Inventor Willson blazed way to new industry
TORONTO — is one of the biggest selling albums in music history, but Meat Loaf says his rock opus was more of a slow burn with critics out of the gates.
“When came out, there was 10 people maybe that liked it; and out of hundreds of reviews, we got one good review from the Cleveland Plain Dealer,” Meat Loaf said.
After learning a DJ who came on at midnight planned to spin a song from the 1977 LP, composer Jim Steinman was among about 50 people crammed into Meat Loaf ’s apartment to tune in.
“We invited everybody in the building and the stereo was cranked as loud as it could go,” Meat Loaf said. “For them to play a 10-minute song, DJs back then loved
loved because they could go get a sandwich, they could go to the bathroom, they could take these breaks — they loved us. IT HAPPENED IN ONTARIO
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“And then it became a point where everything started to have to be shorter.” With 43 million albums sold, ranks behind Michael Jackson’s AC/DC’s and Pink Floyd’s on the all-time best-selling list.
As the album marks the 40th anniversary since its release, Steinman has brought fresh sizzle to
by encompassing the hits into a stage show making its North America premiere this fall.
Following a sold-out run in Manchester and a stint at London’s Coliseum Theatre opening in June,
is set to begin shows in Toronto on Oct. 14 at Ed Mirvish Theatre.
Steinman created the books, music and lyrics for the musical centred on star-crossed love, rebellion and rock ’n’ roll. The musical features some of Steinman’s and Meat Loaf’s biggest hits, including For Meat Loaf — a seasoned stage couldn’t generate interest.
So, he did what a lot of young frustrated Canadian scientists did — he performer and an associate producer on the show — his collaborator’s creation is a natural fit for the theatre. “If any musician has ever learned
or any of Jim Steinman’s songs, they’re more in the line of operas,” says Meat Loaf. “I hate saying that because they’re moved south, winding up in New York City at the age of 22. He got a job as an electrical installation inspector rock records. But in chord structurewise, if you hear the first verse of Out of Hell, it’s nothing like the second verse — different chords. Even the choruses, the melodies are the same, but the chords vary.”
Meat Loaf was in Toronto recently for a mini street concert featuring
stars Andrew Polec and in his free time carried on with his experiments and tinkering. He formed Willson Electric but it didn’t take off — his ideas were too far ahead of their time.
In 1888, Willson was toying with electric furnaces, using them to melt materials and testing how temperatures affected materials. He moved to North Carolina to pair up with the owner of a cotton mill. In 1891 he formed Willson Aluminum and used the surplus water power at the mill to create electricity.
He was trying to find ways to make aluminum cheaply while exploiting the new electric furnace. It was during one of these attempts, in 1892, that he created calcium carbide. Calcium carbide, when water drips on it, produces acetylene — used today in welding and cutting torches. Willson had found a way of making this fancy new form of energy in a remarkably cheap way. Sure, a Frenchman made calcium carbide the same year — in a lab. And Willson’s method was easier and cheaper.
One of acetylene’s early uses was for lighting, since it was far brighter than early electric lights. Willson sold his patents to a syndicate that would become Union Carbide and then and Christina Bennington, who were both awed by the actor-musician.
“He’s an inspiration. He’s a powerhouse,” says Polec, who portrays Strat, opposite Bennington’s Raven. “He’s like the guy who first landed on the moon and we’re just trying to follow. We’re trying to get to the moon as well.”
The flamboyant frontman adds that the intensity in the musical very much echoes his own stage theatrics.
“They found the perfect people for the cast, and I think they showed them live footage of me onstage because the play is very high-energy,” says Meat Loaf, who recently finished filming the pilot for the TV series in Vancouver opposite Vincent D’Onofrio.
“All my shows were really high energy — even at 300 pounds I was doing cartwheels and flips and rolls. I played football in college so I was used to doing flips and rolls,” he says, laughing.
“So my shows were really energetic, and this show … is major high energy non-stop.” married his girlfriend, Mary Parks, from Marysville, Calif.
He brought his new wife back to Canadaandstartedthecarbideindustry here, setting up Willson Carbide Works in St. Catharines in 1895 with the first plant in Merritton.
There was a huge demand for acetylene lighting, which was being installed around the world for street lighting and in buildings and even automobiles and motorbikes. Willson built more facilities in Ottawa, Shawinigan, Que.
Town lighting, marine signalling — Willson turned his mind to many challenges, successfully. He developed a new way of manufacturing fertilizer more cheaply, which made farm production more affordable.
He suffered some business setbacks and moved operations to Newfoundland in the early days of the First World War.
He was in New York City to raise funds for his latest plan to revolutionize Newfoundland’s economic base when he died of a heart attack, in 1915.