Editing Scorpions (band) (section)

===Rise to fame (1974–1978)===
In 1974, the new line-up released ''[[Fly to the Rainbow]]''. The album proved to be more successful than ''Lonesome Crow'' and songs such as "Speedy's Coming" and the title track established the band's sound. Achim Kirschning decided to leave after the recordings. Soon after, [[Jürgen Rosenthal]] had to leave as he was drafted into the army (he later joined German progressive rock band [[Eloy (band)|Eloy]], recording three albums). Rosenthal was replaced in July 1974 by Jürgen Fechter, and then in 1975 Rudy Lenners from [[Belgium]] became the band's next drummer.

[[File:Scorpions Logo.svg|thumb|The Scorpions logo, used since 1975]]
That year, the band released ''[[In Trance]]'', which marked the beginning of their long collaboration with German producer [[Dieter Dierks]]. The album was a huge step forward for the Scorpions and established their heavy metal formula. It garnered a fan base at home and abroad with cuts such as "In Trance", "Dark Lady" and "Robot Man".

Meanwhile, as "The Hunters", the band recorded "Fuchs geh' voran" and "Wenn es richtig losgeht", German language cover versions of "[[Action (Sweet song)|Action]]" and "[[Fox on the Run (Sweet song)|Fox on the Run]]" by [[the Sweet]] for EMI's [[Electrola]] label.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/germany/lower+saxony/hannover/the+hunters|title=The Hunters|website=Rockdectector.com|publisher=MusicMight|access-date=30 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415221257/http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/germany/lower+saxony/hannover/the+hunters|archive-date=15 April 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In 1976, the Scorpions released ''[[Virgin Killer]]'', the album cover of which featured a [[nudity|nude]] prepubescent girl behind a broken pane of glass. The cover art was designed by Stefan Bohle, who was the product manager for the West German division of [[RCA Records]],<ref name="RothRules" /> their label at the time. The cover brought the band considerable market exposure as well as controversy and was subsequently pulled or replaced in other countries because of its imagery. The album itself garnered widespread praise for its music from select critics and fan base. In 2008, the cover art on the [[English Wikipedia]] was briefly [[Internet Watch Foundation and Wikipedia|blacklisted]] by the [[Internet Watch Foundation]], before reversing their decision 4 days later.

The following year, Rudy Lenners resigned for personal reasons and was replaced by [[Herman Rarebell]], an experienced musician who had recorded with the bands Missus Beastly and [[Onyx (Cornish band)|Onyx]].

For the follow-up ''[[Taken by Force]]'', RCA Records made a determined effort to promote the album in stores and on the radio. The album's single, "Steamrock Fever", was added to some of RCA's radio promotional records. Roth was not happy with the commercial direction the band was taking. Although he performed on the band's Japan tour, he departed to form his own band, [[Electric Sun]] prior to the release of the resultant double live album ''[[Tokyo Tapes (album)|Tokyo Tapes]]''. ''Tokyo Tapes'' was released in the US and Europe six months after its Japanese release. By that time in mid-1978, after auditioning around 140 guitarists, the Scorpions recruited Matthias Jabs, a veteran of the German rock scene who had played in the bands Lady and Fargo.<ref name=":0"/>