Ban scorpions for their music, not their album covers

Before they soundtracked the fall of communism with the sappy power ballad Wind of Change, the German rock band Scorpions were probably best known for their album covers, which pushed the boundaries of adolescent “ooh-aren’t-I-outrageous?” tedium even by the remarkable standards of European heavy metal. In 1976, Scorpions released an album called Virgin Killer; it was dreadful, and the cover was worse. Its legacy stands only to remind us of the historical necessity and inevitability of punk; whenever a revisionist suggests that the music scene in the mid-1970s wasn't that bad before the Sex Pistols arrived, I can just wave the sleeve of Virgin Killer in his face.

Or maybe I can't. The Internet Watch Foundation has suggested that the sleeve, which features a naked, underage girl, may be illegal. As a result, the Wikipedia page that carries it is suddenly unavailable to most British users, immediately giving the band’s outlaw reputation yet another undeserved boost.



Let's be clear - the sexual exploitation of children is a grotesque, unforgivable crime. The creation and trafficking of child pornography which depicts such acts, is just as bad, as it seeks to make cash from abuse and suffering.