12 Most Overlooked Meat Loaf Songs From Every Album
7. Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell (1993) - Life Is A Lemon (And I Want My Money Back)
The criminally overlooked single off Meat Loaf’s big comeback album Bat Out Of Hell II is this fantastic Jim Steinman number - that’s written by and produced by, for the full Steinman effect.
That being the case, it’s odd how much this sounds like Alice Cooper - but that’s no bad thing, considering the fact that Alice is rock n’ roll’s other finest method actor.
Showcasing the greatest guitar riff to ever appear on a Meat Loaf track, Life Is A Lemon is an expression of contempt for everything life has to offer. In fact, at one point it actually drops back into a call-and-response back-and-forth, the backing vocals proffering a reason to change his mind only for the answer to come back - “It’s defective!”, culminating in Meat Loaf literally screaming that we can shove the future up our asses.
All of the above is brilliant - the song is huge, dramatic and brimming with bravado - so if there’s any caveat at all here, it’s that the last half of the song feels like one long outro. There’s not a huge amount of light and shade here.
Mind you, with that riff you’re not really going to knock it - and Life Is A Lemon (And I Want My Money Back) has the distinct virtue of being the absolute angriest Meat Loaf has ever sounded.