One of the biggest Scorpions songs almost had a much different name (and probably a lot less airplay) because it was pretty extreme.
Original Title For “Rock You Like A Hurricane”
In an interview with Classic Rock about the making of 1984’s Love at First Sting, Scorpions members broke down how they eventually landed on the songs that formed the iconic album.
Love at First Sting saw that band take more of a melodic approach while not completely abandoning their sound. Herman Rarebell, Scorpions drummer from 1977-96, recalled tours with Aerosmith, Foreigner and Journey helped convince the hard rock band to change its approach.
“We saw how they wrote and we learned fast,” Rarebell said.
The drummer had a hand in writing a pair of songs on the album alongside frontman Klaus Meine. Among the tracks he wrote with Meine was the hit “Rock You Like a Hurricane.”
Rarebell wanted to turnout a track that had more of an edge.
“I thought we needed a rock song with lyrics that should be forbidden,” Rarebell told Classic Rock. “The original title, for me at least, was ‘Fuck You Like a Hurricane.'”
Record Label’s Response To Edgy Song Title
If you’re wondering just how serious Scorpions was about moving forward with a song title “Fuck You Like A Hurricane,” they eventually got the idea in front of record execs at Harvest and EMI Records who handled the album’s European release.
As expected, the label wasn’t a fan of the idea. Dropping an F-bomb into the title of a song kind of makes it difficult to get play on the radio and MTV.
“The record company looked at me and said: ‘You’re completely out of your mind!’ Which I was,” Rarebell recalled.
READ MORE: 10 Best Hard Rock Albums Of 1984
Even with a revised song title, Love at First Sting still turned out to be a controversial Scorpions release in some areas thanks to its cover art.
The album’s cover photo shows a man and a woman in a passionate embrace. At the same time, the man has a tattoo gun and is working on a piece on the woman’s thigh area.
PolyGram Records
Walmart was among the stores that reportedly pushed back on the album cover which Classic Rock Review says was “deemed unsuitable for certain retail outlets.” PolyGram Records would go one to create an alternate version of the album packaging that just had a photo of the band on the cover in an attempt to appease stores.
Today, both the vinyl and CD version of Love at First Sting are available through Walmart’s website with the original cover art.
Scorpions Albums Ranked
After more than five decades of rocking like a hurricane, ranking all of Scorpions’ studio albums is no easy task.
Gallery Credit: Eduardo Rivadavia