Thursday 9/2/21 1am ET: Feature LP: Scorpions – Blackout (1982)

Blackout is the eighth studio album by German rock band Scorpions. It was released March 29, 1982 on Harvest Records and Mercury Records.

After losing his voice during the writing of the album lead singer Klaus Meine had to undergo surgery on his vocal cords and was uncertain as to whether or not he would be able to record. Demos of the material were recorded with singer Don Dokken. However none of those recordings are featured on the album and Dokken is only credited with backing vocals.

In Kerrang! issue 12 Rudolf Schenker said that he could not choose between his guitar solos on “China White” so the US and European releases differed in this detail. A self-portrait of artist Gottfried Helnwein is featured on the cover of the album. Rudolf Schenker portrays this character in the “No One Like You” music video.

The RIAA certified Blackout Gold on June 24, 1982 and Platinum on March 8, 1984. “China White” was used as entrance music for the professional wrestling tag team The Skyscrapers in World Championship Wrestling. Rolling Stone ranked Blackout as 73rd on their list of “The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time” in 2017.

1. “Blackout” 3:49
2. “Can’t Live Without You” 3:47
3. “No One Like You” 3:57
4. “You Give Me All I Need” 3:39
5. “Now!” 2:35
6. “Dynamite” 4:12
7. “Arizona” 3:56
8. “China White” 6:59
9. “When the Smoke Is Going Down” 3:50

Klaus Meine – lead vocals
Rudolf Schenker – rhythm guitars, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars, lead guitars on tracks 4, 8, 9, backing vocals
Matthias Jabs – lead guitars, rhythm guitars, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars, backing vocals
Francis Buchholz – bass, backing vocals
Herman Rarebell – drums, backing vocals
Don Dokken – backing vocals

Sunday 1/24/2021 12am ET: Feature LP: Scorpions – Lovedrive (1979)

Lovedrive is the sixth studio album by German band Scorpions, released January 2, 1979. Considered by some critics to be the pinnacle of their career, Lovedrive was a major evolution of the band’s sound, exhibiting their “classic style” that would be later developed over their next few albums. Lovedrive cemented the “Scorpions formula” of hard rock songs combined with melodic ballads.

Lovedrive was the band’s first album to be released by Harvest Records in Europe and Mercury Records in the United States and Canada following the band’s departure from RCA. It proved to be a major commercial breakthrough, reaching No. 55 on the Billboard Top 200, which none of their previous five albums had dented at all. The RIAA certified the record as Gold on 28 May 1986, and the album also proved a breakthrough in the United Kingdom where it was the first Scorpions album to chart and peaked at No. 36.

Lovedrive ranked No. 25 on IGN’s 2007 list of the Top 25 metal albums.

1. “Loving You Sunday Morning” 5:36
2. “Another Piece of Meat” 3:30
3. “Always Somewhere” 4:56
4. “Coast to Coast” (instrumental) 4:42
5. “Can’t Get Enough” 2:36
6. “Is There Anybody There?” 3:58
7. “Lovedrive” 4:49
8. “Holiday”  6:32
9. “‘Cause I Love You” (demo version) 4:31
10. “Holiday” (demo version) 9:34

Klaus Meine – lead vocals
Rudolf Schenker – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Matthias Jabs – lead guitar, backing vocals on 3, 5, 6 & 9
Francis Buchholz – bass, backing vocals
Herman Rarebell – drums, backing vocals
Michael Schenker – lead guitar, backing vocals on 1, 2, 4, 7, 8 & 10

Sunday 11/29/2020 4:15pm ET: Feature LP: Scorpions – Crazy World

Crazy World is the eleventh studio album by German hard rock band Scorpions, released on 6 November 1990. The album peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 chart for albums in 1991. That same year, the song “Wind of Change” reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and “Send Me an Angel” reached No. 44 on the same chart. It also has the only Scorpions track to credit Buchholz as a writer, “Kicks After Six”. This album was the band’s first album in a decade and a half to not be produced by Dieter Dierks and is widely considered to be the last “classic” Scorpions album. In the UK, it remains the only Scorpions album to attain Silver certification (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in November 1991. In the United States, it is the band’s second best-selling album to 1984’s Love at First Sting, and their last one to be certified at least gold by the RIAA. It was the last studio album to feature the Lovedrive-era lineup, with bassist Francis Buchholz leaving the band in January 1992.

“Hit Between the Eyes” was played during the ending credits of the 1992 film Freejack.

“Send Me an Angel” was played at the closing scene in the 2004 Cold Case episode “Who’s Your Daddy.” “Wind of Change” was also used during the 2009 film Gentlemen Broncos and towards the end of the 2014 film The Interview and international version soundtrack featured Nutri Ventures in pilot episode.

1. “Tease Me Please Me” 4:44
2. “Don’t Believe Her” 4:55
3. “To Be with You in Heaven” 4:48
4. “Wind of Change” 5:10
5. “Restless Nights” 5:44
6. “Lust or Love” 4:22
7. “Kicks After Six” 3:49
8. “Hit Between the Eyes” 4:33
9. “Money and Fame” 5:06
10. “Crazy World” 5:08
11. “Send Me an Angel” Meine 4:32

Klaus Meine – lead vocals
Rudolf Schenker – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, lead guitar on “Wind of Change” and “Send Me an Angel”
Matthias Jabs – lead guitar, backing vocals, rhythm guitar on “Wind of Change” and “Send Me an Angel”
Francis Buchholz – bass, backing vocals
Herman Rarebell – drums, backing vocals

 

Monday 4pm ET: Feature Artist – Scorpions

Scorpions are a German rock band formed in 1965 in Hanover by Rudolf Schenker. Since the band’s inception, its musical style has ranged from hard rock to heavy metal. The lineup from 1978 to 1992 was the most successful incarnation of the group, and included Klaus Meine (vocals), Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitar), Matthias Jabs (lead guitar), Francis Buchholz (bass), and Herman Rarebell (drums). The band’s only continuous member has been Schenker, although Meine has appeared on all of Scorpions’ studio albums, while Jabs has been a consistent member since 1979, and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda and drummer Mikkey Dee have been in the band since 2003 and 2016 respectively.

During the mid-1970s, with guitarist Uli Jon Roth part of the line-up, the music of the Scorpions was defined as hard rock. After the departure of Roth in 1978 and short-lived reunion with Schenker’s brother Michael, Matthias Jabs joined and, following the guidance of producer Dieter Dierks, the Scorpions changed their sound towards hard rock/heavy metal, mixed with rock power ballads. Throughout the 1980s the group received positive reviews and critical acclaim from music critics, and experienced commercial success with the albums Animal Magnetism (1980), Blackout (1982), Love at First Sting (1984), the live recording World Wide Live (1985), Savage Amusement (1988) and Best of Rockers ‘n’ Ballads (1989), which is their best-selling compilation album.

Scorpions’ eleventh studio album Crazy World (1990) was also well-received, and included the song “Wind of Change”, a symbolic anthem of the political changes in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is one of the best-selling singles in the world with over fourteen million copies sold. Scorpions have sold over 110 million records in total. They have released 18 studio albums, 27 compilation albums and 74 singles. Six of their singles have reached number one on the charts in different countries. Their albums, singles, compilations and video releases have reached gold, platinum and multi-platinum status 200 times in different countries.

Saturday 12pm / Sunday 6am: Brit Rock with Dominic Forbes

This week on Brit Rock – Michael Schenker Group, Scorpions, Focus, Concrete Kingdoms, Meme Detroit, Survival Code, Green Day, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Foo Fighters, Styx, Procol Harem, Marillion, Dio, Motorhead, Don Henley, Foreigner, Chicago, Queen, Deep Purple, Genesis, Night Ranger, Allman Bros Band, Fleetwood Mac, REM, Joe Cocker, Rolling Stones, Who, Ozzy Osbourne, Mountain, Rembrandts, C.C.S., Rod Stewart, Aerosmith.  Join Dominic Forbes 12pm or the encore Sunday 6am on RadioMaxMusic.