Dave Mustaine Says These are the Six Best Scorpions Songs
Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine has provided Classic Rock with a list of his six favorite Scorpions songs, but the most interesting part about it isn’t his selections… it’s this quote:
“It’s bizarre, when you think about it, how much sexuality there was in the Scorpions’ lyrics. There’s quite a few sexual songs that these guys have. Y’know, you have this, and ‘Virgin Killers,’ where the glass is shattered, covering the nude parts that would be deemed inappropriate. And then you have the ‘Lovedrive’ album cover. So the Scorpions were very provocative and ahead of their time.”
There’s a lot to unpack here, from Mustaine finding the idea that a band would talk about sex so much “bizarre” to his not using the words “vagina” or “genitalia” (a.k.a. “the nude parts that would have been deemed inappropriate”) to failing to mention that the naked girl on the cover on Virgin Killers was ten-years-old when she posed for the photo or the very Smell the Glove-esque cover of Animal Magnetism. But the craziest part might be praising the Scorpions for being “ahead of their time” with regards to sex. Because there are a lot of nice things you can say about the Scorpions, but that they were in any way sexually progressive is not one of them. Unless you’re arguing that someday, the chewed-up-bubblegum fetish will finally become a thing.
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But generally speaking, the band’s depiction of male-female sexual relationships was pretty one-sided with regards to power. I mean, they have an album called Taken by Force. As though sexual assault were some fresh new idea that men had only just thought of.
ANYWAY, rant over. You can check out Mustaine’s picks below. Go here to read his explanations for each selection.
“The Sails of Charon”
“The Zoo”
“Another Piece of Meat”
“Steamrock Fever”
https://youtu.be/Q4kROD1I_gA
“He’s a Woman, She’s a Man”
