Recalling the '70s with Meat Loaf

Vietnam. Jonestown. Watergate. Three Mile Island. The Munich Olympics.

Hey, who wouldn't miss the '70s?

Right on. History Rocks: The '70s, a two-part special on the History Channel hosted by the soon-to-be-sexagenarian singer Meat Loaf, will be telecast at 10 p.m. tomorrow and Thursday.

"Research has shown that TV audiences have an endless fascination with the '70s," says Bruce Klein, 43, the show's executive producer and creator.

"It's far enough back that it's historical, and near enough that many viewers lived through it or remember it. It works on a nostalgia level and a curiosity level."

It also works on the History Channel level. The '70s is an outgrowth of 2005's History Rocks, an hour-long documentary that focused on a single year ('79) and scored big numbers for the cable network.

The '70s spotlights 14 "iconic events" of the tumultuous decade. Each segment features archival footage, informational pop-ups and classic music of the time.

Fortunately, not all the stories are downers, man.

There's the invention of early video game Pong (BTO's "You Ain't Seen Nuthin' Yet"); the poster girls of '79 (Foreigner's "Hot Blooded"); the explosion of CB Radio (the Allman Brothers' "Jessica").

And, of course, Elvis' secret White House meeting with President Nixon (War's "Why Can't We Be Friends").

Part I, however, opens on a somber note with the '78 Jonestown massacre, in which more than 900 followers of fanatic Jim Jones committed suicide. Blue Oyster Cult's mesmerizing "Don't Fear the Reaper" plays throughout.

"We wanted a story with great emotional impact, paired with a really popular song that audiences cannot turn off," Klein explains. "That's a very high bar."

Speaking of high bars, the '70s were bery, bery good to the Meat-man.

In '75, he made his film debut with a memorable turn in cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. His rock opera, Bat Out of Hell, released in '77, has sold more than 35 million copies.

Meat's personal iconography of the decade includes The Godfather ('72); Rocky ('76) and Saturday Night Live (launched in '75), he writes in an e-mail from Birmingham, England, a stop on his current world tour.

Can he really remember that far back? For many rock headliners, that whole era is rather hazy.

"I was conscious for the whole decade," he insists. "It was the '80s that I was unconscious."

And, it would seem, invisible. Meat virtually disappeared; Bat II didn't arrive until '93. Bat III came out last year. He says there will be no Bat IV.

At 59, Meat says his lone concession to age is plastic surgery, "so I don't look like a Geico caveman."

Funny thing is, if he did look like one, it might get him acting work. The characters in ABC's new fall comedy, Cavemen, are based on the hairy missing links from those popular insurance commercials.