Per Townsman Mwall’s suggestion, we’re moving the question from today’s Dugout Chatter on the Band That Brought the Most Shame to the Genre of Rock ‘n Roll to the Main Stage!
To review, I wrote:
Has any artist outright shamed the entire genre of rock ‘n roll as Meat Loaf did in his prime? I heard the intro to “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” the other day, and I felt like I was watching one of my own sons get a swirly in summer camp.
2000 Man suggested solo Mick Jagger. Mwall singles out Styx for the shameful way they treated the genre. All good suggestions, but I still say Meat Loaf gave rock a swirly, then rubbed his sweaty briefs in roll’s face!
Let’s be clear: we’re not talking “bad” bands – that’s shooting ducks in a barrel. Rather, we’re talking bands that made a mockery of or otherwise shamed the entire genre of rock ‘n roll.
A little description is in order with your nominations. I, for instance, find Meat Loaf’s appropriation of early rock ‘n roll bombast performed in a post-Rocky Horror Picture Show manner to be disrepectful to the founding fathers of rock. In one fell swoop, he drags in Broadway, Vampire Rock, and operatic ambitions. The mixing of pure rock ‘n roll with any one of these elements is dangerous enough. In Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman’s hands, music becomes an act of terror. Four measures into “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and any good will engendered by the likes of glam rockers like the New York Dolls is shot to hell.
For shame, Meat Loaf, for shame!
