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The Scorpions’ stealthy, stellar Sweet covers on scarce ‘75 single
03.08.2019
08:39 am
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Scorpions Sweet collage
 
The German hard rock/heavy metal band, the Scorpions, has existed in one form or another since 1965. A decade in, they were still years away from achieving mainstream success. In 1975, the group covered two tracks by the popular glam act, Sweet, with the Scorpions using an alias when the recordings were released on a 45.

The single, credited to the Hunters, was put out by the German label, Colorit Records, and was distributed in that country by Electrola, a subsidiary of EMI. The covers of “Fox on the Run” and “Action” were sung by Scorpions vocalist, Klaus Meine, in the German language, with the titles changed to “Fuchs Geh’ Voran,” and “Wenn es Richtig Losgeht,” respectively. According to Wikipedia, the German lyrics for “Fuchs Geh’ Voran” concern a literal fox being pursued by fur hunters.
 
The Hunters
 
Though there are no personnel credits listed anywhere on the record, it’s believed the 45 was produced by Dieter Dierks, who first hooked up with the band for the Scorpions third LP, In Trance, which also came out in 1975. Dierks was at the helm for a number of subsequent Scorpions records, including their international breakthrough album, Love at First Sting (1984).

As there’s very little information online concerning the Hunters single, I’m going to go out on a limb here and speculate a bit. Regarding the purpose of the release and why it wasn’t put out as a Scorpions record: the original Sweet recordings of the songs had been big hits in Germany, and the 45 was an attempt to capitalize on that success by issuing cover versions specifically for the German speaking market; the project was a way for the pre-fame Scorps to make a few bucks on the side, and was never intended to be released under their established moniker (the band was signed to RCA, so they had to use an alias, regardless). 
 
The Scorpions 1
 
One thing that’s certain is that the single failed to sell. The 45 is now quite rare, and when it does show up, usually sells in the $250 range. Currently, there are a few copies listed on Discogs.

Keep reading after the jump…

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Posted by Bart Bealmear
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03.08.2019
08:39 am
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Surreal photos of the Scorpions from the mid-60s way before they looked like the Scorpions
01.31.2018
10:12 am
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A postcard with a photo of members of the Scorpions while they were in their teens in 1966. Founding member Rudolf Schenker is pictured to the far left wearing a sweet pair of plaid trousers and a black turtleneck under his button-up shirt.

Most of the images in this post were taken of various lineups of German heavy-metal gods, the Scorpions during their earliest days in the mid-1960s. In this post, you will see a fascinating treasure trove of photos of the band sitting on top of their tour van—an old VW bus with the letters L.S.D. scrawled on it, and candid images of them playing teenage parties. There is no long hair or pulsating chest hair, either. No leather, no studs, no spandex. Instead, we see young versions of the Scorpions looking quite serious at times, wearing proper button-up shirts, plaid trousers, and even *gasp* TURTLENECKS (see above). This post is the equivalent of a proud parent pulling out baby photos of their kid to show to their date before they head off to the prom. And I love it.

I came across the photos via a French Wordpress site called Scorpscollector, most of them are attributed to former Scorpions drummer Wolfgang Dziony. Dziony was with the band until about 1972, or just before they would start to transition from a psychedelic groove machine into a heavy metal band and ruled the 1980s. When they got their start, guitar wizard Rudolf Schenker would trade off vocals with Dziony. The group would also enlist a couple of other vocalists including (according to Dziony) a cat from Berlin by the name of Gerd Andre whom they nicknamed “Jimi Hendric” due to his likeness to guitar hero Jimi Hendrix. Hendric would only hold the spot for few shows in his native Berlin before Hanover, Germany native Klaus Meine would take on the vocal responsibilities sometime in 1969 for the Scorpions—a role he still holds to this day, some 49 years later.
 

The Scorpions playing their very first gig as “The Nameless” in Sarstedt, Germany.
 
In another interesting twist, the liner notes included in a 1997 compilation called Psychedelic Gems 2 provides more history about the younger days of the Scorpions—comprised now of Rudolf and Michael Schenker on guitar, Meine on vocals, Lothar Heimberg (bass), and Wolfgang Dziony on drums. The story goes the boys entered a contest in Germany in 1970 showcasing up-and-coming talent. Apparently, the band played way over their allotted time slot which almost got them disqualified from the contest. As luck and the combination of sheer talent would have it, the Scorpions won and were rewarded with a record contract from CCA Records (the Concert Corporation of Allemania—also, CCA producer Hans Werner Kuntze was part of the judging panel). With CCA they would record two early versions of “I’m Going Mad,” and “Action” which would later be reworked for their 1972 debut, Lonesome Crow.

I cannot lie—I find the discovery of this kind of ephemera very satisfying. It’s sort of like getting ahold of a rare European high school yearbook from a flea market filled with photos of future superstars playing the big dance and acting like the badasses they would soon become, while perched on top of their shitty tour van. In addition to the vintage images of the band below, I’ve also posted a few early singles by the Scorpions that I’m pretty sure you are going to dig.
 

1966.
 

1965.
 

An early lineup of the Scorpions playing a party in 1965.
 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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01.31.2018
10:12 am
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Terrible, awful, no good, really bad heavy metal album covers from all over the world


The cover of the 1998 album by Blue Öyster Cult, ‘Heaven Forbid.’
 
I know that any and every kinda blog post about album covers has been done before, including, of course, ones that choose to focus on the world of heavy metal album art. But here’s the thing—the genre really brings it when it comes to awful execution to say nothing of the bizarre concepts that somehow got to adorn the various covers you’re about to see, such as scantily clad girls with big hair, muscle-bound men with swords and/or angry animals. And I’m merely scratching the surface of what can be seen on the cover of a heavy metal album because, as I’ve come to find out, pretty much anything from vampires to fucking ostriches shooting laser beams out of their eyes goes

While there are a plethora of obscure metal bands featured in this post from Spain to Germany, there are also a number of high-profile bands that put out records with shitty covers like the Scorpions, Blue Öyster Cult, Iron Maiden, and Pantera. As a matter of fact, there are no less than three perfectly awful Pantera album covers in this post that I’m sure alledgedly aspiring bootboy Phil Anselmo will somehow blame on too much “white wine.” (I think he means “white whine”?) Racists are so hilarious when they’re drunk, aren’t they?

Some of the images in this post are perplexingly NSFW.
 

The cover of the 2013 album by Adema, ‘Topple the Giants.’
 

Fastway ‘Bad Bad Girls’ 1990.
 
More entirely questionable metal mayhem, after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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03.09.2017
08:28 am
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The Scorpions: Heavy metal gods bring the funky grooves, 1978
10.25.2016
09:42 am
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The tame alternate cover of the Scorpions 1976 album ‘Virgin Killer.’
 
This footage from German music show Musikladen features some seriously funky riffs from former Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth.  The impossibly lickey Roth departed the band shortly after the release of the live album Tokyo Tapes in 1978—the same year as their mind-melting appearance on the show.

In the video the Scorpions sound kinda groovy as they chug through “The Sails of Charon” from their 1977 album Taken By Force with the help of Roth’s impeccable chops and some psychedelic effects. The influential guitarist got his start playing in a band called Blue Infinity back when he was only thirteen and drew inspiration from not only classical guitar masters such as Julian Bream but also disciples of the musical art of Flamenco like French guitarist Manitas de Plato. Both influences can be heard as Roth frets away in a trance-like state during the band’s appearance on the show. While I know not everyone has a special affinity for heavy metal like I do, I still think it’s nearly impossible to not appreciate the power and prowess of the Scorpions in this footage as it’s absolutely mesmerizing.

If your record collection is a little light when it comes to Scorpions I’d suggest filling some of those gaps with any (or all) of the studio records that Roth appears on from the band’s early catalog—1974’s Fly to The Rainbow, 1975’s In Trance, 1976’s stellar Virgin Killer, and 1977’s Taken By Force. And if Roth’s epic jam sounds at all familiar to you it should as it was homaged by Metallica guitarist and self-professed Roth enthusiast Kirk Hammett on the track “Battery” from Master of Puppets.

More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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10.25.2016
09:42 am
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‘He’s a Woman, She’s a Man’: The Scorpions’ transgressive transgender lust anthem
02.25.2015
09:27 am
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Sure, everyone knows Germany’s Scorpions from their 1980’s (thinning) Hair Metal hits “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “There’s No One Like You,” but The Scorpions career goes back much further. Their first album, 1972’s Lonesome Crow is (surprisingly great) proggy Krautrock. Over the course of the bands next four releases they shifted their approach to more of a hard rocking, proto-metal sound—a sort of Deep Purple on speedball. By the release of 1977’s Taken by Force, The Scorpions were in full-on assault mode.

 
The track we’ll be examining today is so musically (and lyrically, as we’ll see) ahead of its time, that I dare call it proto-thrash. The performance here from a German television show (how did this get on TV?) rocks so unbelievably hard that you can almost forgive Klaus Meine’s interpretive jazz-hands dancing.

What makes 1977’s “He’s a Woman, She’s a Man” so breath-taking is the stark way in which it deals with the subject of transgender that’s light years beyond what The Kinks were ambiguously laying out in 1971’s hit “Lola.” Granted, The Scorpions’ 1977 English-as-a-second-language is not necessarily sensitive to the titular character referred to as “it” throughout the tune; but a breakdown of the lyrics reveals the storyteller encountering a person of indeterminate gender, at first expressing shock and disbelief, but ultimately essentially saying “fuck it, I’m horny and attracted to this person regardless of my Teutonic heavy metal dude confusion.” The first two verses express bewilderment, the second two express acceptance.

I saw it walking lonely down the street
Cool like a cat and like a crazy dream
I’m looking twice again and can’t believe
It turned around and then it looked at me

I thought, “Oh, no”, it really couldn’t be
It was a man and was a woman too
He’s a woman, she’s a man

I think it really came from far away
I’m feeling hypnotized, I have to stay
It takes my hand and says, “Come on, let’s go”
We’re going home there’s nothing more to say

He starts to move, she starts to play
I need a body, why not you?
He’s a woman, she’s a man

The Scorpions were no strangers to being sexually confrontational in their art. The album which preceded this one, Virgin Killer, featured in its shocking original cover art a nude prepubescent girl with slivers of cracked glass just barely covering the area over her pelvic girdle. The cover, which frequently makes “worst LP cover of all time” lists, was banned in the US, as was the Hipgnosis-designed cover for their Lovedrive LP.
 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Christopher Bickel
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02.25.2015
09:27 am
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Getting High on Scorpions
06.05.2012
11:45 am
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image
 
From Robert Arthur’s Narco Polo website:

A friend of Macdonald’s who witnessed a man smoke scorpion in the Afghan town of Peshawar described the reaction:

‘The effect was instantaneous with the man’s face and eyes becoming very red, “much more than a hashish smoker” …. He also seemed very intoxicated but awake and alert, although he stumbled and fell over when he tried to rise from a sitting position …. the smoke tasted “sweeter” than that of hashish, although … it smelled foul, and the intoxicating effect lasted much longer.’ (1, p. 247)

As with most drugs, anecdotal reports of scorpion’s effects vary widely. It is likely that the numerous Afghan scorpion species have divergent psychoactive properties. Scorpion has been reported to keep one awake, cause severe headaches, and rival the effects of a “strong mescaline trip.” (1, p. 248) One Kabul man who had smoked between 20 and 30 times reported the effects to last three days. During these periods he had difficulty opening his eyes, his head spun, and he had constant visual hallucinations.

 
Read the rest of: Getting High on Scorpions: The Afghan Drug War
 
Below, a video in which a 65-year-old Afghan man claims he gets high by eating up to 50 scorpions a day. Allegedly—according to the YouTube write-up—black scorpions will give you a “stronger buzz.”

Don’t try this at home, kids!
 

 
Via Boing Boing

Posted by Tara McGinley
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06.05.2012
11:45 am
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Scorpions Disbanding!
01.25.2010
02:21 pm
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image

Wait, they were still going? Alas, the winds of change blow for all men… hopefully the Berlin Wall won’t try anything now that these rock centurions aren’t keeping it down.

The German rock band Scorpions is bringing down the curtain on a career spanning more than four decades.

The band, known for its early 1990s hit “Wind of Change” among others, said on its Web site Sunday that “we agree we have reached the end of the road.”

It said it would end its career with a final album ?

Posted by Jason Louv
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01.25.2010
02:21 pm
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