Jim Steinman - 1980s

1980s

In 1980, the film A Small Circle of Friends was released. It had an orchestral score composed by Steinman, and orchestrated by his frequent collaborator Steve Margoshes. The motifs of this orchestral score match the melodies of numerous songs Steinman later released, including "Total Eclipse of the Heart", "Making Love out of Nothing at All" and "Für Sarah" from Tanz der Vampire.

Early in the production of a follow-up album to Bat out of Hell, Meat Loaf developed vocal problems and was unable to continue on the project. Steinman proceeded with the album, released as Bad for Good in 1981. Most songs are sung by Steinman himself. Three of the songs are sung by Rory Dodd, who did not receive a clear indication for his work in the album's credits, and Karla DeVito sings a duet part on one song. Steinman was this time credited as co-producer with Todd Rundgren for all but one track. Steinman was credited as co-producer with Jimmy Iovine for the song "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through".

Meat Loaf again recorded songs by Steinman on the 1981 album Dead Ringer. All of the songs on the album were written by Steinman. The highest charting song on this album was "Dead Ringer for Love", a duet with the uncredited Cher, and the album reached #1 on the album charts in the United Kingdom.

Steinman is credited as producer of every track on Bonnie Tyler's 1983 album Faster Than the Speed of Night. Steinman also wrote two of the songs on the album: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Faster Than the Speed of Night". For a period in 1983, two songs written and produced by Steinman held the top two positions on the Billboard singles chart, with "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at number one, and "Making Love out of Nothing at All", performed by Air Supply, at number two. The second of those appeared on Air Supply's 1983 compilation albums Greatest Hits and Making Love... The Very Best of Air Supply, and was also released as a single.

Barry Manilow's 1983 compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. II included the song "Read 'Em and Weep", written and produced by Steinman. It had appeared on Meat Loaf's Dead Ringer album in 1981, but with a slightly different lyric. The song stayed at #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart for eight consecutive weeks.

In 1983, Ian Hunter released his album All of the Good Ones Are Taken. On the title track, "All of the Good Ones Are Taken", Steinman is credited with "assistance". Rory Dodd and Eric Troyer, two singers who often sang on Steinman's studio work, were credited with "additional background vocals".

In 1984, the film Streets of Fire was released. The soundtrack included two songs written and produced by Steinman. They are "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" and "Nowhere Fast". The performance of these two songs is credited to "Fire Inc.", which was a reference to an assembly of studio musicians and singers hired for these two songs. The voices heard on these songs include those of Rory Dodd, Holly Sherwood, and Laurie Sargent.

Steinman is credited for producing all of the tracks on Billy Squier's 1984 album Signs of Life, and Barbra Streisand's album of the same year, Emotion, featured "Left in the Dark", which Steinman wrote and produced. The song had previously appeared on Bad for Good.

The soundtrack for the 1984 film Footloose included the song "Holding Out for a Hero", performed by Bonnie Tyler. Steinman produced the track and is credited with writing the music, and Dean Pitchford for writing the lyric. The song was a hit single, the soundtrack album was successful, and the film was successful. Some of the music from this song was adapted from the music used for the song "Stark Raving Love", from the album Bad for Good.

In 1984, Steinman was hired by and worked briefly with the rock band Def Leppard on some tracks that were intended for a Def Leppard album. However, Steinman was fired, and the recording work he made with the band was not released. The next album Def Leppard released after this, Hysteria, was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

In 1985 Steinman wrote and produced a theme song for WWF performer Hulk Hogan. It was released in 1985 on an album called The Wrestling Album. The track was made during the recording sessions for Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. The track has no lead vocals, and it matches much of the non-vocal parts of the track of "Ravishing" that appeared on Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. The track was also heard as the theme music on the animated television show Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling.

Steinman produced the track "Love Can Make You Cry", written by Michael Kehr, Don Kehr and Ian Hunter, for the soundtrack album for the 1986 film Iron Eagle. This was a modified version of the original recording of the same song, which had appeared on Urgent's 1985 album Cast the First Stone. The original recording had been produced by Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson.

According to Steinman in an interview, Andrew Lloyd Webber approached him to write lyrics for The Phantom of the Opera because Lloyd Webber felt that his "dark obsessive side" fit in with the project. However, Steinman declined in order to fulfill his commitments on a Bonnie Tyler album. In 1986 the album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire was released. Bonnie Tyler sang lead vocals. Steinman produced every track on the album. Four of the songs on the album were written by Steinman. One, "Holding Out for a Hero", was the same track from the Footloose soundtrack. The others being, "Ravishing", "Rebel Without a Clue" and "Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It", a duet with Todd Rundgren. This album was the first time Steinman worked with Steven Rinkoff, who was a recording engineer on this album. Since this album, the two have been co-producers and regular professional partners on Steinman's work.

The Sisters of Mercy released their second album, Floodland, in 1987. The track "This Corrosion" was produced by Steinman, and the track "Dominion/Mother Russia" was co-produced by Steinman, along with Larry Alexander and Andrew Eldritch. The soundtrack album for the 1989 film Rude Awakening included two tracks produced by Steinman. One was the song "Rude Awakening", with lead vocals by Bill Medley and was written by Rick Rose and Paul Rothchild. The other was called "Darling Be Home Soon", which featured lead vocals by Phoebe Snow and was written by John Sebastian.

In 1989 the album Original Sin was released. The album artist name is Pandora's Box. Pandora's Box referred to a group assembled by Steinman, including, officially, four female singers and Steinman himself. The official four female singers were Ellen Foley, Elaine Caswell, Gina Taylor, and Deliria Wilde (with Holly Sherwood doing lead vocals on "Good Girls Go to Heaven"). Sales in Europe were low. The album was successful and reached #1 on the album charts in South Africa. It was not released at all in North America. Years later, it was re-issued and became available all over the world on compact disc. Original Sin included the original recording of "It's All Coming Back To Me Now", sung by Elaine Caswell. Two songs from this album "It Just Won't Quit" and "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" were re-recorded and released on Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell.