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Love at First Sting

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Love at First Sting
A man and a partially nude woman locked in an embrace, with the man giving the woman a tattoo on her thigh.
Cover photo by Helmut Newton
Studio album by
Scorpions
Released13 February 1984 (1984-02-13)[1]
StudioDierks Studios, Stommeln, West Germany
Genre
Length40:55
LabelHarvest/EMI
ProducerDieter 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"
    Released: 30 January 1984[1]
  2. "Still Loving You"
    Released: June 1984 (US)[2]
  3. "Big City Nights"
    Released: August 1984 (UK)
  4. "I'm Leaving You"
    Released: November 1984 (US)
Alternate "clean" cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal7/10[4]
Forces Parallèles[5]
Rock Hard7.5/10[6]
Rolling Stone[7]

Love at First Sting is the ninth studio album by German rock band Scorpions. It was released in February 1984 by Harvest and EMI Records in Europe and Mercury Records in the US. The album contains "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Still Loving You", and "Big City Nights", three of the band's most famous songs.

Music

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The album's music has been described as heavy metal,[8] hard rock,[8] and glam metal.[9]

Background and recording

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The album was recorded at Dierks Studios in Stommeln, West Germany. Initial sessions took place in Stockholm's Polar Studios in the Summer of 1983 with ex-Rainbow members Jimmy Bain on bass and Bobby Rondinelli on drums, but nothing made it to the final album.[10] Love at First Sting is notable in that it was one of the first digitally recorded heavy metal records ever released.

It became the group's most successful album in the US, where it peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1984,[11] and went double-platinum by the end of the year, reaching triple-platinum status in 1995.[12] The song "Rock You Like a Hurricane" reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the same year;[11] "Still Loving You" reached number 64 on the same chart,[11] number 14 in Germany,[13] and number 3 in the French[14] and Swiss[15] single charts.

Artwork

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The original cover art was created by Kochlowski, which is a German graphic design company, and features a photo shot by renowned German photographer Helmut Newton. Despite the record company having shown the original cover art to retailers without any concerns, a complaint by Walmart in the US 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.[16][17][18]

Track listing

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

Side one
No.TitleLyricsLength
1."Bad Boys Running Wild"
3:54
2."Rock You Like a Hurricane"
  • Meine
  • Herman Rarebell
4:11
3."I'm Leaving You" 4:16
4."Coming Home" 4:58
5."The Same Thrill" 3:30
Side two
No.TitleLength
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
2015 bonus tracks (50th anniversary deluxe edition)
No.TitleMusicLength
10."Coming Home" (Demo Version) 3:17
11."Living at Night" (Demo Song) 4:14
12."First Sting Jam" (Demo)
1:25
13."Anytime (You Want It)" (Demo Song) 5:16
14."Still Loving You" (Demo Version) 5:46
2015 bonus CD live at Madison Square Garden, New York City, 7 June 1984 (50th anniversary deluxe edition)
No.TitleLength
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
11."Dynamite"6:41

Personnel

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Scorpions
Production
  • Dieter Dierks – producer, mixing
  • Gerd Rautenbach – engineer, mastering
  • Kochlowski/Missmahl/Pieczulski – cover design

Charts

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Chart (1984) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[19] 19
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[20] 15
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[21] 4
French Albums (SNEP)[22] 4
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[23] 6
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[24] 25
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[25] 48
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[26] 17
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 9
UK Albums (OCC)[28] 17
US Billboard 200[29] 6

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[30] 2× Platinum 200,000^
France (SNEP)[31] Platinum 400,000*
Germany (BVMI)[32] Gold 250,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[31] Gold 100,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[31] Gold 25,000^
United States (RIAA)[33] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ a b "News" (PDF). Record Mirror. 21 January 1984. p. 6. Retrieved 21 June 2024 – via World Radio History. The Scorpions bring out a new single 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' on January 30. It comes from an album 'Love at First Sting' which is released a couple of weeks later on February 13. The German heavy metal group start their world tour in Birmingham next week.
  2. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 721. ISBN 9780862415419.
  3. ^ Weber, Barry. "Scorpions Love at First Sting review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  4. ^ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 319. ISBN 978-1894959315.
  5. ^ Gaguet, Guillaume. "Scorpion Love At First Sting review". Forces Parallèles. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  6. ^ Lerch, Uwe (1984). "Review Album: Scorpions – Love at First Sting". Rock Hard (in German). No. 5. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  7. ^ Loder, Kurt (26 April 1984). "Album Reviews: Scorpions – Love at First Sting". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  8. ^ a b Rivadavia, Eduardo (27 March 2015). "Top 50 Classic Heavy Metal Albums". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  9. ^ Popoff, Martin (2014). The big book of hair metal : the illustrated oral history of heavy metal's debauched decade. Minneapolis, MN. pp. 63, 91. ISBN 978-1-62788-375-7. OCLC 891379313.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ "SCORPIONS Guitarist Doesn't Rule Out Recording New Album With MICHAEL SCHENKER, ULI JON ROTH". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. 3 August 2005. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  11. ^ a b c "Love at First Sting Billboard Albums". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Archived from the original on 25 November 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  12. ^ "RIAA Searchable Database: search for Scorpions". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  13. ^ "Single – Scorpions, Still Loving You". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  14. ^ "Scorpions – Still Loving You (Chanson)". Lescharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  15. ^ "Scorpions – Still Loving You". Hitparade.ch (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  16. ^ Jeffrey Easton. "Metal Exiles interview with Klaus Meine'". metalexiles.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  17. ^ Nuzum, Eric (2001). Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America. New York City: HarperCollins. pp. 78, 245. ISBN 978-0688167721.
  18. ^ Nuzum, Eric. "1980's Censorship Incidents". Archived from the original on 5 October 2003. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  19. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Scorpions – Love at First Sting" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  20. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 6752a". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  21. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  22. ^ "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste – S". Infodisc.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2024. Select Scorpions from the menu, then press OK.
  23. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Scorpions – Love at First Sting" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  24. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  25. ^ "Charts.nz – Scorpions – Love at First Sting". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  26. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Scorpions – Love at First Sting". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  27. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Scorpions – Love at First Sting". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  28. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  29. ^ "Scorpions Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  30. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Scorpions – Love at First Sting". Music Canada.
  31. ^ a b c "Scorpions - Love at First Sting" (PDF). Billboard. 27 April 1985. p. 53.
  32. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Scorpions; 'Love at First Sting')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  33. ^ "American album certifications – Scorpions – Love at First Sting". Recording Industry Association of America.
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