Love at First Sting
| Love at First Sting | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scorpions studio album | ||||
|
Publication |
March 27, 1984 |
|||
| Label (s) | EMI Records | |||
|
Format (s) |
||||
|
Title (number) |
9 |
|||
|
running time |
40:55 |
|||
| occupation |
|
|||
|
Studio (s) |
Dierks Studios |
|||
|
||||
Love at First Sting (English for. " Love at first sting ") is the ninth studio album from German hard rock band Scorpions . It was released in March 1984 and was the group's most successful album in the US. It contains the songs Bad Boys Running Wild , Rock You Like a Hurricane , Coming Home , Big City Nights and Still Loving You , among others.
background
production
In the early summer of 1983 the Scorpions and their producer Dieter Dierks first went to the Polar Studios in Stockholm to record the album. According to guitarist Rudolf Schenker, the goal from the beginning was to surpass the great success of the previous album Blackout . However, during production there were disagreements between Dierks and the band, especially with drummer Herman Rarebell and bassist Francis Buchholz. After neither the desired guitar sound nor the desired atmosphere within the band could be achieved in Sweden, the work in Sweden was discontinued without result. The album, like most of the band's previous albums, was then recorded in Dierk's studio in Stommeln near Cologne.
Music and lyrics
The songs are stylistically linked to the predecessor Blackout . Only the guitar sound has been further developed for the nine songs. The songs are musically not as hard as most of its predecessor. Rudolf Schenker was responsible for all instrumentation of the songs, while Klaus Meine wrote all the lyrics for the arrangements, for the first two songs ( Bad Boys Running Wild and Rock You Like a Hurricane ) with the support of Herman Rarebell. On Love at First Sting, the Scorpions sing about nightlife ( Bad Boys Running Wild , Big City Nights ), life on tour ( Coming Home ), the connection to rock music ( Rock You Like a Hurricane , The Same Thrill ) and also love ( I'm Leaving You , Still Loving You ).
Album cover
The black and white original cover of the album, which was photographed by Helmut Newton , shows a couple in an embrace with the man tattooing the woman. This cover was replaced in the USA by a band photo, also photographed by Newton in black and white, because it was perceived as too suggestive there.
tour
The Love at First Sting world tour began on January 23, 1984 with a concert in Birmingham , Great Britain and went around the world until it performed in front of around 15,000 fans at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan on February 7, 1985. To the Concerts in 1984 attracted 2.2 million visitors.
In the USA the band gave well over 80 concerts within about four months (March to July 1984) and played there in the largest halls. For example, around 60,000 visitors came to the three concerts that took place in Madison Square Garden in New York . In Chicago they gave three concerts at the Rosemont Horizon and two concerts in the Los Angeles Forum in front of 16,000 spectators each. The band Bon Jovi opened most of the concerts in the United States.
In Europe they appeared twice in the Hammersmith Odeon in London , in Paris in the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in front of 15,500 spectators and in the Munich Olympic Hall in front of 12,000 visitors, each with Joan Jett in the opening act. In Japan , the Scorpions made a stadium tour with Whitesnake , Bon Jovi and MSG . In January 1985 they headlined the Rock in Rio Festival in front of 470,000 spectators.
Content and title list
| Track list |
|---|
|
Bad Boys Running Wild
The first track on the album begins with a short guitar intro by Matthias Jabs, followed by the guitar by Rudolf Schenker, the drums by Herman Rarebell and the bass by Francis Buchholz. The song describes the power of a group of "bad guys" ( bad boys ) who "out on the streets" run around and "be wild" ( running wild ) when in their games not playing ( if you do not play along with their games ), and which you should therefore better avoid ( and you better get out of their way ).
Rock you like a hurricane
→ see also main article: Rock You Like a Hurricane
Rock You Like a Hurricane is one of the most successful Scorpions songs. It was the third single from the album and reached number 25 in the US, number 78 in the UK and number 17 in France. The song is about the morning after a long concert night ( It's early morning, the sun comes out, last night was shaking and pretty loud ) and the continuous tour life, as the narrator always has to go back on stage in the evening to perform.
I'm leaving you
The slower track I'm Leaving You , for which the band shot a music video even without a single release, is about a man who has to tell his wife that he is leaving her ( I'm leaving you ). However, this does not mean a separation, just the man's obligation to go to work in the evening. He asks his wife not to be sad ( you shouldn't feel so blue ) and she should have him in her mind until he comes back to her ( keep me in your mind till I come back to love ya ).
Coming home
Coming Home was the last single from the album, the song is about life on tour. The piece starts with a calm guitar riff. First, the morning on the day of a concert is described ( Every morning when I wake up yawning I'm still far away ), on which the trucks drive to the place of the event ( Trucks still rolling through the early morning to the place we play ) and the band already dreams of going on stage ( dream we're going out on stage ) to feel at home there ( it feels like coming home ). This is followed by the rocking part of the song with the concert appearance, during which singer Klaus Meine gives the audience instructions such as "Jump on your seats, put your hands in the air, give me a scream, let me hear you out there" ( Jump on the seats, put your hands in the air, give me a shout, let me hear you out there ). Mine commented on the song in Metal Hammer : “When we come back from an American tour, the song 'Coming Home' in Germany naturally has an extremely deeper meaning. But for us that means: the stage in every city in which we play is our home. No matter whether in Paris, San Antonio, Texas or Hanover. "
The song premiered live three months before the album was released. As part of the ZDF Rock Pop In Concert Heavy Metal Special Night, the Scorpions played the song live for the first time on December 17, 1983 in Dortmund's Westfalenhalle. But without the calm, ballad-like intro that can be heard in the version on Love At First Sting. This appearance was broadcast on February 4, 1984 as a recording on ZDF.
The Same Thrill
This song is rarely played at concerts and has not been included in any other project or compilation of the band. It's about the professional decision for rock 'n' roll. In the song, Meine remembers his teacher who asked him what he wanted to do for a living later ( I remember when my teacher said: “How you wanna make your life?” ) And he replied: “I can play the guitar “( I can play guitar ). He chose rock music because there was no other profession that could give him the same thrill as rock 'n' roll ( to get the same thrill like rock 'n' roll ).
Big City Nights
Big City Nights is one of the group's best known songs as the second single on the album. It reached number 76 on the UK charts. The song is about big city nights and a man looking for a woman ( there's no girl that's burning the ice away from my heart ). In 1998 a compilation of the Scorpions was released, which was titled Big City Nights .
As Soon as the Good Times Roll
In this song, too, the love for rock music is used in order not to let the tough everyday life get you down. The core message of the song is that you shouldn't let anything get you down and that you should always get the drive back to life with rock music, because the bad times go as soon as the good times come ( hard times go as soon as the good times roll ).
Crossfire
This is the only political song by the band on this album. It's about a young man who, together with other soldiers, suddenly finds himself in the war. He wonders why politicians cannot understand that no one will survive ( that no one will survive ) and why people are forced into this situation who do not want to fight ( we don't wanna fight ) and love life ( we love our life ).
Still loving you
It ends with a ballad, which was the first single from the album. According to his own statement, Rudolf Schenker composed the song as early as 1976. The single achieved its greatest success in Switzerland, where the song reached number 3, and in France with number 2. In 1992 a remix album was released that was named after this song and also contains a remix of the same. Still Loving You is about the heartache of a man who, despite his wife's separation, is still in love with her. He wishes to start all over again with her ( If we'd go again all the way from the start ), so that he can correct the mistakes he has previously made ( I would try to change things that killed our love ).
Single releases
The first single on the album was the ballad Still Loving You , which was able to position itself at number 14 in Germany and is therefore the band's most successful single in their home country after Wind of Change and Send Me An Angel . In Switzerland it was ranked 3rd. In France, the single was sold around 1.7 million times and is still one of the best-selling singles in the country. On the B-side of the single was the song Holiday from the album Lovedrive . This was followed by singles for Big City Nights with Bad Boys Running Wild as the B-side, Rock You Like a Hurricane with Coming Home and another single with the latter on the A-side and Rock You Like a Hurricane on the B-side.
50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition bonus tracks
- 10. Coming Home [Demo Version] 3:17
- 11. Living At Night [Demo Song] 4:14
- 12. First Sting Jam No. 1 [demo] 1:25
- 13. Anytime (You Want It) [Demo Song] 5:16
- 14. Still Loving You [Demo Version] 5:46
LIVE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN (New York City, 02/06/1984) 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Bonus CD
- 1. Countdown 1:58
- 2. Coming Home 3:11
- 3. Blackout 3:48
- 4. Bad Boys Running Wild 4:11
- 5. Loving You Sunday Morning 4:45
- 6. Big City Nights 5:14
- 7. Coast To Coast 4:58
- 8. Still Loving You 5:52
- 9. Rock You Like A Hurricane 4:20
- 10. The Zoo 8:05 am
- 11. Dynamite 6:41
50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Bonus DVD
- 1. Rock You Like A Hurricane 4:12
- 2. I'm Leaving You 4:13
- 3. Big City Nights 4:49
- 4. Still Loving You 4:43
- 5. Still Loving You 4:45
- 6. Rock You Like A Hurricane 4:10
- 7. Still Loving You 4:23
- 8. Big City Nights 4:14
- 9. The Story Of "Love At First Sting" [Interviews with Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs and Herman Rarebell] 36:23
DVD:
- Tr. 1-4 Music Videos
- Tr. 5 & 6: "Peters Pop Show", November 30th, 1985
- Tr. 7: "Well something!", 10/17/1984
- Tr. 8: Rock Sommer / Monsters Of Rock Nuremberg, 13.09.1986
reception
criticism
- The Rock Guide wrote of the album: “Because of the great combination of great music and talented vocals, Love at First Sting is without a doubt one of the best albums the Scorpions have ever released. Some even consider the work to be one of the best releases of the entire decade. "
- Uwe Lerch from Rock Hard magazine rated the album with the words: “I was not entirely convinced by the Hanoverians' latest work. Compared to last year's album Blackout , the new disc is more Americanized and is probably targeting precious metals in the States again. ... All in all, the typical Scorpions sound is represented on Love at First Sting , but it sounds much more rounded than on the previous records. If you like groups like Def Leppard or Heavy Pettin, you can access it here. Only a 7.5. "
- Christof Leim wrote in 2009 in the trendy magazine Metal Hammer that the album was "smoother than Blackout , but with an unmistakable feeling for catchy songs and great melodies." He also praised it as an "exceptional album ".
Commercial win
By 1986 alone, the album went over the counter about 4.5 million times in the USA, according to a report by the youth magazine Bravo . Accordingly, it is still the group's best-selling album in the United States. The album was sold more than 6 million times worldwide by 2001. The album went gold and platinum on the day of its release in the US due to 600,000 pre-orders and rose to number 6 on the Billboard 200 , where it was listed for over 60 weeks. A few months later it reached multiplatinum there and triple platinum in June 1995. In Germany, the album was awarded gold, where it also reached number 6 in the charts. In addition, Love at First Sting ranked 19th in Austria and 9th in Switzerland.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from April 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Review of the Scorpions album Love at First Sing from the archive of the rock magazine Rock Hard's homepage
