Scorpions Profile

The most successful musical export out of Germany, Scorpions were one of the biggest rock bands in the heyday in the mid '80s, and have remained a huge tour and festival act across Europe ever since. Despite the usual up and downs any band with a close to five decade history goes through, the Germans have deservedly carved their name into the history books of rock 'n roll and heavy metal.

Formed by rhythm guitarist Rudolf Schenker in 1965 in Hannover, the band didn’t truly begin to take shape until Schenker’s younger brother Michael and vocalist Klaus Meine joined in 1969, and released their debut Lonesome Crow three years later. Over the next few years the band release four studio albums: Fly to the Rainbow (1974), In Trance (1975), Virgin Killer (1976) and 1977’s Taken By Force. Each release bettered the last – despite the constant lineup changes, including the departure of lead guitarist Michael Schenker, and the subsequent hiring of the legendary Uli Jon Roth.

Having replaced Roth with Matthias Jabs, who disagreed with the band’s path down a more commercial route, the Germans got to work on their sixth studio album, Lovedrive – a release that would see them begin to seriously break into the international market, and is regarded by many as their finest album. Follow up Animal Magnetism was a weak record in comparison, despite the great single ”The Zoo”, but 1982’s Blackout became their highest selling record to that point, even with Klaus Meine’s throat issues and eventual vocal chord surgery.

However, the peak was yet to be reached, and Love At First Sting saw the band elevated to enormous international commercial success thanks to mega MTV driven anthems “Rock You Like A Hurricane”, “Big City Nights”, “Bad Boys Running Wild” and super power ballad “Still Loving You”. Unfortunately, their next two albums failed to reach the same heights, although the socio-political ballad “Winds of Change” from 1990’s Crazy World was an enormous hit and would prove to be their last big single.

The '90s and mid-2000s weren’t overly kind to Scorpions, with the band seemingly unable to decide what style to undertake, with 1993’s Face The Heat more metal than their previous LP’s, while Eye II Eye, released in 1999, saw the band undertake a large change in style by including pop and techno into their sound. Needless to say, fans of all eras of the band reacted badly. 2004’s Unbreakable was another heavy release akin to Face The Heat, but it failed to chart, however their follow up Humanity – Hour I (2007) entered the Billboard charts at the respectable 63.

Scorpions 17th album Sting Of The Tail (2010) saw the band hearkening back to their classic hard rock sound, and was followed up with the announcement that it would be their final studio album, and that the lengthy accompanying tour would also be the band’s last. While things are slowly coming to an end for Scorpions, the re-recorded classics and covers album Comeblack was released in 2012.

Judas Priest, Accept, UFO

Klaus Meine – Vocals
Rudolf Schenker - Guitars
Matthias Jabs – Guitars
James Kottak - Drums

Michael Schenker – Guitars (1969-1973, 1978)
Francis Buchholz - Bass (1973-1983, 1984-1992)
Ulrich Roth – Guitars (1973-1978)
Herman Rarebell – Drums (1977-1983, 1984-1995)
Ralph Rieckermann - Bass (1992-1999, 2000-2003)
Curt Cress - Drums (1995-1996)
Ken Taylor - Bass (2000)
Matthias Liebetruth – Drums (2000-2004)

1972 Lonesome Crow (Brain)
1974 Fly To The Rainbow (RCA Records)
1975 In Trance (RCA Records)
1976 Virgin Killer (RCA Records)
1977 Taken By Force (Polydor Records)
1979 Lovedrive (Polydor Records)
1980 Animal Magnetism (Polydor Records)
1982 Blackout (Polydor Records)
1984 Love At First Sting (Polydor Records)
1988 Savage Amusement (Polydor Records)
1990 Crazy World (Vertigo Records)
1993 Face The Heat (Mercury Records)
1996 Pure Instinct (Atlantic Records)
1999 Eye II Eye (Koch Records)
2004 Unbreakable (Sony BMG)
2007 Humanity – Hour 1(Sony BMG)
2010 Sting In The Tail (Universal)
2012 Comeblack (Sony BMG)

Love At First Sting
Full of massive hard rock classics, Scorpions' ninth record Love At First Sting was deservedly the band’s most successful release in the USA, peaking in the Billboard charts at number 6. The 1984 release eventually went triple platinum – hitting over 2 million sales before the year was out. Rudolf Schenker’s massive riffs pound away over the top of the drum work of Bobby Rondinelli (not Herman Rarebell as credited), while the impressive production of Dieter Dierks still sounds fantastic. A fantastic and timeless album from the group.