Rejected

Jim and Marvin did.

Jim was a songwriter … for a workshop he written some songs for a kind of sci-fi version of Peter Pan. Marvin was an actor and musician who loafed around a lot … and loved performing Jim’s songs.

Together they thought they had the making of a really great album … just seven songs that were kind of different and theatrical and really didn’t fit any style. Unfortunately, no one liked the material … at all.

For over two years Jim and Marvin pitched their album to record company after record company … every one rejected the idea. Eventually, they ended up in front of the legendary Clive Davis who had discovered Bruce Springsteen and Whitney Houston … and they got a hellish reaction … basically Davis told Jim he knew nothing about writing music and Marvin actors don’t sing.

Well, they kept at it despite what Clive and others said. Eventually a Todd Rundgren stepped up to Bat as a producer and then a small Cleveland record label took a chance. The rest is history.

Today, the album written by Jim Steinman and performed by Marvin Lee Aday is one of the influential, iconic and best-selling albums of all time with over 43 million copies sold … and it still sells over 200,000 copies every year. Marvin Lee Aday? He goes by his stage name Meatloaf. The album? Bat Out of Hell.

Bat Out of Hell is a great idea because if you can overcome the hell of rejection after rejection you can do just about anything.