#14: Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through by the Jim Steinman Band

City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKLC
Peak Month: August 1981
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #32
YouTube: “Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through”
Lyrics: “Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through”

James Richard Steinman was born in 1947 in Hewlett, Long Island, New York. He got a B.A. in 1969 from Amherst College in Massachusetts. As a senior, Steinman wrote the book, music and lyrics for April 1969 musical The Dream Engine, which was a requirement for independent studies before graduation. The plot of the musical was set in a satirical-dystopian 1969, concerning a boy named Baal who, along with his rebel fellows, doesn’t accept the restraints and limits of their society. In 1971, Steinman provided music for a puppet show titled Ubu, and in 1972, worked on musical titled Rhinegold. In 1972, Bette Midler sang a demo of the Steinman song “Heaven Can Wait”.

In 1973, Steinman’s song “Happy Ending” appeared on the album Food of Love, sung by Yvonne Elliman. That year Steinman wrote music and lyrics for a musical titled More Than You Deserve, that included an actor who went by the name Meat Loaf. In 1974, Steinman and Meat Loaf toured as part of The National Lampoon Show directed by John Belushi. Then in 1975, Steinman worked on a musical titled Kid Champion which starred Christopher Walken.

In 1977, Steinman wrote all the songs on the Meat Loaf album Bat Out of Hell. This includes the hit singles “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” – a number-one hit in the Netherlands; “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth” – a Top 5 hit in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and New Zealand; and “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad”, a  The latter was a Top Ten hit in Canada and New Zealand, and reached #11 in Australia, Austria and the USA.

In 1980, Jim Steinman wrote the music for the film A Small Circle of Friends. Instrumental music from the film was later reworked by Steinman to add lyrics for two hit songs: “Making Love Out of Nothing At All”, a #2 hit for Air Supply in 1983, and an international number-one hit that year for Bonnie Tyler titled “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. The latter song was nominated at the Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

In 1981, Steinman wrote “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through”. Both Steinman and Meat Loaf recorded the song, and both had singles competing for spins on radio stations.

“Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through” is a paean to rock music, celebrating how it is always there to help you through troubled times. One of its lyrics is “You’re never alone, ’cause you can put on the phones and let the drummer tell your heart what to do.”

“Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through” peaked at #1 in Kansas City (MO), #2 in Washington DC, #4 in Bangor (ME) and Presque Isle (ME), #5 in Kingston (ON), #6 in Houston, #7 in Hamilton (ON), #9 in Toronto, Tacoma (WA), and Cleveland, #11 in Seattle, #12 in Ottawa, #13 in Vancouver, and #15 in San Jose (CA).

Internationally, Steinman’s original version climbed to #5 in South Africa, #6 in New Zealand, #18 in Australia, but stalled at #32 in both Canada and on the Billboard Hot 100. While Meat Loaf’s version reached #4 in Canada, #6 in New Zealand, #8 in Iceland, #11 in the UK, #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. While Meat Loaf’s version of the song reached #4 in Canada, #6 in New Zealand, #8 in Iceland, #11 in the UK, #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, #17 in Belgium, #18 in Australia and Sweden, and #19 in Ireland and Scotland.

In 1983, Jim Steinman’s “Read ‘Em and Weep” was a Top 20 hit for Barry Manilow in the UK and USA. The next year, Steinman wrote “Holding Out For A Hero”, which was recorded by Bonnie Tyler for the film Footloose. It became a #8 hit in Finland, and a Top 20 hit in Austria, Canada and Sweden. For his work on the film, Steinman received a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category.

In 1985, Steinman wrote and produced the theme song for WWF wrestler Hulk Hogan. In 1986, Steinman produced the Bonnie Tyler single “If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)”. It reached #6 in France, #11 in Finland, #16 in Switzerland, and #20 in New Zealand, However it stalled at #77 in the USA.

In 1994, Steinman received Grammy Award nominations in both the Song of the Year and Best Rock Song categories for “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Meat Loaf. In 1995, Steinman shared an Album of the Year Grammy Award for his work as producer on Celine Dion’s Falling into You.

Steinman has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. In 2017, Steinman’s Bat Out of Hell: The Musical appeared in theaters in Toronto, Manchester (UK), London’s West End, and in 2019 in New York City.

When Jim Steinman died of kidney failure at the age of 72 in 2021, the New York Times reported “Steinman lived alone in his 6,000 square-foot house described as a “majestic museum of the self, attached to a quaint cottage in the woods of Ridgefield. He spent years expanding and reimagining the house, transforming it into an embodiment of his own eccentric, complicated personality.”

December 18, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Jim Steinman, ‘Bat Out of Hell’ Songwriter, Dies at 73,” New York Times, April 20, 2021.
“Meatloaf songwriter Jim Steinman to receive Fame honour,” BBC, February 22, 2012.
Jeff Giles, “Bat Out of Hell The Musical Opens in England,” Classic Rock, March 15, 2017.
Joyce Cohen, “A Gothic Rock Cottage fit for a Bat Out of Hell,” New York Times, August 5, 2022.
Andy Greene, “Meat Loaf Remembers Jim Steinman: ‘He Was the Centerpiece of My Life’,” Rolling Stone, April 23, 2021.
“Remembering Jim Steinman: 10 Songs To Know,” Grammy.com.

CKLC 1380-AM Kingston (ON) Top Ten | August 1, 1981