Todd Rundgren says Taylor Swift “ruined music” in Vulture interview

Todd Rundgren says there is “an argument to be made that she ruined music”, talking about Taylor Swift. He gave the answer when asked who he would take aim at if he were producing Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell today.

He was speaking to Vulture writer Devon Ivie in an interview published on 25 September, titled “The Wizard of Rock Would Like a Word”. The exchange was reported by Pitchfork.

Asked who he would target if he produced that record now, Rundgren answered, “Taylor Swift, of course.” It was blunt. He did not soften it in what followed.

He called Swift “the apotheosis of mediocrity”. Apotheosis means the highest point or perfect example of something. He used the phrase to sum up his view of her place in mainstream music.

He went further. “Taylor Swift doesn’t do anything particularly great except grow hair,” he said. He then listed three jobs and said she did none of them well.

“She’s not a great singer. She’s not a great songwriter. She’s not a great dancer,” he said. Those were his words, quoted in full in the interview report.

Rundgren knows the record at the centre of the question from the inside. He produced Bat Out of Hell, the 1977 album by Meat Loaf. A producer, in studio terms, is the person who oversees the recording and shapes how it sounds.

He has described that album as “a spoof of Bruce Springsteen”. That context matters. The original record was built as a larger-than-life send-up of earnest rock. Rundgren was asked who would serve that role now.

What makes this stand out is the directness. Interviews about old records often stay in the past. This one did not. Rundgren used a question about 1977 to deliver a verdict on the present.

The original interview, published by Vulture, carries the full exchange. Swift has not responded in the material reported so far.