The Strange Connection Between Buddy Holly, Meat Loaf And ‘Rocky Horror’

So what’s the connection between Buddy Holly, Meat Loaf, and Rocky Horror? Hold on—we’re going to get into some Rocky Horror lore here.

I recently rewatched The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s easy to enjoy the movie on a surface level without paying much attention to the finer points. That’s especially true at a midnight screening, when you’ve maybe had something to drink and you’re caught up in the crowd participation.

That could explain how I missed some important plot points—and one amazing lyric.

I never thought too much about Eddie, the biker played by Meat Loaf. I always assumed he was a previous failed experiment of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. After all, he has some Frankenstein’s-monster-like marks and a pretty darn sturdy build.

But Eddie had a life before Frank got his hands on him. There’s a whole song about his history as a teenage delinquent, and he’s also Dr. Scott’s nephew.

The detail that really slipped past me was the brain connection. After Eddie’s death, Frank comments that Rocky is behaving just as Eddie did, then says, “Maybe I made a mistake in splitting his brain between the two of them.”

Somehow, I’d watched this movie repeatedly without registering that Eddie and Rocky were sharing the same original brain. That certainly explains Eddie’s forehead scar.

Buddy Holly Gets A Mention In Meatloaf's Song In Rocky Horror

Now let’s get to the beans and franks of these connections.

When Eddie breaks out of the deep freeze, he launches into “Hot Patootie—Bless My Soul.” And tucked into that rock-and-roll celebration is this line:

“Buddy Holly was singing his very last song.”

Hey, it’s not much, but it’s really cool. As a Lubbock guy, catching a Buddy Holly reference in this wild 1975 movie makes the scene even better.

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And while we’re dropping superstar names, here’s one more connection: Meat Loaf said he met Elvis Presley after Elvis attended the stage version of The Rocky Horror Show at the Roxy in Los Angeles. According to Meat Loaf, Elvis wanted to meet both him and Tim Curry after the performance.

Buddy Holly in the lyrics, Meat Loaf on the motorcycle, and Elvis in the audience. That’s a pretty good rock-and-roll pedigree for a movie about a sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania.