This piece from Louder Sound looks back at the making of "Bat Out Of Hell," the title track from Meat Loaf's 1977 album, exploring how an unlikely creative partnership produced one of rock's most enduring songs. Songwriter Jim Steinman originally wrote the piece for a Peter Pan musical before reshaping it into a ten-minute rock epic, and it later became a defining example of "album rock" — a record widely regarded as a complete, self-contained work rather than a collection of hit singles.

The album was released in 1977, but the title track itself was not issued as a single until two years later, in 1979. Steinman, drawing inspiration from composers such as Richard Wagner, recalled being immediately struck by Meat Loaf's stage presence, describing him as "mesmerising" at his audition. The finished song blends a theatrical piano ballad opening with an explosive hard-rock finale, built around melodramatic imagery of motorbikes, street gangs and teenage romance, and was recorded with producer Todd Rundgren.