Classic Metal Mania

Scorpions lead guitarist Matthias Jabs, circa 1980. His Gibson Explorer is one of the signature guitars of 1980s heavy metal.

Let’s start off the Song Classic series with one everyone probably feels they’ve heard too many times already.  ”Rock You Like A Hurricane” (view video) was the first single off the Scorpions’ 1984 album, “Love At First Sting”, and it quickly became one of the Scorpions’ biggest hits, rising all the way to #25 on the USA Billboard Top 100, a pretty lofty spot for a heavy metal song.  It hit heavy rotation on MTV (back when they actually used to show music videos) and radio all across the United States, and I would not argue with anyone who said it was overplayed to death.  It was.

But so what?  If you can step back from the mainstream popularity of the tune, it’s easy to appreciate how it became so popular in the first place.  The fact is, it’s a flat-out great song, and held wide cross-genre appeal simply because it was so good to listen to.  The main riff is heavy but instantly accessible, and because it also happens to be easy to play, every budding guitarist has learned it.  The solos are not so easy – Matthias Jabs simply scorches, laying down one of the seminal heavy metal solos of the 1980s, a searing escapade in cascading sheets of notes with great melodic flair, further establishing himself as one of the best guitarists in all of heavy metal.  There are some nice change-ups, such as the alternating half-time verses, and provocative lyrics that never degenerate into juvenile immaturity, like so many other bands of the day.

It’s hard to fault a band for producing a momentous piece of work that gets them wide recognition.  ”Rock You Like A Hurricane” is a metal classic, deservedly so, and it remains one of my favorite metal songs from the early 1980s.