Love at First Sting

Love at First Sting

Cover photo by Helmut Newton
Studio album by Scorpions
Released March 27, 1984 (1984-03-27)
Recorded 1983–1984
Studio Dierks Studios, Cologne, West Germany
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 40:55
Label Harvest/EMI (Europe)
Mercury (US)
Producer Dieter Dierks
Scorpions chronology
Blackout
(1982)		 Love at First Sting
(1984)		 Savage Amusement
(1988)
Singles from Love at First Sting
  1. "Rock You Like a Hurricane / Coming Home"
    Released: February 1984
  2. "Still Loving You"
    Released: March 1984
  3. "Big City Nights / Bad Boys Running Wild"
    Released: August 1984
  4. "Still Loving You / Holiday"
    Released: November 1984
Alternate "clean" cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal[2]
Forces Parallèles[3]
Rolling Stone[4]

Love at First Sting is the ninth studio album by the German rock band Scorpions. It was released on March 27, 1984 on Harvest/EMI and Mercury.

Background

Love at First Sting is notable in that it was one of the first digitally recorded hard rock records ever released.

It became the group's most successful album in the USA, where it peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1984,[5] and went double-platinum by the end of the year, reaching triple-platinum status in 1995.[6] The song "Rock You Like a Hurricane" reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the same year,[5] "Still Loving You" reached number 64 on the same chart,[5] number 14 in Germany,[7] number 3 in the French[8] and Swiss[9] Top 50.

Cover art

The original cover art was created by Kochlowski, which is a German graphic design company. This cover art features a man and a partially nude woman locked in an embrace, with the man giving the woman a tattoo on her thigh. Despite the record company having shown the original cover art to retailers without any concerns, a complaint by Wal-Mart after the album was released resulted in PolyGram Records issuing a "clean" cover for use in several department store chains. The alternative cover was designed to be less controversial by simply showing a photo of the band members, which was the same photo as the one on the inner sleeve.[10][11][12]

Recording sessions

The album was recorded in 1983 and 1984 at Dierks Studios in Pulheim Stommeln, Germany.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Klaus Meine except where noted; all music composed by Rudolf Schenker.

Side one
No. TitleLyrics Length
1. "Bad Boys Running Wild"  Meine, Herman Rarebell 3:54
2. "Rock You Like a Hurricane"  Meine, Rarebell 4:11
3. "I'm Leaving You"    4:16
4. "Coming Home"    4:58
5. "The Same Thrill"    3:30
Side two
No. Title Length
6. "Big City Nights"   4:08
7. "As Soon as the Good Times Roll"   5:01
8. "Crossfire"   4:31
9. "Still Loving You"   6:26

Personnel

Band members

[13]

Production

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1984 French Albums Charts[14] 4
German Albums Chart[15] 6
Billboard 200 (North America)[5] 6
Swiss Albums Charts[16] 9
RPM100 Albums (Canada)[17] 15
UK Albums Chart[18] 17
Swedish Albums Chart[19] 17
Austrian Albums Charts[20] 19
New Zealand Albums Charts[21] 48

Singles

Year Title Chart Position
1984 "Rock You Like a Hurricane" Billboard Hot 100[5] 25
RPM50 Singles (Canada)[22] 37
UK Singles Chart[23] 78
1987 GfK Dutch Charts[24] 47
1984 "Still Loving You" Swiss Singles Charts[9] 3
French Singles Chart[8] 3
German Singles Chart[7] 14
Billboard Hot 100[5] 64
1987 GfK Dutch Charts[25] 5
Ultratop 50 Belgian Charts[26] 3
1984 "Big City Nights" UK Singles Chart[27] 76

Certifications

Country Organization Year Sales
USA RIAA 1995 3xPlatinum (+ 3,000,000)[6]
Canada CRIA 1988 2xPlatinum (+ 200,000)[28]
Germany BVMI 1985 Gold (+ 250,000)[29]

References

  1. ↑ Weber, Barry. "Scorpions Love at First Sting review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  2. ↑ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. ISBN 978-1894959315.
  3. ↑ Gaguet, Guillaume. "Scorpion Love At First Sting review". Forces Parallèles. Forces Parallèles. Retrieved 2014-10-28.
  4. ↑ Loder, Kurt (26 April 1984). "Album Reviews: Scorpions - Love at First Sting". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Love at First Sting Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  6. 1 2 RIAA Gold and Platinum Search for albums by Scorpions. Retrieved on 2011-02-22.
  7. 1 2 "Single – Scorpions, Still Loving You". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  8. 1 2 "Scorpions – Still Loving You (Chanson)". Lescharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  9. 1 2 "Scorpions – Still Loving You". Hitparade.ch (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  10. ↑ Jeffrey Easton. "Metal Exiles interview with Klaus Meine'". metalexiles.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  11. ↑ Nuzum, Eric (2001). Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America. pp. 78, 245. ISBN 0-688-16772-1.
  12. ↑ Nuzum, Eric. "1980's Censorship Incidents". Retrieved Jan 19, 2009.
  13. ↑ http://www.the-scorpions.com/english/discography/records/love_at_first_sting.asp
  14. ↑ "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artist: search for Scorpions". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  15. ↑ "Album – Scorpions, Love at First Sting". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  16. ↑ "Scorpions – Love at First Sting". Hitparade.ch (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  17. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 40, No. 15, June 16, 1984". Library and Archives Canada. 16 June 1984. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  18. ↑ "Scorpions – Love at First Sting Chart Stats". Chart Archive.org. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  19. ↑ "Scorpions – Love at First Sting (album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  20. ↑ "Scorpions – Love at First Sting (album)". Austriancharts.at (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  21. ↑ "Scorpions – Love at first Sting (album)". Charts.org.nz. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  22. ↑ "Top Singles - Volume 40, No. 18, July 07 1984". Library and Archives Canada. 7 July 1984. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  23. ↑ "Scorpions – Rock You Like a Hurricane Chart Stats". Chart Archive.org. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  24. ↑ "Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurricane (Nummer)". GfK Dutch Charts (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  25. ↑ "Scorpions – Still Loving You (Nummer)". GfK Dutch Charts (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  26. ↑ "Scorpions – Still Loving You". Ultratop (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  27. ↑ "Scorpions – Big City NightsChart Stats". Chart Archive.org. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  28. ↑ "Gold Platinum Search for Scorpions". Music Canada. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  29. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Scorpions)" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 2011-02-22.

External links

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