MÖSH YOUR ENTHUSIASM (17)
By:
February 24, 2024
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of metal records from the Eighties (1984–1993, in our periodization schema). Series edited by Heather Quinlan. Also check out our MÖSH YOUR ENTHUSIASM playlist at Spotify.
SCORPIONS | “STILL LOVING YOU” | 1984
My younger brother was struggling at Boston Latin School, during the 1982–83 school year. A canny negotiator even at age 13, Patrick persuaded our father to pre-purchase a stack of hard-rock and heavy metal records — one of which he would receive each month if he’d apply himself to his schoolwork. In such a venal fashion did the Scorps, via their album Blackout (“No One Like You”) bum-rush our adolescent paracosm. I wasn’t a fan of hard rock and heavy metal, nor of my brother. Although after our parents’ divorce we’d been close, once we became teenagers it would be an understatement to say that we didn’t get along; I’ve got the scars to prove it. When Pat left for boarding school, I wasn’t sorry to see him go.
During his brief visits home, Pat would sequester himself in his room — separated from mine, in the attic of our father’s house, by a flimsy sheetrock wall — and blast Van Halen, Def Leppard, AC/DC. When Scorpions’ Love at First Sting — “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” “Big City Nights,” “Still Loving You” — came out, it went into near-constant rotation. At the time I was into Minor Threat, New Order, Run DMC; I prided myself on my superior sensibility. I’d poke my head into Pat’s room and mock Klaus Meine’s accent: “It’s early morning, the sun comes out / Last night was shaking and pretty lout.”
I particularly didn’t dig “Still Loving You.” Power ballads? Ugh. (Also: Why the present continuous tense?) Rudolf Schenker would recount that after he and Matthias Jabs had written their epic guitar parts, the song remained unrealized until Meine “went out into the fields in the snow, and it was then that he came up with the lyrics.” Lyrics that, years later, I’d realize are full of wisdom.
“Time, it needs time” to repair a damaged siblings’ relationship — and to overcome one’s own judgmental tendencies. I began to miss my brother… but I’d erected “a wall” — one “so strong” that Pat — forever sweeter and quicker to forgive than I am — couldn’t “get through.” Then one day, he knocked down the wall dividing our rooms. The attic became a hangout zone, where we’d spend hours, with and without our motley crew of friends, enjoying each other’s company. “Love, only love” had figuratively and literally broken down the wall separating us. Since then, Pat and I have remained the closest of friends.
In the summer of ’85, during an unchaperoned trip to Europe, Pat bought the Scorps’ World Wide Live album. He’d spin the vinyl on his finger, persuading himself that he could hear the music. I couldn’t help but be impressed by this act of devotion. But I remained anti-Scorpions… until June of ’88, when I found myself in Foxborough, Mass., for the Monsters of Rock tour. What I hazily recall from this event is that Scorpions blew Metallica off the stage with their showmanship and joie de vivre.
As for “Still Loving You,” for me, now, the song is a moving tribute to the wall-demolishing patience and devotion required to repair any sort of relationship. I’m grateful to my brother for having recognized and applied its wisdom.
MÖSH YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Heather Quinlan | Crockett Doob on Metallica’s ENTER SANDMAN | Dean Haspiel on Mötley Crüe’s HOME SWEET HOME | Jack Silbert on Poison’s TALK DIRTY TO ME | Adam McGovern on Dio’s INVISIBLE | Mariane Cara on Faith No More’s EPIC | Heather Quinlan on Blue Öyster Cult’s SHOOTING SHARK | Steve Schneider on UFO’s DIESEL IN THE DUST | Carlo Rotella on Primus’ JERRY WAS A RACE CAR DRIVER | Erik Davis on St. Vitus’ BORN TOO LATE | Greg Rowland on Motörhead’s ACE OF SPADES (remix) | Kathy Biehl on Twisted Sister’s WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT | Nikhil Singh on G.I.S.M.’s GAS BURNER PANIC | Erin M. Routson on Metallica’s ESCAPE | Holly Interlandi on Helmet’s MILQUETOAST | Marc Weidenbaum on Celtic Frost’s I WON’T DANCE (THE ELDERS’ ORIENT) | Amy Keyishian on Living Colour’s CULT OF PERSONALITY | Josh Glenn on Scorpions’ STILL LOVING YOU | Alycia Chillemi on Danzig’s SOUL ON FIRE | James Parker on Godflesh’s CHRISTBAIT RISING | Miranda Mellis on The Afflicted’s HERE COME THE COPS | Rene Rosa on Type O Negative’s BLACK NO. 1 | Tony Leone on Slayer’s SOUTH OF HEAVEN | Christopher Cannon on Neurosis’s LOST | Brian Berger on Black Sabbath’s HEADLESS CROSS | MÖSH CONTEST-WINNING ENTRY: Tony Pacitti on Metallica’s THE CALL OF KTULU. PLUS: CONTEST RUNNER-UP: James Scott Maloy on Accept’s MIDNIGHT MOVER.
JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!