Acting in the Dark: New York Yankees legend and broadcaster Phil Rizzuto often claimed that he was brought in to record the commentary for the bridge of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" without being told that it was going to be used as an extended sexual metaphor. Meat Loaf publicly contradicted this, saying that Rizzuto knew full well what they were going to do with it and approved, but that he understood that Rizzuto needed to play dumb in order to have plausible deniability if any of his more strait-laced fans questioned him about it.
Awesome, Dear Boy: We can thank Todd Rundgren for making this album possible. Record labels spent two full years rejecting Bat Out of Hell before Rundgren heard it and thought it was too hilarious and "so 'out' there" to pass up on. Rundgren not only produced the album, but performed guitar and backing vocals on several songs.
Magnum Opus Dissonance: In terms of commercial success, this is the most successful project that Todd Rundgren has been involved in. But for him, he saw it as a funny parody and was surprised to find that it genuinely resonated with a large audience. After a while, he even stopped accepting royalty checks for the album.
Non-Singing Voice: In the music video for "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", which is a filmed performance of the song with the studio audio overdubbed. The woman onscreen is Karla DeVito, who sang the part on tour, but the woman heard singing is Ellen Foley, who never performed the song live with Meat Loaf.
Sleeper Hit: Almost everybody at the record label hated this album, Meat Loaf was effectively a nobody, and initial reviews were fairly mixed. Thanks to an aggressive push by the Cleveland International Records head, Steve Popovich, it slowly started selling in the US, with the singles doing particularly well, and in the UK it also benefited from its songs being performed on The Old Grey Whistle Test. In the end, despite the slow start, the album kept selling, and it would become one of the best selling albums of all time - in the US, it was rated as 15x Platinum despite the fact that it peaked at #14 on the Billboard 200note Though it did get a bump up to #13 after Meat Loaf's death. and it's the fourth longest charting album in UK history.
“It Just Won’t Quit” and “Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)” were cut from the show but survived on the cast recording.
"In the Land of the Pig The Butcher Is King" is cut from the New York City production, which, by removing the scene where Falco inflicts Cold-Blooded Torture on the Lost, makes him a less-villainous character and makes his Heel–Face Turn more palatable. Unfortunately, it has the side effect of removing one of Sloane's most heroic moments, where she frees the Lost against her husband's wishes, reducing her to little more than a bystander.
The Australian tour removed Tink's song "Not Allowed To Love", and instead gave him an anguished reprise of "For Crying Out Loud". "Who Needs The Young" also got cut from this version of the show, but was not replaced with anything.
Romance on the Set: Rob Fowler (Falco) and Sharon Sexton (Sloane) met during production and hit it off, later getting married and having a baby together - Sexton took time off from the show as maternity leave, but later eagerly returned to the role. Some critics have remarked that their relationship makes the finale, where their characters reconcile and fall back in love, even more heartwarming.
