After more the five decades rocking like a hurricane, compiling the following list of Scorpions' Albums, Ranked Worst to Best, is no easy task. (There are also a half-dozen live LPs, and countless greatest hits collections, but we're focusing only on their studio efforts.)

Founded in 1965 by Rudolf Schenker, the Scorpions have boasted a series of talented guitarists over the years, including Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker. Controversy followed their choices for album cover images, but the band continued building toward huge commercial successes during the period of 1978-92. The Scorpions racked up a stunning five consecutive platinum or multi-platinum releases at one point during that era. By then, their lineup had coalesced around a core trio featuring Rudolf Schenker, Klaus Meine and Matthias Jabs – and that continues to this day.

Some personnel shifts (in particular, during the band's initial years) profoundly impacted their musical direction. More recently, there has been talk of retirement too. But the Scorpions have remained steadfast, issuing nearly 20 albums along the way. Click through the above gallery as we identify the hits and misses from those formative beginnings, stretching into the Scorpions' chart-dominating glory days, and through their persistently engaging later works.

Through it all, the Scorpions have typically offered tough but catchy hard rock, and reliably provocative lyrics, all wrapped in oft-censored album covers. Each boasts unique qualities and quirks, as you'll see in this list of Scorpions Albums, Ranked Worst to Best.