"Rock You Like a Hurricane" is a song by the German

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

, considered their

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

. The song was released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from their ninth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''

Love at First Sting ''Love at First Sting'' is the ninth studio album by German rock band Scorpions. It was released on 27 March 1984 on Harvest/EMI in Europe and Mercury in the US. The album contains "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Still Loving You", and " Big City ...

'' (1984). It was written by

Klaus Meine Klaus Meine (born 25 May 1948) is a German singer and songwriter, best known as the longtime frontman of the hard rock band Scorpions. Meine and guitarist Rudolf Schenker are the only two members of the group to appear on every Scorpions album, ...

Herman Rarebell Herman Rarebell (born 18 November 1949 as Hermann Josef Erbel) is a German musician, best known as the drummer for the hard rock band Scorpions from 1977 to 1995, during which time he played on eight studio albums. Aside from playing drums, Rare ...

Rudolf Schenker Rudolf Schenker (born 31 August 1948) is a German guitarist and founder of the hard rock band Scorpions. He is the rhythm guitarist, primary songwriter and longest-serving original member of the band. He is also the CEO/owner-manager of the Sco ...

and arranged/produced by

Dieter Dierks Dieter Dierks (born 9 February 1943) is a German record producer, sound engineer, music publisher, studio owner and musician. He became well known as producer of the rock band Scorpions who were signed to him between 1975 and 1988. Before that ...

. The lyrics of "Rock You Like a Hurricane" also reference the title of the album on which it originally appeared – ''

''.

Musical style

The song is a combination of

hair metal Hair is a protein filament that grows from hair follicle, follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick ter ...

, heavy metal,

, and

arena rock Arena rock (also known as AOR, melodic rock, stadium rock, anthem rock, pomp rock, corporate rock and dad rock; ; ) is a style of rock music that originated in the mid-1970s. As hard rock bands and those playing a softer yet strident kind of po ...

Chart performance

"Rock You Like a Hurricane" reached number 25 in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, greatly contributing to the album's success, and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

put the video in heavy rotation.

Accolades

In 2006,

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

named "Rock You Like a Hurricane" number 31 on their 40 Greatest Metal Songs and in 2009 it was named the 18th greatest hard rock song of all time also by VH1. On 15 November 2010 it was named the fourth best riff of the 1980s. The racetrack depicted on the single's sleeve corresponds to the

Circuito Permanente de Jerez Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto (formerly known as Circuit of Jerez and Circuito Permanente de Jerez), is a racing circuit located close to the city of Jerez de la Frontera, south of Seville and deep within the sherry-producing region in th ...

, located in Spain.

Re-recordings

A new version was recorded in 2000 as "Hurricane 2000" on the album ''

Moment of Glory ''Moment of Glory'' is an album by German hard rock band Scorpions. It was recorded in collaboration with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and released in 2000. The album features re-arranged songs from the Scorpions repertoire, as well as cla ...

'', featuring

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

backing the track. In the same way, it was titled "Hurricane 2001" when played on the follow-up ''Acoustica''. A third re-recording by the band features on their album ''

Comeblack ''Comeblack'' is a compilation of songs recorded by German hard rock band Scorpions; and is intended as a comeback album, following their farewell tour. Released after the successful 2010's '' Sting in the Tail'', half of the album features re- ...

'', released in 2011. The 2011 ''Comeblack'' re-recording was featured in the 2014 ad for

Fiber One General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

cookies, the film ''

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse ''Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse'' is a 2015 American zombie comedy film directed by Christopher Landon and written by Landon, Carrie Evans, Emi Mochizuki and Lona Williams. The film stars Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan, Sar ...

'', and in an episode of the TV shows ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Charlie ...

'' and ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...

''. A version recorded in Spanish by

Steph Honde Steph Honde (born Stéphane Honde; 5 September 1975) is a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (vocals, guitar, piano, bass guitar). Honde is most famous for being the frontman and songwriter of the American hard rock supergroup, H ...

and Micki Milosevic under the name of Unprotected Innocence was featured in and on the score for the 2019 ''

Hellboy Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers ...

'' film.

Rachel Bloom Rachel Leah Bloom (born April 3, 1987) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She is best known for co-creating and starring as Rebecca Bunch in The CW musical comedy-drama series ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' (2015– ...

recorded a version of the song for ''

Trolls World Tour ''Trolls World Tour'' (often named as ''Trolls 2: World Tour'') is a 2020 American computer-animated musical comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, based on the Good Luck Trolls dolls created by ...

'' as her character Barb.

Personnel

Band members *

– lead vocals *

– rhythm guitar, backing vocals *

Matthias Jabs Matthias Jabs (born 25 October 1955) is a German guitarist and songwriter. He is best known for being the lead guitarist in the hard rock band Scorpions. He has played on all but the first five Scorpions studio albums starting with ''Lovedrive ...

– lead guitar, rhythm guitar *

Francis Buchholz Francis Buchholz (born 19 February 1954) is a German musician best known as the bass guitarist of German rock band Scorpions from 1973 until 1992. Since leaving Scorpions he has been a member of Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock. Biography Born ...

– bass *

– drums Production *

– producer, mixing *Gerd Rautenbach – engineer, mastering

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Scorpions (band) songs 1984 songs 1984 singles Songs written by Rudolf Schenker Songs written by Klaus Meine Mercury Records singles Harvest Records singles