"Rock 'n' Roll Mercenaries" is a song by

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

and John Parr, which was released in 1986 as the lead single from Meat Loaf's fifth studio album ''

Blind Before I Stop ''Blind Before I Stop'' is the fifth studio album by American singer Meat Loaf, released in September 1986. The album was produced in Germany by Frank Farian and was the first to fully embrace the '80s sound. Critics were concerned about the album ...

''. The song was written by

Al Hodge Albert E. Hodge (April 18, 1912 – March 19, 1979) was an American actor best known for playing space adventurer Captain Video on the DuMont Television Network from December 15, 1950, to April 1, 1955. He played the Green Hornet on radio fro ...

and Michael Dan Ehmig, and produced by Frank Farian.

Background

In a 1986 interview with ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

'', Meat Loaf said of the song's message, "It's about the music business. It's about people who do it, but they aren't true to themselves. The perfect example is Deep Purple, last year. That's the perfect example of a rock 'n' roll mercenary. 'Let's take the money and run'."

Critical reception

On its release, Lucy O'Brien of ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' considered "Rock 'n' Roll Mercenaries" to be "a run-of-the-mill guitar-befuddled manifestation of the American dream". Chris Roberts of '' Sounds'' commented, "What a pair of paunches. Loser meets loser. Result: dead loss." In a review of its single release in the US, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' described the song as a "hard rock indictment".

Personnel

*Meat Loaf — lead vocals, backing vocals, additional guitars * John Parr — guest vocals *Mats Björklynd — guitars, keys, programming *Johan Daansen — guitars *Peter Weihe — guitars *Dieter Petereit — bass *John Golden — bass *Harry Baierl — keyboards, programming *Pit Löw — keyboards and programming *Curt Cress — drums *Amy Goff — backing vocals * Frank Farian — additional vocals *Peter Bischof — vocals *Bert Gebhard — vocals *Bimey Oberreit — vocals *Elaine Goff — vocals

Track listing

# "Rock 'n' Roll Mercenaries" (Exploded Version) # "R.P.M."

Charts

References

{{John Parr Songs about rock music Meat Loaf songs John Parr songs 1986 singles Song recordings produced by Frank Farian 1986 songs Arista Records singles