CRY LIKE YOU FEEL
TRY LIKE YOU FEEL
(FEEL IT)
TRY TO ESCAPE
CRY TO ESCAPE
IT'S SO HARD TO RUN AWAY
(ESCAPE IT !)
Virgin Killer
is the fourth
studio album
by the German
Rock band
The Scorpions
released in 1976
by RCA Records.
It was the band's
first album
to attract attention
outside Europe.
The title is described as
being a reference to time
as the killer of innocence.
The original cover
featured a nude
ten-year-old girl,
which stirred controversy
in the United Kingdom,
the United States,
and elsewhere.
As a result,
the album was
re-issued with a
different cover
in some countries.
The image again
gave rise to controversy
in December 2008,
when the British Internet
Watch Foundation
placed certain pages
from Wikipedia
on its internet blacklist,
since it considered
the image to be
"potentially illegal"
under the Protection
of Children Act 1978,
effectively classifying
the website as
child pornography.
This resulted in much
of the UK
being prevented
from editing
Wikipedia
and significant
public debate
on the decision.
The decision was reversed
by the IWF
after four days
of blocking.
Reception
Virgin Killer
"failed to attain any
serious attention
in the United States"
but was
"quite popular in Japan"
where it peaked at
number 32
in the charts.
The album was another step
in the band's shift
from psychedelic music
to hard rock.
Critic Vincent Jeffries
of AllMusic
contend that the album
was
"the first of four
studio releases
that really defined
the Scorpions
and their urgent
metallic sound
that was to become
highly influential."
He also counts
the title track and
"Pictured Life"
among the
"all-time Scorpions standouts."
Lead guitarist
Uli Jon Roth
considers
Virgin Killer
nd the previous release
In Trance,
his favourite
Scorpions albums.
Cover photo
The original cover art
for the album
depicted a nude
ten-year-old girl,
.jpg)
with a shattered glass effect
obscuring her genitalia.
The image was designed by
Steffan Böhle
who was then
the product manager f
or the West German
branch of
RCA Records.
In a 2007 interview bassist
Francis Buchholz
recollects that the
girl depicted
on the cover
was either
the daughter
or the niece
of the cover designer.
The photograph was taken by
Michael von Gimbut.
photographer
Michael von Gimbut
emphasized
that he, his wife,
the girl's mother,
sister, and three
female assistants
had been present
during the shooting
and stated:
"Back then,
we loved and
protected children
and did not sleep with them."
The cover generated controversy:
the album could only be sold
sealed in black plastic
in several countries
and the cover was replaced
in some countries
with an alternative cover art
depicting the band members.
The original is
named in various
"worst album cover" lists:
Cracked named it the No. 1
"Worst Album Cover of All-Time",
while Gigwise lists it as
No. 1
on its March 2008
"The 50 Most Controversial
Album Covers of All Time!" list.
It was named by
UGO Networks as one of the
"Weirdest Album Covers"
and placed No. 6
on the
"All-Time Worst Album Covers" list
made by
two.one.five magazine.
This would not be the
last time that the band
attracted controversy
with its album covers.
Taken by Force
originally featured cover art
that depicted
"children playing with guns at a
military cemetery in France
and some people
found that offensive"
Lovedrive
featured a
"bizarre artwork"
that depicts
"a woman on the back seat of a car
with bubblegum over her breast."
Both covers were replaced by an
alternative design.
Vocalist
Klaus Meine
explains that the band's
penchant for
controversial cover art
stems from a desire
"to go over the edge"
and not
"to offend some people
or make the headlines
[as] that would be stupid",
contrasting guitarist
Rudolf Schenker's
earlier statement:
"We're using this only to get attention."
In a 2010 interview
Meine commented on
the cover art again stating:
No comments:
Post a Comment