Scorpions: Robot Man

Continuing my focus on the music of 1975, today’s song is by Scorpions. Anyone who cares about Top 20 lists always has strong opinions regarding other people’s lists. I try to avoid that sort of thinking because lists like this should be very personal. There are certainly some albums on my list with which most would not argue, but leaving artists like Led Zeppelin and Paul Simon off the list will surely raise some eyebrows. For many fans of Paul Simon, his 1975 album is his best, and I admit it was hard to leave Still Crazy After All These Years off my list. However, I prefer to be very personal in these lists and include albums that shouldn’t be included for any objective reasons. When you do that, you have to leave out some great albums.  

The best example of this lands at #9 on my list. I was already a fan of Scorpions during my early teen years. I loved their albums Blackout and Love At First Sting, and they are still great examples of 80s metal. However, I knew nothing of the music of Scorpions in the ‘70s until I discovered some records at my older cousin’s house. While most of his musical tastes were focused on bands like Three Dog Night, Foghat, and Aerosmith, it was the album In Trance by Scorpions that grabbed my attention. I didn’t even know they made music in the ‘70s, so I was intrigued. As soon as I threw it on the turntable, I was taken aback by how different it sounded than their ‘80s material. Scorpions were a foundational band in the development of the heavy metal that would find massive airplay in the ‘80s, but their earliest work incorporates the sounds of Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Deep Purple more than the sounds of Black Sabbath. Like Judas Priest, they were developing a twin guitar attack based around a hard rock sound that included ballads, proto-power metal, and psych-rock.  

Their best album during this period was In Trance. They would soon move toward the late ‘70s sound of Judas Priest, but this album was still an evolutionary leap forward for the band. Klause Meine’s vocals finally took center stage on this album, and they were becoming much better at writing riffs and hooks. For most, this album may verge on unlistenable. For Scorpions fans, it is now viewed as one of their best. I have written previously about how we don’t believe in guilty pleasures at the Faux household – if you like an artist or album then you should not feel guilty. Musical tastes are very personal and should not be judged. However, if there is one album on my 1975 list that I would consider a guilty pleasure, it is this one. I love it with a passion and know that I probably shouldn’t. I don’t expect anyone who is reading this to go and listen to this album, but the song “Robot Man” should make you want to bounce around the house at least a little bit (or at least smile at the incomprehensible lyrics).  

Crave communication
See me this is my life in the crazy robot man reservation
Do you feel him, the cold vibration
Comes from everywhere, produce a crazy science fiction creation

Babe, it’s a magic station
Where we live what we do with our magic from my generation
I say babe, it’s not a vision
It’s reality, this is a robot scene what we live in.

And I say oooh, oooh I’m a robot man
And I say oooh, oooh I’m a loser
I say oooh, oooh I’m a robot man
Well, that’s my mind, that’s my life, that’s my soul

If you are interested in other years, check out my Year in Review series.

To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.

• Best of 1975