Happy June, everyone! It’s time for another edition of Battle of the Bands.
BATTLE OF THE BANDS (BOTB), hosted by Far Away Eyes (who recently opted out. We’ll miss you FAE! Thanks for all the great posts.) and StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands, is where you listen to different recordings of the same song and vote for the one you like best. Two “Battles” per month, on the 1st and 15th. Votes will be tallied and posted the following week. (See below for further details.)
MEAT LOAF MANIA! BATTLE OF THE BANDS #BOTB. Cast your vote! #dogladysden Share on X
Inspired by my most recent concert outing, May 30.
(Sadly, Meat Loaf’s vocal ability has declined severely, but the band was kickass!)
I’D DO ANYTHING FOR LOVE
(BUT I WON’T DO THAT)
HISTORY
[reference only – please do not vote on this one]“I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” is a song composed by Jim Steinman, and recorded by Meat Loaf and Lorraine Crosby. The song was released in 1993 as the first single from the album Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell. It was a commercial success, reaching number one in 28 countries. The single was certified platinum in the United States and became Meat Loaf’s first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and on the UK singles chart, and was the best-selling single of 1993 in the United Kingdom. The song earned Meat Loaf a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo. – WIKIPEDIA
The foregoing serves as background information only.
Now, on to the actual contest……
▼
▼
XANDRIA
Xandria is a German, symphonic metal band, founded by Marco Heubaum in 1994. “I’d Do Anything for Love” is the 4th track from their EP, Fire and Ashes, released on July 31, 2015:
VS
FUTURE IDIOTS
Future Idiots is a Swedish rock band founded in 2005. They are lyrically and vocally a combination of old school Pop-Punk and new age Rock. “I’ Would Do Anything for Love” is the 7th track from their album, Grand Theft Auto III, released in March of this year:
VOTE NOW!
Please state your preference in comments below and why you chose it.
Voting remains open until 10 am ET, June 7th,
after which I will count the votes, add mine and publish the results.
These are the other BOTB regulars and semi-regulars.
Please cruise on by their sites and, if they have a post up, vote on their selections as well:
[Check back – there’s no set posting time]Angels Bark / Book Lover / Cherdo On The Flipside / Curious as a Cathy / DC Relief BOTB / eVil pOp TaRt / J.A. Scott / Janie Junebug Righting & Editing / Jingle Jangle Jungle / Mike’s Ramblings / Quiet Laughter / ReInVintaged / Sound of One Hand Typing / StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands / Tossing It Out / / Your Daily Dose
HOST
As always, “Sharing is Caring”. Spread this musical joy all over your social networks.
Hashtag is #BOTB
Until next time.
ROCK ON!
♫♪♫♪♫ Rockchick Rapture!
Follow THE DOGLADY’S DEN ‘s board BATTLE OF THE BANDS #BOTB at THE DOGLADY’S DEN on Pinterest.
MORE FROM THE BLOG:
LATEST FROM INSTAGRAM:
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins
Error: There is no connected account for the user 9347381981998827.
Follow THE DOGLADY’S DEN on WordPress.com
Discover more from The Doglady's Den
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Dog Mom and (retired) Canine Innkeeper in suburban Toronto, Canada, known as The Doglady. Former corporate workaholic. Writer, photographer, digital creator. Animal lover, music fanatic, inveterate traveller. Eternal hippie/rockchick. History, literature and cinema buff. Hockey and soccer fan. Dedicated night owl. German/Canadian binational, multilingual. Let me entertain you!
62 thoughts on “MEAT LOAF MANIA! | BATTLE OF THE BANDS #BOTB”
My vote goes to Xandria
Thanks for voting, Holli. 🙂 The results are in.
Wow, Debbie… This one’s tough. I have a history with the Meat Loaf original—a powerful one, haha—which means I tend to dislike most covers. *All* covers, actually… at least the ones I’ve heard. Until today 🙂 As persnickety and snobby as I can be, I found much to like in these two. Xandria’s won me over with the female vocals on the (originally) male parts—and the male ones on the female riffs! “Would you raise me up, would you help me down, would you get me right out of this god-forsaken town?” That always sounded a bit Cinderella-ish to me, you know? Oh please, Mr. Charming, won’t you come and rescue me… So this version, with the male singing this part and the female doing the “rescuing” answers, sounded so, so cool. And then the punk version… Wow! Loved that arrangement, and the vocals, even though they followed the original in many ways, were unique enough to bring new life into the song.
So, yes, tough choice. But I’m going with the Xandria version. The women’s-lib is part of it, but mostly it’s that, in the end, Future Idiots sounded too much like the Blink-182 pop-punk sound so favored in the ’90s… And that kind of killed the “newness” for me. Does that make any sense? Hahaha… I may need another cup of coffee 😀
GREAT battle, Debbie!
Guilie @ Quiet Laughter
Meat Loaf songs stir memories within many of us, I’ll bet. 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed both covers and I agree with you. The role reversal was a great touch! Future Idiots definitely had some major punk riffs in there. Thanks for voting! The results are in.
I really love Meat Loaf and mentioned him in one of my books, it was his song Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad. I choose Future Idiots, but I did like both of their takes on the song. Still, no one does it better than Meat Loaf. 🙂
Great summer songs!
I love that song too, Yolanda. 🙂 How cool that you used a Meat Loaf song in one of your books! Future Idiots didn’t win, but they put up a good fight. Thanks for voting!
Both work, but I liked Xandria better I liked the female vocals
Thanks for your vote, Mike. You were on the winning side. 🙂
I fell in love with Meatloaf in college. My roommates and I would rock out to Paradise By The Dashboard Light before going out partying. We thought we were so cool. We were really just well on our way to being drunk. So less cool, more tipsy. But we had a great time. My senior year a group of friends got together when Meatloaf came to town and we saw them in concert. I’d remember that entire experience better had I not downed an entire bottle of Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill “Wine.” Oh dear. That was a crazy night. The whole thing was kinda pink.
Anyway, gotta go with Future Idiots in this installment. I haven’t been voting using your little widget. Does that mean my votes haven’t been counted???? Apparently I don’t need Boone’s Farm to do “pink” things.
Glad you had a great time with Meat Loaf, Robin, even if it was a little “pink” and hazy. 😀 Got you down for Future Idiots. I keep a running tab of the votes from comments and if people don’t use the widget, then I will add their votes in manually, It’s always an accurate accounting. It looks like you did use it today, as the widget and comment votes match. Last time, there was a mystery guest who used the widget but didn’t comment. 🙂 Thanks for voting!
I like Xandria because her voice was so strong and I like the symphonic styling. I love Meatloaf but I wonder what he wouldn’t do. Would he not dress up as a furry? I wonder:)
Another vote for Xandria. Thanks, Birgit. 🙂 Meat Loaf answers your question at the 6:35 mark of the first video. Probably not what most people would expect. 😉
DEBBIE ~
My thoughts are almost identical to Ericka’s, except my vote is different. I cast mine for FUTURE IDIOTS.
I was never a Meatloaf fan, really. I do, however, own his song ‘Paradise By The Dashboard Light’, which is kind of funny. Because he was in the movie, that song is tacked on to the end of the ‘Leap Of Faith’ soundtrack album. So there’s all these Christian Gospel songs, followed by ‘PARADISE…’ Ha! “Incongruous” is the word.
This particular song you used, with it’s twist of humor, reminds me of a much earlier song by The Tubes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyQnIUq5xzQ
~ D-FensDogG
‘Loyal American Underground’
Another vote for “less annoying” but this time for Future Idiots. 🙂 “Paradise” is an odd match for an album with gospel songs. I think I saw that movie, but don’t remember much about it. I’ll check it out again. Thanks, Stephen. This battle is fairly close.
Tough call… I enjoyed the Trans-Siberian Orchestra-ish sound of Xandria, but didn’t really care for the lady’s voice. Granted, the girl definitely has some killer pipes, but operatic vocals are just not my thing. On the other hand, I liked the vocals of the guy in Future Idiots, but the fast paced, slightly thrash metal-ish music got on my nerves. I would love to hear the lead singer from FI sing lead vocals with Xandria! In the end, I voted for Xandra because, despite my not caring for her operatic vocal stylings, the song as a whole didn’t get on my nerves the way the FI version did.
Thanks for playing “Battle of the Bands”, Erika and welcome to The Den. 🙂 Switching the vocalists is an interesting thought. That’s a vote for the less annoying version by Xandria.
Hi, Shady! That voice message was recorded four years ago and I’ve had it on the home page for about as long. Thanks for listening to it. 🙂 I understand what you mean about Xandria’s version; it lacks a certain “oomph” one would expect from a metal band. I used to follow figure skating in the days of Kurt Browning and Elvis Stoiko. Rudy Galindo was good too. I’m familiar with those Marx Bros. titles and have experienced actual nights at the opera and days at the races. Both fun in different ways. That’s another vote for the punks of Future Idiots. Thanks and have a great weekend. 🙂
I’m a little late getting to the party. It’s been crazy over here. My mom was just released from the hospital yesterday after being there for 6 days for congestive heart failure and a procedure to put a drain in her lung and we were so happy to have her back home but then this morning she fell and hit her head. I had to call 911 and they took her to yet another hospital where she’s spending the night so they can do another CAT scan in tomorrow morning. It’s been absolutely insane! So I’m late getting here, but I’m here. Exhausted and frazzled, but here…
I did like the Future Idiots version but I LOVED Xandria’s version. Her voice is wonderful. The orchestra-sounding band was a nice touch too. Please give my vote to Xandria (well, I already voted for her in your poll so it’s already counted).
Glad you got to see Meatloaf but sorry to hear his voice fell flat.
No worries, Michele. Voting remains open until June 7. You’ve certainly been going through a rough period . 🙁 I hope your Mom will be okay! Take some time, even if it’s just a few minutes, to sit, relax and clear your mind. I went through similar traumas with my parents and know how it is. Listening to music helped a lot.
Xandria is doing well here. 🙂 Thanks for your vote.
I was SO looking forward to this concert, as I’ve never seen Meat Loaf live before and it was on the bucket list. He can’t sing anymore and either talked or shouted most of the lyrics. The fabulous band and female duet partner salvaged the evening somewhat, but I think he should retire. 🙁 Better to remember how he was in his prime. That was my first disappointing concert experience. All the other old rock acts we’ve seen have been great!
Thanks Debbie. I appreciate your compassion.
And I agree, if it reaches a point where the artist can’t perform superbly anymore, it’s time to retire. That’s too bad. And that had to be frustrating to be at a disappointing show. I know how much you look forward to your concerts! 🙂
Taking care of elderly parents is never easy and you have to be able to relieve some of that stress. I hope things will get better for you! As for the concert , it was more sad than anything else. I felt sorry for him, but then again, those tickets weren’t cheap and I expected a decent performance! Hubby didn’t seem to mind as much, probably because he wasn’t as familiar with Meat Loaf as I am. The female vocalist was outstanding and also gorgeous. That kept his attention. 🙂 All the musicians in the band were excellent, so that was good.
Debbie, boy, am I ever tired! Just got indoors a little while ago after tackling yard work with DH. Grabbed a shower, then headed straight over to hear your BoTB play off. Future Idiots started off nicely. I like the lead singers voice, but then it the song pace got fast and that lost me. I by far preferred Xandria. Softer vocals with piano lead in and an orchestra backing or at least that’s what it sounded like to me. Anywho, I really liked there cover best and I gave them my vote. Cool battle! Oh yeah thanks for finding the Spotify links for my battle. You totally rock, girlfriend. Now, I’m ready to go die quickly somewhere. I’m achy all over!
Drops of Jupiter #BoTB showdown
Cathy, I’m having a hard time getting to your blog. Did something happen with your blog. I want to participate in your battle! I just tried to access it via your most recent post as linked here in your Comment but I can’t get to that either. Help! Hope all is well…
Michele at Angels Bark
It’s working now, Michele. Probably a glitch from the server. That happens with self-hosted sites, sometimes. Aggravating as hell, because we pay for their service!
Great! Thanks for letting me know!
Hi, Cathy; Ouch! Yard work is the worst! 🙁 This time of year is always labour intensive for us too. So many weeds and overgrowth! Hope you’ve recovered a bit by now. Somebody else mentioned not liking the faster pace of Future Idiot’s version. I’ll have to listen again. Thanks for your vote. Xandria gets another one! 🙂 You’re welcome about the links. I don’t know why Canadian copyright laws have to be so difficult! 😛
By default, I vote for XANDRIA. I’m such a die-hard Meatloaf fan! Neither version satisfied completely but like I said, “The Meat” was my favorite. The rest are veggies! Have fun with your battle, Debbie!
Hahaha! Great line about the rest being veggies. 😀 Meat Loaf songs are amazing and I tend to agree that nobody else can do them justice. A default vote for Xandria. Thanks!
I thought the symphonic version of this was a little too overdone, so I’m going with Future Idiots.
Hi, John; Thanks for dropping in. Future Idiots gets another vote. This could be a close one! 🙂
Okay… I could not leave you hanging, so I went back and listened, intently. Normally, I would lean toward a singer like Dianne van Giersbergen, because I am all about nonsensical symphonic rock with a female soprano lead and a screaming fellow offsetting. But, she is not a typical singer in that vein, to me. She is just… there.
Punk covers are fun, if taken at face value, so I did just that, and the Future Idiots is really not so bad. I will cast a vote for them.
Yay! 😀 I’m glad you came back, Myke. That’s another vote for the Punk stylings of Future Idiots. Do you like Tarja Turunen?
While listening to this song, “Oasis” by Tarja…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfhr1CXelGw
I wrote this poem…
http://whispersinthewind333.blogspot.com/2014/09/rose-of-my-heart-by-michael-todd-united.html
So… Yes, I love and adore Tarja. 🙂
Lovely song and a beautiful poem. Thanks for sharing both! 🙂
Meatloaf is a favorite of mine and he certainly has delivered some classics. Both of the contenders were unfamiliar to me and I think that’s best – no preconceived notions about who is best, ha ha.
Future Idiots surprised me! I didn’t expect to like them, but I did. In the end, however, I like Xandria more. Great version!
XANDRIA GETS MY VOTE! Thanks, Debbie!
Hi, Cherdo; Meat Loaf’s music is so unique and theatrical. What’s not to love? 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed both covers. Thanks for voting. Xandria get another one!
Interesting sound from both participants. However, I prefer the first one. The second, I think, could have been better hadn’t it sounded like it was simply sped up. I’ve never been partial to that style.
Not a punk rocker, Jeffrey? 🙂 Xandria gets another vote. Thanks for coming by.
Not choosing the lesser of two evils here. This is the one Meat Loaf track that should have gone uncovered.
I hear you, but glad you came back! 🙂
This was torture for me Debbie because I absolutely love, love, love Meatloaf and nobody does Meatloaf better than Meatloaf. Not-even-close. (I feel the same way about Stevie Nicks music) BUT, I had to pick one so I went with Xandria, and I thought the same thing Arlee did, there was a bit of Abba in there. Thanks for the Meatloaf tune. Hadn’t heard it in a while.
I agree with that, Angel. Meat Loaf songs are completely unique and there’s no match for the fabulous voice he once had. (Sadly, it’s not there anymore. Poor Meat! 🙁 ) That’s another vote for Xandria – aka the metal ABBA. Thanks!
I enjoyed songs by Meatloaf long before I ever knew who did them! Great choice 🙂 I liked the Xandria version the best, though it was odd to hear it done in a higher pitched voice. Future Idiots did a decent job with a bit more energy than I think the song requires to flow as intended.
Meat Loaf had some great songs, for sure! So many of them became ingrained in popular culture. 🙂 That’s another vote for Xandria. Thanks! 🙂
Ever since I have heard this song for the first time I asked myself WHAT! What won’t he do? Someone should write an answer to this song. I have always felt this song is like a dangling clause…. sorry Debby, I’m sitting out on this one… Ooooh wooooah…. yes. 🙂 lol
Aww, no vote? Not even for “least objectionable”? 🙂 If you go back to the original Meat Loaf video at the top of this post, your question is answered at the 6:35 mark. Let me know if you find it!
He won’t screw around? That’s it! OMG! I can now finally stop wondering and have a good night’s sleep. Thank you Debbie. As a sign of my appreciation I will cast my vote! Yahooo!
Yay! But, who did you vote for? I can’t rely on the widget, because it’s anonymous. Thanks! 🙂
Meat Loaf … just because I liked his voice better.
Sorry, he’s not part of the contest. 🙁
The choices are Xandria or Future Idiots. Meat Loaf would have won by a mile if he were part of the contest. 🙂
Oh.. then I voted for Future Idiots….Meat Loaf was written on the top, which threw me off.
Got it! Thanks. Have a good weekend. 🙂
Hey,
I thought you ‘d have a great recipe over here for MEATLOAF!
And you did! xx
Yes, we’re cooking over here. 🙂 Not participating in the contest? Anyway, thanks for dropping in!
Happy June. That’s happy music to kickstart the month:)
Happy June to you as well, Vishal. Not participating in the contest? Anyway, thanks for dropping in! 🙂
Hi Debbie!
That was really cool to hear Meatloaf done in the two very different styles. Sorry to hear that Meatloaf is losing his vocal abilities.
Xandria was pretty cool to listen to, but it was Future Idiots that I enjoyed the most. Please give my vote to them.
HI, Mary; This was the first time I’ve ever been disappointed at a concert. 🙁 Poor Meat Loaf was struggling, but his stellar band and female vocalist saved the evening. That’s one vote for Future Idiots. This could be another close contest! Thanks for voting.
The punk version was over quicker so that was kind of nice. I thought the version by Xandria was more interesting, more sweeping, and displayed more diverse talented. Pretty good sound. Very theatrical and dramatic sounding. Actually parts of this reminded me of Abba with heavy metal backing. Good stuff.
Arlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Tossing It Out
I like that – Abba with heavy metal backing. Would be an improvement! 🙂 First vote goes to Xandria. Thanks, Lee.