Jim Steinman talks about the motorcycle guitar solo in 'Bat Out of Hell' Right before Todd performs the guitar solo, he asks Jim Steinman if he wanted "a Yamaha, a Kawasaki, or a Harley Davidson".
HUGE Todd fan here, and he's in that realm of artists where you ask people if they know him, and they say "no." Without going into all of the classics (and there are MANY) that he produced, as far as being an artist you can trot out "Hello, It's Me," and they say they know that one. Then "Bang The Drum All Day." "Oh yeah, I know that one, too." "I Saw The Light?" "I love that song." Anyone who grew up with MTV knows "Time Heals" very well. So, he's "known," just not as revered as he should be. A cool thing about Todd, is that when I was making mix-tapes in high-school/college (1980s), I could always find a song that fit with any genre of mix I was making (pop, power-pop, new wave, rock, metal) and throw a song on there that the recipient had never heard, and it would fit perfectly, and they'd ask who the hell he was and which album they should get of his. Mission accomplished.
As others have said, Todd's great artistry was all over the map. Back in the early '70s, a young fan in the midwest may love Something/Anything. But by the time you got to see Todd in concert he had just released A Wizard, A True Star.
Well, as well put and previously said, his career zigged all over the place. Bowie did that really well; Todd found a few more blind alleys. I did see him a few years back. In set two he played A Wizard a True Star all the way through. That was fun. I did pick up A Wizard a True Star on SACD recently. It sounds good, but I think the sonics were limited from inception. Although the fights were legendary, as a producer he did get XTC to eke out Skylarking; which is a downright awesome album. The recent 5.1 version of that is fun. In the liner notes Andy Partridge almost tries to bury the hatchet with Todd. Not sure how Todd responded to that.
Biggest strength was as a producer, XtC. Bat Out Of Hell is currently a musical. Dunno if he gets money for it.
H&O are a bad example, as they've had a popular revival in recent years. H&O play arenas these days - not exactly the mark of a band that "faded away"...
I always thought Darryl Hall was the version of todd that got famous.(and wasn't a musical genius) Todd "was" pop, which is very diffferent from having a lot of pop hits. He was the poppermost. But he was too clever to be a hall and oates, and took another road, and thank god for that.
I have been frustrated in my lack of ability to recruit new Todd fans over the years. I have had a few notable successes ( thank goodness my wife is one of them) but my biggest failures are both of my daughters - in general, they have found value in most if the music I exposed them to and managed steer them out music ditches like the Backstreet Boys, but early Todd was to "wieniefied" for them and latter-day Todd was just too difficult for them. They also don't like his vocals - I just don't get that. While I admit he's been challenging from time to time over the years, being a loyal Todd fan has brought me much happiness and has been a real positive for me overall. I really, really like the guys music but would be pretty intimidated to meet him person.
Todd was honored by his peers at the NAMM music industry show with the "Les Paul Innovator's Award" a few years back. They produced an excellent overview of his career:
You’re right. Last time I saw them (with Todd opening up no less) was a small venue. Good for them. Todd got the better reaction. Clearly most of us were there for him.
Here's Todd's acceptance speech for the award. True to form he spends more time talking about Les Paul and the other honorees than about himself:
Like others have said, Todd never became a mega star because he didn't want that kind of career, IMO. He could have continued making albums like Something/Anything -- and probably would've kept churning out hits as a result -- but he went the other direction with AWATS and subsequent albums until Hermit of Mink Hollow. Frankly, I'm glad he did.
The most divisive figures in rock, from my anecdotal experience are Todd, Steely Dan, and Joni Mitchell. To me, disliking any of these people is like saying "NO" to melody. It makes no freakin sense whatsoever. Todd has a "ripe" singing style with a lot of melisma. I have a feeling it's a weakness in him, but then what about the "being paid by the syllable" modern singers ululating away?
Sadly the question the OP asked is very valid. Todd is well known in North America and parts of Europe, but not known at all for most parts of the world(maybe he is known in Japan). I lost count how many times I had to explain who he was. But I don’t care he is one of my all time favorites. He’s doing pretty good I guess. Not having to deal with the level of fame of Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and Elton John must be good.
He does get enough serious attention that the Dutch Metropole Orchestra did several concerts with him:
H&O have jumped from the kind of small theaters Rundgren now plays to arenas over the last decade or so. 15 years ago, I saw them at the Warner in DC - holds about 2000. This summer they play Capitol One Arena - holds about 20,000! Granted, they seem to need reasonably well-known opening acts to play the basketball arenas, but it's still a major leap!
I found another quote from Paul Fishkin, Todd's one-time roommate and label executive: "This guy could s**t hit records!"
