Posted from:http://lopezstudios.com/?p=215">Speaking of ripoff artists... Celine chokes on Meatloaf

Was telling alex about how much I disliked this fugly diva known as Celine Dion and remembered the exact moment at which I solidified my dislike for her... I, being a huge meatloaf fan, was still riding the wave of his return with the 'I would do anything for love' single... Anyway, while flipping through the channels I passed a scene which i though was the video for it, so I flipped back to watch. Surprisingly, it wasn't Meatloaf!! Celine was riding the wave of her whiney boat movie song and had released a new song titled 'It's all coming back to me now'. As I watched, the song sounded suspiciously like Meatloaf's song.. in fact, the Video lifted almost every scene from Meatloaf, all the way down to the castle scenes. Here's Meatloaf's video:

and here's Celine's cheap knockoff:

After a little research I discovered the song was actually written by long time meatloaf collaborator Jim Steinman who wrote the ballad in 1986 for Bat out of Hell II. Steinman and Meat Loaf decided to use 'I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That)' and save this song for Bat III. Bat out of Hell 2 was released in '93 without the 'coming back' tune. While waiting, Steinman recorded the song with an all-female group called 'Pandora's Box'. The group was comprised mostly of acquaintances who had worked on the Bat 1 album and consisted of concept songs intended for meatloaf and others. It was a commercial failure but does mark the first recorded version of the song. Steinman eventually wound up giving the song to Celine Dion who recorded it in 1996, upsetting Meatloaf who was working on gathering material for Bat 3. Nigel Dick directed the music video for Dion's version, with Simon Archer as cinematographer and Jaromir Svarc as art director. You can tell by watching the video that they were trying hard to match Steinman's original vision of it being a MeatLoaf song almost down to being a direct copy of his 'I would do anything for love' video. Motorcycles, castles, flowing drapes and candelabras. I'm surprised they didn't just make Celine gain a hundred pounds, have a sex change and call her 'Porkchop' or something. The song got mixed reviews . Ironically, The Toronto Sun said that it 'sounds like a Meat Loaf reject'. In 2006, Meatloaf appeared on the American Idol show and performed a duet of 'It's all coming back to me now' with Katherine McPhee. This is the way the song was intended to be done. The appearance was to promote 'Bat out of Hell 3: The monster is loose' which hit US Shelves in October. Bat out of Hell 3 contained the track 'It's all coming back to me now' by Meatloaf in a duet with Norwegian singer, Marion Raven. The video for the song tells the story as it was intended. Through a series of flashbacks depicting the loss of his love. Much more original than the Celine version. This, Celine, is how you do a Meatloaf song.

-Freddy

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