From My Collection #34: Scorpions – Blackout

Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. This Friday, February 25, will see the release of Scorpions’ 20th studio album, Rock Believer. Based off of the tracks I’ve heard in advance, it’s also probably the first new Scorpions album I’ve been excited to listen to front to back in my lifetime. I’m hearing lots of shades of today’s featured album, Blackout, but more on that in my eventual review of Rock Believer. Until then, put on your straightjackets, get those forks over your eyes, and scream like a banshee. We’re really having a Blackout baby!!!

Over the course of a few short years, Scorpions went from euro metal unknowns to rising stars of the arena circuit, just about ready to flourish on their own as a headliner. The addition of guitarists Matthias Jabs and Michael Schenker on 1979’s Lovedrive, coupled with a more consumer friendly songwriting approach, established the groundwork for the following decade. 1980’s Animal Magnetism followed in its predecessor’s footsteps, maintaining an even balance of melody and heaviness. By now, songs like “The Zoo”, “Falling in Love”, “Loving You Sunday Morning”, and “Lovedrive” are receiving regular airplay on FM rock radio stations all across the country. Stints opening for Ted Nugent and Judas Priest only further raised their profile. What Scorpions needed now was one more mega album; one with a hit that would catapult them to the upper echelon of the metal world. That album was 1982’s Blackout…and it almost didn’t happen.

After three years of hard touring and recording, Klaus Meine’s vocals unexpectedly gave out halfway through the writing sessions for Blackout. He underwent emergency surgery and it was uncertain if he would ever sing again. To say Scorpions were in a quandary would be an understatement. Could they have gotten a new singer? Sure. By now, Deep Purple, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath had done it, all with successful results. The difference was, all three were household names by the time they made such personnel changes. Scorpions were not. In other words, of all the times their lead singer could’ve gone mute, this was not the time for such tragedy to strike.

To keep the work flowing while Meine was out of commission, Scorpions invited an at the time unknown American singer named Don Dokken to stand in. The album’s subsequent demos were recorded with Dokken on vocals. Miraculously, not longer after the demos were recorded, Meine regained his vocals and was cleared to reunite with his bandmates in the studio. This spirit of redemption and rejuvenation run strong throughout Blackout, not just in Meine’s vocal performance, but the band’s chemistry as a whole. If Lovedrive and Animal Magnetism was Scorpions maxed out on 10, Blackout took it to, in the words of Spinal Tap, 11.

There’s no shortage of iconic songs on this album, starting with none other than the full throttle title track. “Blackout” is a euro metal rager of the highest order, going toe to toe with any song Judas Priest and Iron Maiden put out that year. The riffs are razor sharp, the lyrics are paranoid, and Meine’s vocal delivery is downright sinister. For all you young, hip trend hoppers who dismiss Scorpions as “dad rock”, put “Blackout” in your pipe and smoke it!

Following this is opening assault is the far more accessible “Can’t Live Without You”. With its simplistic lead riff, four on the floor drive, and a repetitive, yet anthemic, chorus, it became a smash hit on both radio and in live settings. Because what’s more fun than getting an arena full of 20,000 kids to shout, “CAN’T LIVE, CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU!!!”? Nothing. Speaking of radio airplay, remember that aforementioned hit that would open the floodgates for unparalleled superstardom? Well that hit was “No One Like You”. Not only did it top the rock charts, but it received airplay on Top 40 radio and MTV too! This shouldn’t come as a surprise. “No One Like You” boasts all the characteristics of a classic pop song with metal guitars. Also, those twin guitar harmonies are lethal.

I’m not quite sure why “You Give Me All I Need” wasn’t released as a single. It’s one of those songs like Lovedrive‘s “Is There Anybody There?” and Love at First Sting‘s “As Soon as the Good Times Roll” that had serious hit potential, but for whatever reason or another slipped between the cracks. For those unfamiliar, “You Give Me All I Need” is half passionate acoustic ballad (verses), half euro metal epic (chorus). Maybe it was this contrast that turned programmers off? That doesn’t make it any less excellent. Contrasting it is the equally excellent side A closer, “Now!”, in which the Scorps adopt the short, sharp shock formula of Motörhead, but mold it through their own filter.

As we flip over to side B, we’re greeted by the bombastic “Dynamite”. This was long a staple of Scorpions’ live shows and for good reason. It’s heavy, menacing, energetic, and plays off the rising tension an audience feels awaiting their favorite band to take the stage. Don’t take my word for it. Take it from this sick video of Scorpions performing it at Madison Square Garden in 1985! If you’ve been having a slow, boring Wednesday, you’re welcome.

For as poppy as “No One Like You” is, the poppiest cut on Blackout wasn’t released as a single, although like “You Give Me All I Need”, it had the potential. I’m talking about “Arizona”, which if you pay close attention to its riffs and song structure, sounds like a heavy metal power pop song. The same can be said for “Falling in Love” off Animal Magnetism. It’s no wonder the Scorps covered The Who’s “I Can’t Explain” on the Best of Rockers n’ Ballads (1989) compilation. Following “Arizona” is another lost classic (and geographically named song for that matter), “China White”. Clocking in at just under 7 minutes, it’s the lengthiest song on Blackout, and quite the pummeling beast. The riffs are slow and daunting, the rhythms are hypnotic, and Meine’s eerie vocals are the coup de grace. Think Zeppelin meets Sabbath at a German pub.

Closing it all out is one of my all time favorite Scorpions’ ballads, “When the Smoke is Going Down”. True to it’s name, I’ve always envisioned the band performing this in an empty arena after one of their shows ended. Meine’s vocals and lyrics convey such extreme passion and longing, both of which would play to his advantage on subsequent ballads, specifically “Still Loving You”. Unpopular of an opinion as it may be, I’ll take “When the Smoke is Going Down” over “Still Loving You” and close to any Scorpions ballad for that matter every day.

Thanks to the strength of “No One Like You”, Blackout would go on to sell over a million copies in America alone. It would also fuel Scorpions on their first headline arena tour of the States, their first of many to come. Gone were the days of being reserved to the import bin. Mercury couldn’t press enough copies of Blackout to keep the record store shelves stocked! Just when nobody saw it coming, Scorpions mania took over the country, and eventually, the world. It pays to be a “rock believer”!