuals.

history, musicAmy LivelyApril 25, 2020prog rock, progressive rock, pink floyd, emerson lake and palmer, Electric Light Orchestra, art rock