Bat Out of Hell is the debut studio album by American rock singer Meat Loaf and composer Jim Steinman.

[7][8] A musical based on Bat Out of Hell, staged by Jay Scheib, opened at the Manchester Opera House on February 17, 2017, before transferring to the London Coliseum and Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre in late 2017.

"[13] A BBC article added "that Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan from Springsteen's E Street Band played on the album only helped reinforce the comparison.

[17] They performed the album live in 1976, with Steinman on piano, Meat Loaf singing, and sometimes Ellen Foley joining them for "Paradise".

"[14] In a 1989 interview with Redbeard for the In the Studio with Redbeard episode on the making of the album, Meat Loaf revealed that Jimmy Iovine and Andy Johns were potential candidates for producing Bat Out of Hell before being rejected by the singer and Steinman in favor of Todd Rundgren, whom Meat Loaf initially found cocky but grew to like.

Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg, the pianist and the drummer from Springsteen's E Street Band played on the album, in addition to members of Rundgren's group Utopia: Kasim Sulton, Roger Powell and John "Willie" Wilcox.

[16] According to Meat Loaf, Rundgren put all the arrangements together because although "Jim could hear all the instruments" in his head, Steinman hummed rather than orchestrated.

[22] When Rundgren discovered that the deal with RCA did not actually exist, Albert Grossman, who had been Bob Dylan's manager, offered to put it on his Bearsville label but needed more money.

Steinman had offended them a few years earlier by auditioning with a song named "Who Needs the Young", which contains the lyric "Is there anyone left who can fuck?

After several attempts by several people, John Jansen mixed the version of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" that is on the album, along with "All Revved Up with No Place to Go".

[23] Phil Rizzuto's baseball play-by-play call for "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" was recorded in 1976 at The Hit Factory in New York City by Rundgren, Meat Loaf and Steinman.

However, Meat Loaf asserts that Rizzuto claimed ignorance only to stifle criticism and was fully aware of the context of what he was recording.

The qualities of teenage rebellion and a girl joining a "tribe" led by a charismatic leader are present in all versions of Steinman's work.

It is in The Dream Engine that the spoken word piece "Hot Summer Night" originates,[30] and is the earliest work that appears on the Meat Loaf album, where it is performed by Jim Steinman and actress Marcia McClain.

When staged in 1977, the cast of Neverland included Ellen Foley as Wendy[35] – who performs the lead female vocal on "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" on the album.

The opening track "Bat Out of Hell" is the result of Steinman's desire to write the "most extreme crash song of all time".

The producer also highlights the "underlying humor in the lyrics", citing the line "There ain't no Coupe de Ville hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box."

"[28] Ellen Foley, who appears on "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", first met Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman while they were all working together on the National Lampoon Road Tour,[38] so they had a history of performing over-the-top musical comedy sketches together.

[41] Jim Steinman considers the line "And can't you see my faded Levi's bursting apart" his most daring lyric on the entire album.

Songs like 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light,' 'Two Out of Three Ain't Bad' and 'For Crying Out Loud' echoed the textbook teenage view of sex and life: irrepressible physical urges and unrealistic romantic longing.

[18] The BBC television program The Old Grey Whistle Test aired a clip of the live band performing the nine-minute title track.

"[25] Meanwhile, in North America, according to Billboard magazine, Popovich and his partners began promoting the album aggressively, first getting radio play in Omaha, Neb., Cleveland and New York.

Cosford's background was as the production manager of radio documentaries on The Beatles, Elvis Presley and the 64-hour Evolution of Rock which were in syndication throughout North America.

Powers had heard that Warren was a fan of 'Wall of Sound' production and suggested that he listen to Bat Out of Hell over the Christmas and New Years holiday.

Later, as Graham Powers said, "Tackling the Meat Loaf campaign was different from handling most other CBS international acts in that there was no prior stateside success to refer to.

"[48] Publicity Manager Liz Braun added that after Meat Loaf had played at the El Mocambo where he caused a riot, all the press in town wanted to talk to him and did.

The album has been released in various formats, including a Super Audio CD version, a 25th anniversary edition (2001 – Epic/Legacy #62171) with two bonus tracks ("Great Boléros of Fire (live intro)" [3:54] and "Bat Out of Hell (live)" [11:10], and a "Bat Out of Hell: Re-Vamped" release (1991) containing the bonus song "Dead Ringer for Love".

A new hybrid SACD version was released in late 2016 by Analog Spark, an audiophile imprint of the Razor & Tie label, mastered from the original tapes by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound.

On release, Dave Marsh's review in Rolling Stone called the songs "swell, but... entirely mannered and derivative" and noted that the arrangements "aren't bad", and commended the musicians.

Aside from Tyler, he composed and produced songs for musicians such as Air Supply, Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, the Sisters of Mercy, and Celine Dion.