In the 1980s, a band couldn’t truly say that they had “made it” until they had a massive, over-the-top, epic, tear-jerking power ballad. It was a trend that dates back to KISS having the biggest hit of their career with the accidental chart-topper “Beth” in 1977. Be it Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home” or Cinderella’s “Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Till It’s Gone), the decade was one giant game of balladry one-upmanship. By the time hair metal burned itself out at the dawn of the 90s, there were bands that seemed to deal in nothing but ballads (Firehouse, Warrant, Trixter, et al…).

There is, however, one song that stands out to me as the apex of this movement. Veteran German metal band Scorpions were equally adept at bone-crushing rock and roll and ballads that could make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. This week’s Massive Metal Monday song is one of the latter moments. Here, with the most bitchin’ ballad of the day, is Scorpions with “Still Loving You” from their massively successful 1984 album Love At First Sting.

One of the most globally popular hard rock bands of the 1980s, The Scorpions, have reneged on their plans to disband and retire from making music, and have vowed to carry on and continue to stay together as a musical unit.

Lead singer Klaus Meine, who lent his distinctive vocals to well-loved and remembered Scorpion tracks like “Rock You Like A Hurricane,” “The Zoo” and the power ballad “Still Loving You,” confirmed this news to Classic Rock Magazine. In short, he slightly backpedaled on the band’s decision to call it quits last year by stressing that, “It’s one thing to say, “˜this is going to be the end of the Scorpions’, but it’s another thing to do it.”

This week, Blackout by Scorpions is on sale in MP3 format for only $2.99. The CD is currently only $5.99.

Released in 1982, Blackout is one of the band’s most popular albums with songs like “No One Like You,” “Can’t Live Without You,” and the title track, which right there alone is enough to justify the tiny $3 price tag for this record.

Browse all 100 albums on sale this month for only $5 each, as well as several albums on sale this week for only $2.99.

Michael Schenker was becoming a rock star at an age when most of us are still trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives. The German guitarist was barely into his teens when he joined his older brother Rudolf’s band the Scorpions. He quickly joined British rock institution UFO before putting together his own band, the Michael Schenker Group.

He is a man of undoubted talent, but it’s fair to say Schenker’s reputation precedes him. He became well-known for his extreme thirst and raging egotism which proved a very bad combination for those in the same band, resulting in the odd heated exchange.

But those days are behind him now. With his latest album, Temple Of Rock slowly gathering steam, Schenker was about to hit the road. Shortly before he headed off for a world tour – including a stint in the UK – the Schenker I talked to displayed his famous eccentricity and was happy and funny.

I noticed that the Featured MP3 Song Of The Day over at Amazon today is Rock You Like A Hurricane by The Scorpions for only $.99. That’s cool, I thought, since you know I love the heavy metal and dig that a band like The Scorpions would be spotlighted on a huge site.

But then I noticed that next to the title in parenthesis the song was the “2011 Version” off their new album Comeblack. So I check it out and it turns out that half the album is actually rerecordings of their classic songs like “Rock You Like A Hurricane,” “Still Loving You,” No One Like You,” and “Blackout,” and, man, do these new versions sound awesome!