386 Meat Loaf on Mastering Your Craft and Transforming the Music Industry

"I don't feel a song. I become a song." - Meat Loaf If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/386 Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 386 with the legendary singer Meatloaf. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone to a special edition of the School of Greatness podcast. What an interview we have today. The legend is in the house, Meatloaf himself. He likes to be called Meat. I am super pumped that I got a chance to connect with Meatloaf and the stories he shares are just so incredible. What a performer, what a storyteller, and an incredible talent and human being. So kind, so giving, so loving, a great leader in all sense of the word, and so creative. I really enjoyed this interview and I hope you do as well. I hope you find it fascinating. Make sure to check out all the show notes at lewishouse.com/386. Watch the full video interview over on YouTube as well. That's YouTube slash Lewis Howes.

• 1:18Lewis Howes?

  And let me know what you think of this. Share it with your friends. I think they're all gonna dig it. So go ahead and tweet it out right now or post it on Facebook, lewishouse.com/386. Now Meatloaf is a multi-platinum musician, made famous for his rock opera Bad Out of Hell, which is currently the fifth highest selling album of all time. Pretty incredible. He's also acted in cult hit films like Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club, one of my favorite movies. And his new album just came out, Braver Than We Are. So make sure to pick up the new album and check it out. Some of the things we talked about in this interview are how playing sports can have a big role in anyone's career.

• 1:58Lewis Howes?

  And actually Meatloaf says that without sports, he wouldn't be where he is today, wouldn't even be near as successful as he is today as a musician or an artist. Also why Meatloaf got into improv acting. After he was successful in music, why he never asked the songwriter what the song is about, and his secret to success in becoming a great singer, what advice Meatloaf disagrees with that TV show hosts give to singers, and what it was like to act with Brad Pitt on Fight Club. We cover this and so much more in this episode. Make sure again to share it with your friends, LewisHowes.com/386. And without further ado, let me introduce to you the legendary Meatloaf.

• 2:45Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone back to the School of Greatness Podcast. We have a legend in the house, Meatloaf, who's asking to go by Meat. Good to see you, sir.

• 2:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, Meat. Okay.

• 2:54Lewis Howes?

  Good to see you.

• 2:55Speaker 01

  I just have to explain one thing to you.

• 2:57Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 2:59Speaker 01

  I never allow people in advertisement of a record or tour, anything, use the word legend, star, or superstar.

• 3:11Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 3:12Speaker 01

  Because I don't think of myself as that.

• 3:15Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  I think of myself as the same as we're looking out a window, and I'm assuming somewhere down there, there's a guy working on a telephone pole.

• 3:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 3:28Speaker 01

  And I'm just like that guy, only I have a different job.

• 3:34Lewis Howes?

  You both work hard.

• 3:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:36Lewis Howes?

  Both have a specific talent.

• 3:38Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 3:39Lewis Howes?

  But yours seems to look, more people want to listen to your talent than someone else's.

• 3:44Speaker 01

  I don't know about that. When the phone goes out, they're going to get upset.

• 3:47Lewis Howes?

  That's true. A lot of people want to get on that phone. That's true.

• 3:52Speaker 01

  When your cellphone goes out and that tower goes down, you want to know why.

• 3:56Lewis Howes?

  That's true.

• 3:57Speaker 01

  That guy's important.

• 3:59Lewis Howes?

  Well, for me, you've created some incredible music over the years, and you've been a big part of my life growing up. And your work in movies and Broadway, it's really been inspiring to watch your career. So.

• 4:10Speaker 01

  I've done a lot of things.

• 4:12Lewis Howes?

  You have.

• 4:12Speaker 01

  I have been on Broadway. I've done Shakespeare in the Park. I've done Off Broadway.

• 4:19Speaker 01

  I wanted to know what stand-up comedy was like. So I did, the first night I did stand-up comedy. Out in front of a very famous old comedian named Henny Youngman.

• 4:31Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 4:32Speaker 01

  In the Westport Playhouse. And I went to the guy that owned the, the club. He knew I was. And he said, well, have you ever done stand-up before? And I said, no, but I, but I want to know what it's like. And so he said, okay, I'll give you four minutes. I said, fine. So I didn't have anything prepared. I went up strictly improv. And it was, the whole was about me meeting Elvis at the Rocky Horror Show. And I had people hysterical. And, uh, because I'm a closet comedian.

• 5:12Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 5:12Speaker 01

  And so, uh, and Henny Youngman actually walked out of his dressing room. And was standing there when I came off.

• 5:22Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 5:22Speaker 01

  Now, people who don't know who Henny Youngman, Henny Youngman is famous for saying, take my wife, please. So the next night, he said, will you do this again? I said, yeah. He said, I'll give you eight minutes. So.

• 5:37Lewis Howes?

  Said, okay.

• 5:38Speaker 01

  I, I had eight, and listen, I could have gone on for thirty minutes.

• 5:42Lewis Howes?

  Really? Improv?

• 5:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:44Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 5:45Speaker 01

  Well, I did a lot of improv. I, you know, I was, when National Lampoon Show was going. They said to Belushi, you have to have an understudy. Who can possibly understudy? He said, there's only one guy in this town can understudy me, and that's Meatloaf. And so I went on a couple of times and, and I worked with Gilda and I worked with Billy Murray and.

• 6:09Lewis Howes?

  Right, wow.

• 6:09Speaker 01

  And so, I mean, but the king of improv is, was really Richard Belzer from, from Law and Order SUV. He was my opening act when we first went out with Bad at Hell for about, oh, a good three months. And he is the king of improv.

• 6:32Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 6:32Speaker 01

  I've never seen anybody better than Richard Belzer.

• 6:35Lewis Howes?

  More impressive than all the guys who do Whose Line Is It Anyways, more than Saturday Night Live guys, just.

• 6:41Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, and I know all those guys.

• 6:43Lewis Howes?

  Right. Who's the second most impressive?

• 6:48Speaker 01

  I don't know, one of those guys on Who's My Line, but I can't remember his name.

• 6:51Lewis Howes?

  Wayne, or what's?

• 6:52Speaker 01

  Not Wayne, the tall guy.

• 6:55Lewis Howes?

  Bald guy, tall bald guy?

• 6:56Speaker 01

  He used to be on the, uh, the sitcom, not the bald guy.

• 7:00Lewis Howes?

  Not the bald guy.

• 7:01Speaker 01

  I think he's redheaded, I'm colorblind.

• 7:03Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure, sure, yeah, yeah. They're all funny to me, so they're all incredible.

• 7:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, Wayne's great.

• 7:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's cool. Uh, what got you into music and, and acting in the first place? Why were you inspired as a, growing up that way?

• 7:15Speaker 01

  I wanted to get out of study hall and as a sophomore in high school.

• 7:18Lewis Howes?

  You and me both, that's why I did sports though.

• 7:21Speaker 01

  I, I, I said, uh, I can't sit in this room.

• 7:25Lewis Howes?

  Oh my gosh.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  I have to be quiet.

• 7:27Lewis Howes?

  That's the worst.

• 7:28Speaker 01

  And, uh, and I'll give you a clue why. We were supposed to open, all the casinos are building arenas now. And so I think there was a 9,000 seat or 10,000 seat arena being built on a reservation in Oklahoma.

• 7:48Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 7:49Speaker 01

  And we were supposed to be the first act to play there. Well, about three days before they came to me and said, the arena's not finished. And they want to put up a tent. I said, I don't care, if the people come, that's all I care about.

• 8:06Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 8:07Speaker 01

  And so the head of the council, they don't call them cheats anymore. The head of the tribal council wanted to meet me. And so he came in and all I did was ask him questions. How do you decide this? Does everybody participate in the profits of the casino? How do you decide this? You know, I just kept asking him everything about, I wanted to know how they work. And he stopped me and he goes, do you mind if I give you an, your own name for our tribe? And I went, oh my God, I'd be honored, are you kidding? He goes, okay, and this tribe, from now on, your notice never shuts up.

• 11:15Speaker 01

  The first verse of a song called Going All The Way is just the start. And you listen to the verse, first verse of Bad Outta Hell. It's sung in exactly the same voice. It's just, I'm forty years older. So the timbre is a little bit different. But if you really, if people really took the time to listen and not just automatically judge because, oh, and see, if they really took the time, they would go, oh, he's right. That is exactly the same voice. It's just that the tone is different. Yeah.

• 11:58Speaker 01

  And the reason is, is because my natural singing voice is operatic. Yes. And I'm a held in tenor. And in fact, I was doing Shakespeare in the Park in seventy-two for Joe Papp. And I had an offer from opera patrons. They would pay me sixty thousand dollars a year. Now, you got bigger, nineteen seventy-two. That's great money. Sixty thousand dollars a year for five years to study with Pavarotti's coach. And make my debut at the Met. That's huge, right? That's like the dream, isn't it? Well, it was confusing.

• 12:43Speaker 01

  Oh. Cause the most money they'd ever made before was seventy-five hundred dollars in a year. So sixty-two K is a lot of money. Yeah. And so, but just like everything that I've ever done, whether it be whatever it is, I have to research it. That's just who I've been, even as a kid, when I was five years old, before I would buy a toy.

• 13:11Speaker 01

  Like, there was different army men, you know, you could buy.

• 13:16Lewis Howes?

  Sure, of course.

• 13:17Speaker 01

  I would research to see who made the best ones.

• 13:21Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 13:23Speaker 01

  And my momma go, did you find out yet? I went, yeah, I want those. And I would research. I've always been, that's who I've been. And so, I did the research. And unless you were Pavarotti, or Placido Domingo, or Beverly Sils, I can't remember who the major stars were in opera in seventy-two. But unless you're a major, major star in opera, the conductor controlled everything.

• 13:55Speaker 01

  He controlled your phrasing, he controlled the tempo, he controlled everything. And I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. I'd be in prison for murder.

• 14:06Speaker 01

  Cause I would have killed him.

• 14:09Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 14:10Speaker 01

  And because I'm rebellious.

• 14:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 14:13Speaker 01

  And I don't like when anybody tells me how to sing anything. I, I, you can't tell me that. Because I've done so much research on the song. And on this record, it starts with a song called Who Needs the Young? And it was written by Jim Steinman when he was nineteen years old.

• 14:40Speaker 01

  And it was the first song we recorded, and then we went and did shows. And I have never, ever, and I've sung a lot of Jim Steinman songs, never asked Jimmy why he's written a song. What is it about?

• 14:57Lewis Howes?

  Why don't you ask him?

• 14:58Speaker 01

  I don't wanna know.

• 15:01Speaker 01

  I'm really not interested. Uh, it's like when I do a film, I don't want the writer to come up to me and tell me why he wrote the character.

• 15:12Speaker 01

  I wanted to discover the character myself. Because the character, if he tells me why he wrote him, that's gonna influence my decisions on who I think the character is. That's so funny. Uh, so I've never asked Jimmy, and he knows that every song that I've ever sung of his has been in a character. And it comes from acting. So people go, are you an actor or a singer? I go, I'm an actor. And I take acting into every phase of what I do. It's like doing stand-up. It's improv. That's acting.

• 15:55Speaker 01

  Um, so I decided to take the first song, because Jimmy wrote it when he was nineteen. And I didn't ask him why. All I knew is that the kid was really angry. Whoever, whoever he could have written about an old man, I don't know. Yeah. I decided that I would make my character nineteen years old and very angry. I know what he was angry at, but I'm not gonna tell you. Right. Because I've always said, everybody, if they buy the album, should take a piece of white tape, put it across my name, write your own name on the album.

• 16:40Speaker 01

  Because the album is then yours. It becomes your stories. It becomes what you think it is. I don't wanna tell you what I sing about. I'm not gonna tell you what Jimmy wrote about, because I don't know. And the album belongs to the listener. And it's like, there were, mostly, this is the first album that we have ever gotten good reviews for. I was in a state of shock. I mean, we've got good reviews from Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Q Magazine, Kerrang!

• 17:21Speaker 01

  I mean, I don't, we've never gotten four and five stars. We got five stars from three or four places in Germany. We've never gotten five stars. We've never gotten four stars.

• 17:31Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 17:32Speaker 01

  I think the highest we ever got was three from somebody once.

• 17:37Speaker 01

  But they seem to have gotten it.

• 17:40Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, make sure you guys go get this. Braver than we are, but put white out over the name and put your name on it.

• 17:46Speaker 01

  And also, I've got a doctor's prescription for it.

• 17:50Lewis Howes?

  You do?

• 17:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, which is, if you buy it, a lot of people love it on the first listen. A lot of people hate it on the first listen.

• 18:03Speaker 01

  My prescription is this. Buy it, listen to it four times in one day. By the fourth time, you'll get it.

• 18:15Lewis Howes?

  There you go.

• 18:16Speaker 01

  You'll see where the magic is. And the other thing, it's not a musical, folks. Not anything like a musical. And Train of Love, which when you listen to it, you would think, oh, it's a guy singing about a girl. It's not. It's a nineteen-year-old trying to find out who he is. He doesn't, he is confused.

• 18:43Lewis Howes?

  I think every nineteen-year-old feels that way probably, right?

• 18:46Speaker 01

  Well, a lot of, most of them.

• 18:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 18:48Speaker 01

  It's like, what, you know, I'm in a crossroad. Do I go left? Do I go right? Do I go back? Do I go forward? Where

• 18:57Speaker 01

  I've always, I've been at hundreds of crossroads. I've never even looked right or left or behind. I just go forward.

• 19:08Speaker 01

  And that would be my advice to anybody. You come to a crossroad, don't look left, don't look right, don't look backwards, you go forward. I've had people come to me when they're at crossroads and ask me, what do you think? And I go, do this, because it's moving you forward.

• 19:28Lewis Howes?

  I like that.

• 19:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:29Lewis Howes?

  I'm curious about your sound. You have a very unique sound. Was there a moment where you were like, okay, this is my sound in your twenties, your thirties, like this meatloaf has arrived? This is the sound?

• 19:41Speaker 01

  No, I, I change sounds constantly. The, it's like, I'm not Robin Zander, I'm not Dave Grohl, I'm not Freddie, who is the best rock singer ever to live, other than J- Mail. Joplin was, period.

• 20:01Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  But Mail, it's Freddie. Joplin was in a different ball, ballpark. She was like, they had the All-Star Game every year. She can, she was in the All-Star Game every day. So I have so many different tones and qualities, hushed voices, big voices, little voices, and Jimmy on this record, and it's one of the things that freak people out. They were expecting me to come in with this bombastic, you know, loud, high voice. Jimmy said, no.

• 20:44Speaker 01

  Because I went up the octave on a song called Going All the Way is Just a Start. And Jimmy goes, no, no. Stay in your low voice. Your low voice is remarkable. And I've had a few critics call it wobbly. Not wobbly, people, it's called vibrato.

• 21:02Lewis Howes?

  Yes, I grew up, I grew up in a musically talented family. My, my parents were opera majors at Ohio State. My brother is a jazz violinist. He played with Les Paul for 10 years at the Iridium in New York City. Played at his funeral. So I've kind of grown up admiring many genres of music and being able to appreciate it.

• 21:20Speaker 01

  So you would make a better reviewer than that guy that went, it sounds like a circus.

• 21:26Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 21:27Speaker 01

  I'm going, come on, huh? If you're gonna review music, at least learn about it.

• 21:32Lewis Howes?

  Sure. I'm curious, who was your most influential person in your life growing up?

• 21:38Speaker 01

  Well, growing up, it would have probably been Big Daddy Lipscomb from the Baltimore Colts.

• 21:45Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 21:45Speaker 01

  Or Ray Nitschke, or Fuzzy Therton for the Packers.

• 21:50Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 21:50Speaker 01

  Or, but I would say Big Daddy Lipscomb, who played defensive tackle for the Baltimore Colts.

• 21:59Lewis Howes?

  Why was, why was he the most influential?

• 22:01Speaker 01

  Because when I was a kid, I wanted to play professional football. And, because I was so much bigger than everybody else until my junior in high school. And then everybody caught up. And I was no longer the biggest one. I couldn't push people around like I could before.

• 22:22Speaker 01

  So I just had to become the meanest guy on the field.

• 22:27Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 22:27Speaker 01

  So I went into acting mode. And I developed this character that played football that was absolutely as mean as you could possibly be.

• 22:41Lewis Howes?

  What position were you?

• 22:42Speaker 01

  Oh, we, oh God, the head coach.

• 22:45Lewis Howes?

  Played all over the place?

• 22:46Speaker 01

  Oh, he ran a, he, he thought he was a college coach. He ran a defense based on LSU out of the 60s called the Chinese Bandits.

• 22:57Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 22:58Speaker 01

  Which was the most ridiculous defense to try to put into a high school. I played middle linebacker, nose guard, tackle, defensive end. When I went at the defensive end, that outside linebacker would rush, I would cover the flat. Now, I wasn't fast forward, but laterally...

• 23:22Speaker 01

  I was as fast as anyone on the team. So I could cover the flat like nobody's business.

• 23:28Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 23:28Speaker 01

  Anybody come out to the flat, that hat back come out to the flat? Forget it, you ain't catching the ball. And if you do, you ain't gaining any yards.

• 23:36Lewis Howes?

  There you go.

• 23:38Speaker 01

  So, I mean, when we were playing in, in, in practice, they didn't blow the whistle, I kept hitting.

• 23:46Lewis Howes?

  Of course.

• 23:47Speaker 01

  Oh, I got yelled at, I had to run laps. I go, well, blow your whistle if you want me to stop.

• 23:53Lewis Howes?

  I know, otherwise game, the play's still on.

• 23:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:56Lewis Howes?

  Play to the whistle, that's what they teach you.

• 23:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:58Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course.

• 23:59Speaker 01

  When you blow the whistle, I stop. Until you blow the whistle, I'm not stopping. And they would sometimes run first team offense against first team defense. And I remember one time hitting a starting quarterback. I mean, I nailed him.

• 24:16Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man.

• 24:17Speaker 01

  Oh, I got, oh. I think I had to run about 10 miles for that one.

• 24:22Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh, that's funny.

• 24:23Speaker 01

  And, uh.

• 24:25Lewis Howes?

  What, do you think, uh, sports played a big role in your career in terms of?

• 24:29Speaker 01

  Oh, I know it did. I know it did, in the discipline. Because when you play sports, you have to be very disciplined.

• 24:39Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 24:40Speaker 01

  And when you're an actor, you should be very disciplined. And I was in the car. I'm just, I've just, just left Rich Eisen. And I was explaining, I went to dinner with an actor named Charles Durning. And he said, if you wanna really freak a cast out, go into a table reading of the, of the movie without the script.

• 25:14Lewis Howes?

  Oh, that is.

• 25:15Speaker 01

  And if they ask you, do you want a script? You go, no, I don't need one.

• 25:19Lewis Howes?

  That is.

• 25:22Speaker 01

  And so they read the whole script. And when, you don't know everybody's lines, but you know when your scene's coming.

• 25:31Speaker 01

  So when they start that scene, you're ready.

• 25:35Speaker 01

  But you sit there. And he says, I got news for you. Every actor is gonna freak out. And so when it comes time to do your scene, whatever actor you're working with is gonna come to the set and he's gonna know his lines.

• 25:53Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, yeah, yes.

• 25:56Speaker 01

  And, and they know you're dead serious. So that comes back to discipline. And it wasn't until Charles Durning told me that, and he told me that in like ninety-seven, maybe. So.

• 26:11Lewis Howes?

  Did you do that in a reading one time, or?

• 26:14Speaker 01

  Oh, he did it in every reading.

• 26:15Lewis Howes?

  Did you do this ever?

• 26:16Speaker 01

  Oh, I've done it in every reading I've ever done since he told me that.

• 26:19Lewis Howes?

  You show, you show up and then you're the only one without the script and everyone else has a script?

• 26:23Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 26:24Lewis Howes?

  But they're coming prepared to, to set is what you're saying?

• 26:27Speaker 01

  Oh, when they come to set, they know. And.

• 26:30Lewis Howes?

  That's, that would be so intimidating.

• 26:32Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 26:33Lewis Howes?

  Like the person just memorized everything?

• 26:35Speaker 01

  That's the point.

• 26:36Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 26:36Speaker 01

  I haven't memorized everything, but I've memorized.

• 26:40Lewis Howes?

  Your parts.

• 26:41Speaker 01

  And I know what the other guy's gonna say.

• 26:43Lewis Howes?

  That's impressive. That's a skill right there.

• 26:45Speaker 01

  So. That you, you, that's, that's discipline.

• 26:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you learn that from football and other sports.

• 26:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, so.

• 26:54Speaker 01

  And the other thing that drives me crazy on a set is when you're getting, you're doing a scene with a character. And I, I was doing a scene in a movie called, uh, Hole in One.

• 27:08Speaker 01

  And I'm doing it with, with a guy you see a lot on TV. Uh, he does a lot of guest starring roles, not big roles, but you know, pretty good roles. And, uh, we're getting into this scene and he goes, well, my character's not, wouldn't say this. And I said, hang on for a second. Um, before you got here, did you read the script? And he goes, yeah. I said, okay. In the script, does your character say that? And he goes, yeah. I said, so, let's analyze this for a second.

• 27:52Speaker 01

  My character says this, and it's written in the script. I'm gonna say this. If you change that, what your character says, you're gonna look like an idiot. And he goes, oh, okay.

• 28:12Lewis Howes?

  Have you ever changed anything or gone ad lib or improvish?

• 28:15Speaker 01

  Well, only without, if, if I'm in a movie where there is improv going on.

• 28:23Lewis Howes?

  They say, go ahead, you know, you can extend the line.

• 28:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, if you're doing that kind of thing, if you're doing a movie with Will Ferrell.

• 28:28Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 28:29Speaker 01

  Or some of those guys, and back when Chris Farley was alive, or, or Belushi, or any of that. Yeah, there's a lot of improv, and there's more improv in a comedy than there is in a drama. But Richard Belzer, being the best improv guy, if you were watching Lon Hord SUV, I knew every time he threw in an improv.

• 28:55Lewis Howes?

  Really? Because it just didn't feel right, or it was?

• 28:58Speaker 01

  No, it felt perfect.

• 28:59Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 29:00Speaker 01

  But you could sense from the other actor.

• 29:03Lewis Howes?

  Oh, wait.

• 29:04Speaker 01

  It, it just like twisted him, but Belzer was very smart. He usually waited if he had the last line in the scene. So that the other actor wasn't, he didn't force the other actor into doing something that wasn't.

• 29:21Lewis Howes?

  Would be thrown off and say, well, what am I supposed to?

• 29:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, because that's called forcing.

• 29:25Lewis Howes?

  Yes, gotcha.

• 29:26Speaker 01

  And you don't ever force anything in a film.

• 29:30Lewis Howes?

  Do you feel like without your sports experience, that you would have been as disciplined or as successful in your career as a musician?

• 29:36Speaker 01

  Not a prayer.

• 29:37Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 29:38Speaker 01

  Not a prayer.

• 29:39Lewis Howes?

  I'm so glad you say that because I feel like, as an athlete, I played professional football, and I played basketball and decathlon, and I feel like that's what's catapulted me into my entrepreneurial career and everything else was.

• 29:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, who's playing pro football?

• 29:54Lewis Howes?

  Played arena football in Alabama.

• 29:56Speaker 01

  Oh, cool.

• 29:57Lewis Howes?

  Which, have you ever seen arena football?

• 29:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 29:59Lewis Howes?

  It's a whole nother game, it's intense.

• 30:01Speaker 01

  Oh, it's really intense.

• 30:04Lewis Howes?

  I broke my wrist in the first season and diving into a wall, and it was just a.

• 30:08Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, you got walls.

• 30:11Speaker 01

  It's in the hockey ring.

• 30:12Lewis Howes?

  Exactly, but the the coaching that I would have throughout my entire childhood as an athlete, I felt really instilled the principles of how to be successful or how to achieve any vision in any part of life.

• 30:24Speaker 01

  Well, I'll give you a real, real surprise.

• 30:27Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 30:29Speaker 01

  Sophomore in high school, I was in drama class.

• 30:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 30:35Speaker 01

  I got hit in the head with a shot put at sixty two feet.

• 30:40Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 30:42Speaker 01

  Who, the guy who hit me was that year the state champ.

• 30:48Speaker 01

  And he was a sophomore as well. He was state champ three years in a row.

• 30:53Speaker 01

  Uh, I don't know what happened to him because he never said he was sorry.

• 30:57Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 30:58Speaker 01

  So I just ignored him.

• 31:01Lewis Howes?

  That's a, that's a heavy ball in the head.

• 31:03Speaker 01

  That's twelve pound shot.

• 31:05Lewis Howes?

  Sixty feet coming down.

• 31:06Speaker 01

  Oh, I've got a dent in my skull.

• 31:08Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh, from the shot.

• 31:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:10Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh. Holy cow. Wow. That's crazy.

• 31:14Speaker 01

  But it didn't knock me out.

• 31:16Lewis Howes?

  Huh.

• 31:18Speaker 01

  And they could hear it on the junior high baseball field, which was about three hundred yards away.

• 31:25Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 31:26Speaker 01

  Said it sounded like somebody broke a bat.

• 31:29Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 31:30Speaker 01

  And so the coaches came and said, are you okay? I went, yeah, I'm fine. They said, can you walk? I said, sure. I get up. They let go of me and I fall face forward because what it had done, hit me on the right side, it had paralyzed.

• 31:46Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 31:46Speaker 01

  My right arm and my right leg. Uh, no, left, left side.

• 31:52Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 31:52Speaker 01

  It had paralyzed the left side. And I fell on a wooden stake that marked sixty feet with my nose. And when they picked me back up again, the blood didn't come out of my nose, it ran down in my stomach.

• 32:05Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 32:06Speaker 01

  So when we're going in the ambulance on the way, I throw up all this blood.

• 32:13Speaker 01

  And the ambulance guy freaking out, I've never seen my mother freak out. My mother was always calm. It's like in a crisis, in a major crisis, I'm always, I go really calm.

• 32:31Speaker 01

  And I've been in planes where landing gears didn't come down. Everybody's freaking out, calling their ex-wives, telling everybody this. I'm going, stop it. It's not, it's the front landing gear. Best, most is gonna happen to you, you're gonna break your arm, your leg, no big deal. You're not dying. Right. I always go up to the, because it's usually in private planes. Yes. I go up to pilot, I go, you know what you're doing here? And they go, yeah. I said, okay, tell me. They go, okay. I'm just gonna make sure. Because I was in a plane, woman was a pilot, she was freaking out. The co-pilot was going through the handbook like this.

• 33:15Speaker 01

  I'm going, what are you doing? Right. I said, have you tried to crank it down? And he went, oh, right. I'm going, oh my God.

• 33:27Speaker 01

  It's like that guy who wrote It's a Circus Song. Sure. So. You're doing your research, essentially. Yeah, I know about planes. You're asking questions, you're researching. Yeah, so I go, so we're both trying to crank it down. And we're going by the tower and we're asking them, the pilot's asking them, is it down? They said, we can see it, but it's not down. So we're coming from Amsterdam, we have to circle in the airport about two hours. And about 50 feet before we hit the ground, it popped down. Whoa. Oh, I was ready. Sure. I had the pilot ready. Keep that nose up as long as you can. Yes.

• 34:08Speaker 01

  And these guys at this airport outside of London had foamed the runway, put up a net to catch us. You're fine, you're gonna, yeah. I said, we're fine. Bump on the head or something, aren't you? Yeah. Bump your head, get a cut, no big deal. Right. You're not dying, dude. Don't worry about it. Well, what makes you so calm in all these situations? Don't know. But whenever there's a major crisis, I just suddenly become like.

• 34:37Speaker 01

  Like still water.

• 34:40Speaker 01

  And I can, okay, just relax. You're okay, okay. It's like on stage, if something, you know, if the PA goes out, if, if something starts to happen, I just go really calm and I go up and deal with the audience and I'm really loud.

• 35:02Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 35:03Speaker 01

  And so I can yell at them. I can yell.

• 35:05Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 35:05Speaker 01

  Even if it's an arena, they can hear me.

• 35:08Lewis Howes?

  All right, all right.

• 35:08Speaker 01

  And if they can't, I'll go find something to make a megaphone out of.

• 35:12Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 35:13Speaker 01

  And.

• 35:14Lewis Howes?

  So you just have that instinct that you're just, you got it handled, you got it under control? Amazing. Do you feel like one of your parents maybe instilled that into you or what was, uh?

• 35:22Speaker 01

  It was probably my mother.

• 35:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah. She was that way?

• 35:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. I don't, I don't remember my mother very well. She died when she was young, when I was young.

• 35:30Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 35:31Speaker 01

  Uh, my, they both died when they were fif- they, my mother was older than my father, but they both died at fifty-four.

• 35:40Lewis Howes?

  How old were you and your father passed?

• 35:43Speaker 01

  Uh, twenty-one.

• 35:46Lewis Howes?

  Okay. Wow, that's interesting.

• 35:47Speaker 01

  And it was four years before that, so I was seventeen, I guess, when mother died.

• 35:54Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 35:55Speaker 01

  I don't remember. It's like I can't.

• 36:00Speaker 01

  I mean, I can remember, but I can't, I can't see her. I can't even see her doing anything.

• 36:07Lewis Howes?

  But you have photos or?

• 36:09Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. I got a lot of photos.

• 36:10Lewis Howes?

  Just can't remember the memory of her doing something.

• 36:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, the only thing I remember is that the last time I saw her, we had a huge argument.

• 36:15Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man. Do you regret that or?

• 36:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, wouldn't you?

• 36:23Lewis Howes?

  What would you say to her if you, uh, could, if you had another moment to?

• 36:26Speaker 01

  Uh, I, I wouldn't have said anything. She, she forgave me.

• 36:29Lewis Howes?

  Oh, she did? Yeah, that's good.

• 36:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, I know that.

• 36:32Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 36:33Speaker 01

  I'm, I know she would have, that's who she was.

• 36:37Lewis Howes?

  Of course. Oh, parents probably do, right? They do it whenever we're crazy kids, right?

• 36:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 36:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow. What was the biggest lesson you, your, your, you learned from your dad?

• 36:47Speaker 01

  I think it's how to act. Because he was an alcoholic. And he used to be like Jack Lemmon in Days of Wine and Roses. And disappear for days upon time. And between Fort Worth and Dallas. When I was growing up. Uh. Along the Trinity River, which runs. Miss Arlington was there, there was nothing there. It was like wilderness between Dallas and Fort Worth. Sure. Except for all this line of redneck bars. And that's where my dad would be. And so my mother. We go looking for him.

• 37:31Speaker 01

  And when I get to be 12 or 13. Well, in the fifth grade, I weighed 185 pounds. In the seventh grade, I weighed 240, which is. I weigh less today than I did in the seventh grade. And there's not too many people can say that. Sure. This morning, I weighed five pounds less than I did in the seventh grade. So. That's a big seventh grader. Oh, man, I. I scored 77 points. They had a play, a button hook play. Where I became the offensive end, they backed off the end. I went about five step button hook. I had great hands. Sure. And they threw me the ball and I would just run and these little kids. Run the ball over.

• 38:15Speaker 01

  These little kids would jump on me, try to tackle me. Even if they tried to tackle me low, I wouldn't fall down. Amazing. And I scored 77 points. And it was an elementary record in Dallas. I don't know if it still is. Congrats. That was years ago. Yeah, I mean, you know, that was like. 50 years ago, so somebody's probably passed it by now. Amazing. But, um.

• 38:44Speaker 01

  So when I became 12 and 13, I would tell my mother to wait in the car. I would go in.

• 38:52Speaker 01

  And I would walk into these bars and I knew every one of them had a gun. Every guy in there had a gun.

• 39:01Speaker 01

  Because that was Texas.

• 39:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  Oh, in the high school parking lot. And there were guys with pickup trucks with shotguns in racks in their back window.

• 39:13Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 39:14Speaker 01

  So guns were everywhere. They are now. I mean, I live in Austin. They just.

• 39:20Lewis Howes?

  Love Austin.

• 39:21Speaker 01

  They just got a permit though to carry on campus at the University of Texas.

• 39:28Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 39:29Speaker 01

  Yep. And it's because of all the like Virginia Tech and that kind of thing. And they might run into a few problems, but it's to deter people like the guy at Virginia Tech.

• 39:45Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 39:46Speaker 01

  From coming into the University of Texas doing that because he's going, wait a second.

• 39:51Lewis Howes?

  Everyone's got a gun.

• 39:52Speaker 01

  These guys are carrying. I'm not gonna do that. And you can carry in your car.

• 39:59Lewis Howes?

  Crazy.

• 40:00Speaker 01

  And, and because everybody else does, I have one in my car.

• 40:03Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 40:05Speaker 01

  I have a little five shot 38.

• 40:07Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 40:09Speaker 01

  Because I'm not gonna let some guy pull a gun on me.

• 40:12Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 40:12Speaker 01

  If they pull a gun on me, I'm gonna pull a gun on them. You wanna play? You wanna play? You wanna play? Let's play, son. You don't know who the hell you're dealing with here.

• 40:21Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 40:22Speaker 01

  I'm a mean mother. I'll put, I'll get into the acting thing.

• 40:26Lewis Howes?

  Right. You scare someone quick.

• 40:28Speaker 01

  So when I go in there in those bars, it would all get quiet. And they would look at me and I'd look back at them like, you lay a finger on me, you're dead. And so I think that's where I learned how to act.

• 40:43Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 40:44Speaker 01

  And so that's why I like bad guys in movies so much.

• 40:47Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. What's been the favorite, your favorite character so far of movie?

• 40:51Speaker 01

  Well, it's a movie written by Arthur Miller and he was actually on the set and freaked me out. And it was with Bill Mays and Laura Dern. It's called Focus.

• 41:05Speaker 01

  And When did this come out? Oh, God, I don't know.

• 41:11Speaker 01

  Two thousand, maybe. Okay. It was at the Toronto Film Festival. Gotcha. And

• 41:18Speaker 01

  so

• 41:21Speaker 01

  Arthur Miller, I'm sitting at Video Village is where they have, for people who don't know, where the director would sit with his little TV monitors and watch what the camera sees. Right. And it's, there's lines on it to show him what the actual film will turn out to be. So he can judge if he likes the scene, not from watching it live, from watching it on, on the TV monitor. So they call it Video Village. So it's probably eight o'clock in the morning, I'm sitting in my little chair in Video Village. And a guy comes to sit next to me and I didn't, I didn't pay any attention.

• 42:06Speaker 01

  And eventually I looked over and I went, oh, my God, it's Arthur Miller. So I picked my chair up and I move it down the block and hide behind a tree. And the first AD goes, what happened to Meatloaf? I know he was here. And I go, I, I'm, I'm here. And so I got, I've got a, a scene that really is shooting for two days with Bill Macy.

• 42:34Speaker 01

  And I go to Bill and I go, do you know Arthur Miller's on the set? And he goes, yeah. And I go, I'm freaked. And Bill goes, meat. See, I didn't do very well handling that one. But he goes, he was, he goes, calm down. We know what we're doing. You know what you're doing. You've already shot a lot of this character. You got it. Don't worry about it. And okay. So I immediately calmed down. And we shot it. And at lunch, Bill and I all were sat together at lunch.

• 43:13Speaker 01

  And Arthur Miller passed by me, put his hand on my shoulder, leaned over and said, I really like what you're doing with my character.

• 43:25Speaker 01

  I almost fell into the spaghetti.

• 43:29Speaker 01

  When he said, I really like what you're doing with my character. Cause I know he didn't have that in mind for his character when he wrote it.

• 43:37Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, wow.

• 43:39Speaker 01

  I know that. But I would have never asked him what he had in mind.

• 43:43Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 43:45Speaker 01

  Cause I want him to be what I want him to be, not what Arthur Miller had in mind. I mean, I'm gonna get close. Arthur Miller characters are very complicated. Especially one like I was playing, who appears not stupid, but not really very smart, not real smart. But all of Arthur Miller's characters are really very intelligent. They just don't know they are.

• 44:22Speaker 01

  So you have to play both sides. You have to play the guy who's not very smart, yet he's still intelligent, very intelligent. So you have to combine that. It's really complicated.

• 44:37Lewis Howes?

  I can imagine.

• 44:38Speaker 01

  It's very complicated to work that, work those two together.

• 44:42Lewis Howes?

  That's why you're one of the best.

• 44:44Speaker 01

  Well, I don't know about that.

• 44:48Lewis Howes?

  You do a great job.

• 44:49Speaker 01

  I, I'm pretty good at what I do.

• 44:51Lewis Howes?

  You do a great job, yeah.

• 44:52Speaker 01

  Brando is my, Brando, Hackman, Orson Welles, Jimmy Stewart, Hal Holbrook, Jack Lemmon,

• 45:06Speaker 01

  a few modern day,

• 45:11Speaker 01

  and the Irish guy, oh man.

• 45:15Speaker 01

  Colin Farrell, Denzel Washington. They're really, I, I, I'm gonna include Brad Pitt. Cause Brad Pitt is one of the most underrated actors out there.

• 45:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 45:28Speaker 01

  You gotta remember, yeah, you gotta remember how long it took for Robert Redford or Clint Eastwood. They had to get older to receive the recognition they should have gotten when they were younger. So Brad Pitt hadn't got his recognition, but he will.

• 45:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 45:52Speaker 01

  He will.

• 45:53Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 45:53Speaker 01

  As, as, as a really good actor.

• 45:56Lewis Howes?

  What was that like working with him?

• 45:58Speaker 01

  Oh, Brad Pitt is as down to earth as any human being. You just, trust me, you wouldn't wanna be Brad Pitt.

• 46:07Lewis Howes?

  Why?

• 46:09Speaker 01

  Oh, i- i- i- it's a job walking down in the street.

• 46:14Lewis Howes?

  It's a full-time job, yeah.

• 46:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a full-time gig. I mean, it's hard enough for me to go to the grocery store. I- I can't even imagine Brad Pitt trying to go to the grocery store.

• 46:24Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 46:24Speaker 01

  I mean, I go to the grocery store, everybody wants to talk to me. So I talk to them, so I try to avoid the grocery store as much as I can. If I'm, if I'm got my mindset, okay, I'm ready to go to the grocery store. I know there's a possibility. Some days I go in and nobody talks to me. Other days I go in and everybody wants to talk to me.

• 46:47Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 46:48Speaker 01

  So, you have to have your mindset when you go out. I'm going out, people may wanna talk to me. That's what it is.

• 46:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. What is it about him that continues to make him evolve? Like, why do you think he's able to evolve from just the model guy back in the day who's actually become a great actor? And still-

• 47:06Speaker 01

  I think it's discipline, and I think it's, that he studies his craft.

• 47:11Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 47:12Speaker 01

  I mean, you have to can, believe me, uh, Jack Lemmon still studies his craft. Eastwood definitely studies.

• 47:24Speaker 01

  I really dislike actors who were very good when they were young, but they've stopped trying to learn. I won't name them, because I'm not gonna go that far. But I know who they are, and they know who they are.

• 47:39Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 47:40Speaker 01

  One of them has come out of it, and I was really glad to see it.

• 47:47Speaker 01

  But really extraordinary when they were young.

• 47:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 47:51Speaker 01

  Brando was always extraordinary.

• 47:54Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure. A few questions left for you, and I respect your time.

• 47:58Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 47:59Lewis Howes?

  What are you most grateful for in your life recently?

• 48:03Speaker 01

  Oh, this record?

• 48:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 48:05Speaker 01

  Bar none.

• 48:08Lewis Howes?

  Why is, and why is this so meaningful for you?

• 48:12Speaker 01

  Cause I think this is the best record I've ever done. And Jim Steinman, if you go on Meatloaf Facebook, and it's, it, it kept moving and I kept pinning it to the top. So finally, they realized that I wanted it pinned at the top.

• 48:30Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 48:30Speaker 01

  So it's permanently pinned.

• 48:34Speaker 01

  Uh, he calls it, "One of the ten best records ever made."

• 48:38Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 48:40Speaker 01

  Now, I'm not gonna go that far, but he can say that.

• 48:44Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 48:46Speaker 01

  But I really think it's the best record I've ever made. Because some people were expecting, like I said, Bad or Bad 2. They go, "Oh, well, this is terrible." And like I said, my doctor's prescription.

• 49:04Lewis Howes?

  Four times.

• 49:05Speaker 01

  Let's do it four times.

• 49:06Lewis Howes?

  In one day. Yeah.

• 49:08Speaker 01

  Well, you can do two days, that's okay.

• 49:11Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 49:12Speaker 01

  Uh, but some people get it on the first listen.

• 49:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, sure.

• 49:17Speaker 01

  But they're expecting Meatloaf to, you know, coming like a freight train.

• 49:24Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 49:24Speaker 01

  And I don't, I'm going all the way, it's just stuck. I'm in my low voice. But it's the same voice as Bad Outta Hell.

• 49:31Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 49:32Speaker 01

  Just the timbre's different, cause I'm forty years older.

• 49:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 49:36Speaker 01

  Exact same voice. If we had Bad Outta Hell, if I could compare them and show you,

• 49:44Speaker 01

  you'd hear it.

• 49:45Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 49:45Speaker 01

  It's just,

• 49:48Speaker 01

  as plain as you know a fried egg when you see one.

• 49:51Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure. I love it. Um, something to be grateful for. What is something you, you've accomplished so much? You've got the biggest albums of all time.

• 49:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't, I pay no attention.

• 50:02Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 50:03Speaker 01

  To anything in the past. Nothing. Not even the four star review from Q Magazine.

• 50:11Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 50:11Speaker 01

  That's gone. What, what's happening now is I'm talking to you.

• 50:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 50:16Speaker 01

  And you're talking to Meatloaf. This is, this is...

• 50:23Speaker 01

  This is me loving character. But the object of acting or being in character is always about the truth of the moment. And I don't feel a song. I become the song. I know two or three people like that. I know actors like that. But musicians, I can name three. I can name four, Joplin being one. But the others are guitar players. Brian May doesn't play guitar. He is the guitar. Scott Ian from Anthrax doesn't play the guitar.

• 51:08Speaker 01

  He is the guitar. But the number one is Jeff Beck. And Jeff Beck, Clapton's not far behind him. But Jeff Beck. You ever see Jeff Beck go? I saw him at the Les Paul, at Les Paul's club, sitting this close to him. It was like he was the guitar.

• 51:42Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 51:44Speaker 01

  He didn't play it. He was it. And so that's when I do a record and people have said, "Oh, you can't possibly feel the music unless you've written it." And I always go, "Yeah, tell that to Martin Brando about Streetcar Named Desire or On the Waterfront." Or go tell that to, you know, Hoffman when he did Death of a Salesman. Or, you know, The Crucible, any actor that's ever done The Crucible. Any of the great writers, Tennessee Williams, Shakespeare. Arthur Miller. I mean, going down the line, I can't. There's so many great writers and written so many great plays.

• 52:28Speaker 01

  But when I finish a song.

• 52:33Speaker 01

  It doesn't feel like Jim Steinman wrote it. Right.

• 52:38Speaker 01

  It feels like I wrote it. Cause you become it. I, I am the song. I become that person, I become that song. And that's the thing that I disagree with on television. When they give them the advice, you've got to feel the song. If I was ever a mentor on one of those shows, I would tell the contestant, he's right, you must feel the song. But the first thing is, you have to become the song. You have to take it internally and become that moment of the song. And you don't control the stage,

• 53:22Speaker 01

  you control the room.

• 53:26Speaker 01

  You own it. You own every space. It's like my advice to an actor, a young actor who's going to auditions. It is your time. It is your moment. It is your room. And don't let anybody control you. Mmm, I love it. It's got me to chills. Yeah, you don't. You could coach me all day. You don't, you don't, you don't let that, you know, casting agent, you don't even let the director control you on your first reading. If after the first reading, the director says, are you able to do it this way?

• 54:12Speaker 01

  You go, of course, just give me a second. And I will always like then rethink it and reanalyze it and be able to turn around and give him exactly what he wants.

• 54:27Speaker 01

  I mean, I've always said, if you want me to be a, an Irish milkmaid, I can be one.

• 54:31Lewis Howes?

  Oh, really?

• 54:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:33Lewis Howes?

  Let's see. No, I'm just kidding.

• 54:35Speaker 01

  It'd take me a little while to get there.

• 54:37Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure, sure.

• 54:38Speaker 01

  And I'd have to get the Irish accent down.

• 54:40Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 54:41Speaker 01

  And we need a cow. Well, we don't really need a cow. We just pretend there's a cow.

• 54:45Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. Um, this is a question I ask all my guests at the end. It's called the three truths question. So.

• 54:53Speaker 01

  Uh, everything is the truth. Go ahead.

• 54:55Lewis Howes?

  Okay, yes. Well, this is a question about, uh, if you had, uh, say it's, uh, many years from now and it's the last day for you on earth. And, uh, all your, your movies, your albums, your work that you put out there is for whatever reason, it's been erased. So people don't have the content you've put out there. Or you have a piece of paper and a pen to write down three things you know to be true about your entire experience in life, all the acting, the music, the relationships, the touring, everything you've ever learned.

• 55:23Speaker 01

  Uh, it would be about none of that.

• 55:25Lewis Howes?

  Okay. Well, would be your, what would be your three truths? The thing that you would share to the world that would be kind of the lessons that you would give back?

• 55:32Speaker 01

  And about my wife, my grandson and my daughters.

• 55:35Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 55:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. About my wife, Deborah, my grandson Rebel,

• 55:41Speaker 01

  who by then could be one of the most famous musicians on the face of the earth.

• 55:49Speaker 01

  He's like a child prodigy. I can't, I mean, it flabbergasts me. Um, and about my daughters, Pearl and Amanda, and how talented they are and how they should continue

• 56:06Speaker 01

  to follow their paths and their truths and their dreams.

• 56:10Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 56:11Speaker 01

  And there is a line. People always go, why do you think the Rocky Horror Show is, has lived so long? I said, there's a line in the Rocky Horror Show that people may not know.

• 56:28Speaker 01

  Consciously, but subconsciously, they hear it. And the line is, don't dream it, be it.

• 56:40Lewis Howes?

  That's a good truth right there. I like that. Well, before I ask the final question, Mead, I want to acknowledge you for a moment for your incredible humility, your incredible talent, your incredible drive, your work ethic, and your ability to inspire and lift so many people up on all the work that you do. It's so inspiring.

• 56:58Speaker 01

  I try to, I try, I think the whole world should do this.

• 57:09Speaker 01

  People forget about manners. I introduce myself to everybody.

• 57:20Speaker 01

  I don't care if they know who I am or not. Hi, I'm Mead. What's your name? You know, I will always say thank you. Even to Frances, who's been working with me for eight years. She does something for me, I say thank you. Whatever it is, I say thank you. Because it means a lot to me.

• 57:46Speaker 01

  Say thank you, you're welcome, be kind. I get on a plane, I ask the flight attendants, how's your day?

• 57:56Speaker 01

  Well, it's been pretty good. Well, I hope it gets better, and I hope that everybody treats you with the respect you deserve.

• 58:06Speaker 01

  And they go, well.

• 58:09Speaker 01

  And I do that everywhere I go. Because I think that's important. That all people deserve the respect and the gratitude for being who they are and what they do.

• 58:28Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely, yeah.

• 58:30Speaker 01

  And I will always...

• 58:35Speaker 01

  Try to help because I was homeless in my life. So I know what that's like. Sure. I I've had a lot of experiences in my life. So I can relate to almost every one. My band, when I was on Motown, was all African American. And we went through the South. And they literally. The racism I saw, they were the ones holding me back. I was ready to attack and they were going, me, it's okay. We go through this all the time. I go, I don't really care. This guy's not going to treat you that way.

• 59:19Speaker 01

  Me, come on, come on, let's go, let's go. I mean, I even went to the kitchen in the Holiday Inn. And and got water and bread and butter and everybody brought it to the table. Got everybody's order, took it into the kitchen myself, handed to the chef. And I said, you want me to come back and get it? No, we'll bring it. Wow. And I mean, I. And my mother taught me that. And my my grandfather was that way. My mother taught me that. Yeah. And that and. Oh, I would get so angry when I was in high school.

• 1:00:02Speaker 01

  And and that because I grew up in Texas. So, you know, there's a. There's a bit of racism. It's gotten better. And in fact, one night. We were going home. And we were right by Love Field and we were in Lover's Lane. And a group of African Americans came. And starting hitting my car with baseball bats. And the windshield and the and I got out of the car. And my friends going, don't get out of the car. I said, yeah, I'm getting out of the car. And I was very calm.

• 1:00:45Speaker 01

  And they all of a sudden just stopped. And I said. I understand why you're doing this. But.

• 1:00:58Speaker 01

  You need to learn respect because I have respect for you. Even though you've just done what you did to my car. My car is nothing but a piece of metal. It doesn't mean anything compared to you.

• 1:01:16Speaker 01

  You are worth so much more than this piece of metal.

• 1:01:23Speaker 01

  And they just kind of looked at me and walked away.

• 1:01:29Speaker 01

  My friend thought they were gonna just kill me. And I said, "No." And it was like one of those moments. I got out perfectly calm and just didn't yell at them. Talked to them in this kind of voice. And they all kind of stopped and I talked to them. That's what I said. And I think I was possessed by my grandfather.

• 1:01:53Speaker 01

  Because that's the kind of words my grandfather would have used.

• 1:01:56Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure, amazing. Well, I appreciate the example you've been setting for many years for how to treat people and how to be grateful.

• 1:02:01Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, I think the world is upside down at the moment. And we really need more love in the world.

• 1:02:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 1:02:10Speaker 01

  And we need more respect for each other.

• 1:02:12Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely.

• 1:02:13Speaker 01

  For everyone.

• 1:02:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, I agree. Well, I want to ask one final question.

• 1:02:18Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:02:19Lewis Howes?

  Make sure everyone go pick up Braver Than We Are. Meatloaf, the legend who doesn't like to be called a legend.

• 1:02:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't like to be called a legend.

• 1:02:26Lewis Howes?

  Get this, it's on iTunes. Buy it on your website.

• 1:02:30Speaker 01

  You gotta listen to it to understand.

• 1:02:33Lewis Howes?

  Four times, people, four times.

• 1:02:35Speaker 01

  Don't disregard it on your first listen. Because it's better than you think it is.

• 1:02:41Lewis Howes?

  I like it, I like it. Final question, what's your definition of greatness?

• 1:02:47Speaker 01

  People that respect other people.

• 1:02:50Lewis Howes?

  There you go. Meat, thanks for coming on.

• 1:02:51Speaker 01

  You're welcome.

• 1:02:55Lewis Howes?

  I hope you guys enjoyed this episode as much as I enjoyed connecting with Meatloaf, also known as Meat. Make sure to share it out with your friends, lewishouse.com/386. Check out the full show notes, pick up his new album, Braver Than We Are, and send some love to him over on social media. This was a lot of fun, and it's because of you guys that allows me to connect with inspiring, influential leaders and rock stars like Meatloaf because of the movement of greatness that we're creating together. You guys continue to listen, you continue to share, and that allows us to bring on incredible guests because of the platform that we're building together. So, thank you, thank you, thank you for listening every single week, for sharing, for letting

• 1:03:38Lewis Howes?

  me know how to make this better and who to bring on. Thank you, thank you, thank you. If you haven't left a review yet on iTunes, make sure to do that over at iTunes.com/SchoolOfGreatness. If this is your first time here, please subscribe to the podcast because we do this every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We bring you a shot of inspiration, motivation, and greatness every single time you turn on this podcast. So, I love you guys very much. I appreciate you. Big thank you to Meatloaf for coming on. Such a pleasure and an incredible experience, and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.