After decades of performing, Meat Loaf looks for respect

Meat Loaf wouldn't mind being accorded the same respect Frank Sinatra earned in his prime. Not that the guy who took rock 'n' roll and made it into a theatrical experience via 1977's "Bat Out of Hell" has any illusions about his music being compared to that of Ol' Blue Eyes.

Still, it rankles Meat Loaf that sometimes he's perceived as only a singer - as if singing is not enough.

"Back in the '20s, '30s and '40s, there was a distinction," he says. "There were songwriters and there were singers. ... and the singers delivered the songwriters' songs. Have you ever heard the phrase, 'He sings it like he owns it'• There's a reason, because he captured the moment, he captured the magic, he captured the feeling."

Meat Loaf, who will play the A.J. Palumbo Theatre, Uptown, on Wednesday, blames "Rolling (expletive) Stone" for fostering an elitist attitude about song interpretation and singers such as himself.

Not that he's suffering too much from any perceived biases. "Bat Out of Hell," with songs by Jim Steinman, still is one of the best-selling albums ever, having sold more than 14 million units. In 1993, "Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell," revisited Meat Loaf's collaboration with Steinman. Whether his music is perceived as entertaining, over-the-top theatrical rock 'n' roll or as "harmless, low-octane operatic drivel" (in Rolling Stone's review of "Bat Out of Hell II"), the guy connects with people on some visceral, emotional level.

And while he admits he wouldn't mind if there were fewer critics on the planet, Meat Loaf says life is pretty good.

"I do complain about the 'You don't write the songs, you can't possibly deliver it' thing," he says, adding that actors who perform Shakespeare aren't held to the same standard. "But I'm not complaining about anything that's ever happened to me. People can write whatever they write, and I won't call them up on the phone. ... I'm just going to go out and do what I do, and continue to do what I do. I've been doing it since 1967, and it's 2002, so I'm not doing too bad."

Actually, Meat Loaf is doing pretty well. His occasional tours draw full houses here and abroad, and his acting career keeps him constantly busy. Since 1997, he estimates he's been in 23 movies, with notable roles including the racist sheriff in "Crazy in Alabama" and as the ex-bodybuilder who sparred with Edward Norton's character in "Fight Club."

It shouldn't be surprising that Meat Loaf has found so much work as an actor, since his singing career is founded on many of same principles.

"When you take something and create a reality, and create a life to it, and you present that creation as real and as reality, that's a true test of creation," he says. "When you create a reality from nothing."

All the talk about creating something from nothing is vaguely Seinfeldian, but there's a method to Meat Loaf's logic. He's building a case for his art, the whole "Bat Out of Hell" mythology that is inextricably linked to his career, but never, ever grows old.

"Some tours, you see them at the beginning and see them at the end, and the shows seem tired," he says. "There are certain people who will cry every night at the same moment and will say exactly the same words. It's planted.

"Now, an actor has to do that, but if you went to see a really good actor do a play six or seven times, it's never the same," he adds. "It's always slightly different because he's living in the moment, and that's what all actors strive to do 100 percent of the time when they walk on the stage. ... If you saw us 10 nights a row, yeah, we do the same songs, we do this and we do that, but it's still different because I'm living in the moment. ... So 'Bat Out of Hell' is different every night."