The Scorpions.

Heated discussions over the cover of a Scorpions LP that was released in 1976. After the British Internet Watch Foundation had lifted the blacklisting of the wikipedia page depicting the album cover, on the grounds that it was futile to try and ban a picture that had been released over 30 years ago, the very same page has now been reported to the German FSM (Voluntary Self Regulation of Multimedia Providers). Founder member of the Scorpions Rudolph Schenker is obviously embarrassed with the whole discussion, and has been quoted as saying “We’d never make a cover like that these days… child pornography is abominable. In those days though it (the picture, not child pornography … the editor) was nothing … it just wasn’t an issue”

So, what’s the big deal? Talk is of the cover of the Scorpions LP “Virgin Killer” (which wasn’t a big commercial success anyway). The cover depicts a nude ten year old girl, whose genitals are hidden by a crack in the glass, which she is posing behind… Critics point out the potentially pedophilic nature of the picture, and it’s hard to disagree with them…

The blacklisting by the Internet Watch Foundation, which effectively blocked the wikipedia page to many surfers, was reversed after the foundation came to the conclusion that there wasn’t any point in blocking the page anymore, as the picture was far too widespread for a ban to have any effect… (a reasoning I personally find very strange)

Sort of reminiscent of the cover to “Blind Faith” by the way…

Links: The Internet Watch Foundation

(The cover on wikipedia has been replaced sometime today and is no longer visible in its original form. Anyone curious though can have a look at the original cover here)