Disc 309 is...Love At First Sting
Artist: Scorpions
Year of Release: 1984
What’s Up With The Cover?: An attractive woman and a contortionist embrace. He's tattooing her thigh as well, which in 1984 would have been pretty racy, but today is par for the course. Times change.
How I Came To Know It: In 1984 I was entirely devoted to heavy metal, and "Rock You Like A Hurricane" was a massive hit. This album was played at every party, listened to in every teenage boy's bedroom and belted out of ghetto blasters in the hallways of high school at lunch time.
How It Stacks Up: I only have two Scorpions albums, this one and "Blackout" which I reviewed back at Disc 290. I think "Love At First Sting" is the inferior of the two.
Rating: 2 stars
As I noted in my previous Scorpions review, this is a band from Germany that rocked the metal world back in the 1980s. I loved "Love At First Sting" as a kid, and it is odd that I took so long in buying it on CD (I only did so in the last few years).
Unfortunately, while the album has a nostalgic appeal to me, it is not as good as I remember it. Many of the songs are screechy, and the guitar riffs overall are not at the same level as 1982's "Blackout".
The opening track is "Bad Boys Running Wild", but the difficulty with English is noticeable here, with the chorus sounding more like "bad boys running wide", which unless the Scorpions are talking about a football game, doesn't make much sense.
On the plus side, this record is the home of one of metal's most iconic songs, "Rock You Like A Hurricane", which over 25 years later is still instantly recognizeable. This song has a screechy but brilliant guitar riff which became the signature sound of the band. While the album might've been everywhere, this particular track had its grooves worn out it was so overplayed.
I like how the song takes its time getting going, beginning with just the rhythym guitar and no other instrumentation, and then progressively adding drum track, and then lead guitar - it climbs to a crescendo of metal, and then settles back into a quiet groove for the first verse including such deliciously ridiculous lines like:
"The bitch is hungry
She needs to tell
So give her inches
And feed her well."
It doesn't even make that much sense ('she needs to tell'?), but all you needed to know in 1984 was that it was dirty. As the verses are delivered the song is stripped back down to just a drum roll, and then elements are added back in until we return to the guitar riffs ripping the air for the chorus. The constant ebb and flow of the instruments coming into and out of the arrangement gives the song a very cool flow.
Unfortunately, despite the brilliance of "Rock You Like A Hurricane" the rest of the album is decidedly average, with songs like "Bad Boys Running Wild" and "The Same Thrill" making very earnest efforts to 'rock out' but instead coming off a bit strained, with forgettable riffs, that try to make up for their inferiority by being played fast.
Overall the record is listenable and as a now 41 year old man, I delighted in having it blast out of my car as I drove around town. "Rock You Like A Hurricane" almost pulls the record into 3 star territory, but it can't quite do it alone. Thus, while I like the record, I can't pretend it is anything but average overall.
Best tracks: Rock You Like A Hurricane, Big City Nights
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