I Googled “Scorpions controversial” to see if I could get an answer as to what in God’s name the Scorpions were thinking with that album cover, because I wouldn’t want to check the Wikipedia article and have that fucking album cover pop up on my screen–I think the cover is legitimately disgusting and I don’t want to ever see it ever again in any context. This article is what I found (after scrolling past “Are Scorpions problematic?” which is about actual scorpions, not the rock band):

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/scorpions-cia-most-controversial-album-cover/

Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker claimed that the cover art was not the band’s idea but rather their record label. Commenting on the situation, he said: “The record company guys were like, ‘Even if we have to go to jail, there’s no question that we’ll release that.’ In the song ‘Virgin Killer’, time is the virgin killer. But then, when we had to do the interviews about it, we said, ‘Look, listen to the lyrics and then you’ll know what we’re talking about. We’re using this only to get attention. That’s what >we do.’ Even the girl, when we met her fifteen years later, had no problem with the cover.”

However, since then, Schenker has also admitted to being embarrassed and regretful about using the image on the album cover. “Looking at that picture today makes me cringe,” he >said. “It was done in the worst possible taste. Back then, I was too immature to see that. Shame on me – I should have done everything in my power to stop it.”

Three things of note here:
1)That sure is nice that the girl had no problem with it–unless he’s completely making it all up. Which he very well may be. I dunno–how did Brooke Shields feel about all the creepy stuff from her teen years later on in life? God the 70s were a different time huh?
2)Uh, were the record company guys hardcore freedom-of-expression absolutists, or something? Who the hell would be willing to go to prison over an album cover?
3)Does Mr. Scorpions Guitarist really expect people to look deeper into the lyrics of something called “Virgin Killer,” especially with a CP album cover staring them in the face?

As for The Who By Numbers I don’t really hate the “Squeeze Box” song, but I don’t particularly like it either. It’s a dumb novelty song that I haven’t heard anywhere near as much as their biggest hits anyway. The song I’ve listened to outside of album context, besides that one, is “Blue Red And Grey.”“