Music Features

Blackout: Scorpions Reach Tail End of Career

By Jim Villanueva Feb 25, 2010, 4:29 GMT

German hard rock group The Scorpions with Klaus Meine, Matthias Jabs, Rudolf Schenker and Pawel Maciwoda, from left, performs on stage at the Avo Session in Basel, Switzerland, 23 October 2006. EPA/GEORGIOS KEFALAS

Great beer aside, the Scorpions are perhaps Germany’s greatest contribution to rock and roll. For over four decades, the band’s signature twin-guitar attack, arena roof-raising drums, and the hurricane-force vocals of frontman Klaus Meine, have thrilled audiences worldwide.

But now, the final curtain, the last bow draws near, as the group readies the release of its swan song album, Sting In the Tail (due in stores and online March 23), and farewell worldwide tour.

Looking back on 40 years of fun (sex, drugs, and rock and roll) and fundamental changes (the fall of the Berlin wall), Meine reflects, “In the lyrics and in the music, we always tried to reflect what we saw, what we experienced as people, as musicians.”

All those experiences are encapsulated in the 11 songs found on Sting In the Tail, a fitting final chapter for a band of bad boys running wild that have seen their share of big city nights.

Sting In the Tail opens with the riff-driven rocker “Raised on Rock,” a track that seemingly brings the band full circle with its in-your-face opening guitar and first line, “I was born in a hurricane,” both referencing “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” one of the group’s classic hits.

Klaus, courtesy of M&C

Coincidence? Meine says yes, no, well maybe so. “I would say yeah, maybe, a little coincidence and a little like trying to find a way with this new album to go back and find those parts that makes the Scorpions the Scorpions. And this song ‘Raised on Rock’ is about the philosophy of the band. Rock music was always, has, still is, and always will be the soundtrack of our lives. So, this is a great song to kick off the record.”

Meine goes on to admit that “on the whole record there are little parts that connect with stuff through all those years.” Those years got underway in the late 60s when Meine met guitar playing brothers Rudolf and Michael Schenker (Michael later went on to join UFO) and they began bashing out their brash brand of hard rock in tiny bars around Germany.

“I wished for a lot in the beginning,” says Rudolf. “I never thought we would make it this long. I have accomplished more than I envisioned.” The list of their accomplishments and accolades stretches farther than time and the size of this text will allow, but they can be summarized with just one notable number: well over 100 million albums sold worldwide!

If “Raised on Rock” is a 3:57 touchstone of the Scorpions career, the album’s title track serves as an audio autobiography of the band bursting out of Germany and onto the world stage.

When asked if there was one moment when he knew music was going to play as important a role in his life as it has, Meine reminisces, saying, “Yeah, I always had a strong feeling that way before I met Rudolf and the Scorpions…I grew up with all those great bands, from the Stones to Led Zeppelin, The Beatles to The Who…this music was such an inspiration that I think I knew before that I wanted to be a singer. But when those bands came out…John Lennon and Paul McCartney singing ‘twist and shout, come on baby, now’ (singing), it was the early sixties and I knew that I wanted to be in a band. There was no question; there was only one way, straight forward, rock and roll!”

Other patented Scorpions anthems heard on Sting In the Tail include the 100 mph “No Limit” and equally full throttle “Rockzone,” both sandwiched between two trademark band power ballads, the “The Good Die Young” and “Lorelei,” a tune, as Meine explains, based on the German legend in which “you go up the river Rhine and pass this certain cliff and reportedly Lorelei plays her song. The boats smash because the captains forget anything else while listening to the music. Lorelei is the big temptation we all encounter every day.”

So, which is more challenging to write: a rocker or a ballad?  “It really depends,” says Meine. “For most of the rockers, it’s just about attitude, and just a rock and roll feel and find the right words that fit and works with the music...if you have a great riff. In a way it’s harder to write a fast song. But for a ballad, I think it’s much more harder to write lyrics where you try to avoid the word love (laughs), I think it’s much harder, but when you have a deep inspiration, or you have a story to tell, like ‘Lorelei,’ that’s a good story.”

Perhaps the oldest stereotype about rock stars is that they’re all self-absorbed pampered millionaires. But as hard as they rock and party, the Scorpions have also made a difference in the world, they’ve changed lives with songs like “Wind of Change.”

So with their career finish line in sight, how important is it for Meine and the band to be remembered as something more than a rich rock star?

“Well, I think that’s very important,” says Meine, “and we can see it, we can read it on the Scorpions website every other day, especially after this announcement that this will be the final tour, the final album. It’s very touching when you see reactions from fans from all over the world, and this comes through in their statements as well that it goes beyond music. It’s very touching…I think it’s great. We had a chance to be close to those historical changes, like the end of the Cold War, in our home country, the coming down of the Berlin Wall…this was very exciting…to be close to this, not only as musicians, but as a citizen of this country, to be so close to history. And when a piece of music that was written shortly before that happened is connected with this historic event, as a singer, as a songwriter, you can hardly ask for more.”

The Scorpions audio epilogue ends with a song called “The Best is yet to come.” If in fact that is the last original song fans ever here, in many ways the band could not have picked a more ironic title to end their recording career. Was the choice made intentionally?

“In a way, yes, of course,” Meine says, chuckling as he answers. “It’s a little ironic to put the song in the very end, but it’s also, well, thinking about the end of the road, then…of course you put it on there, and take it with a blink in the eye and go, hey, you know, life goes on. I will always be a musician, and all of us will do our projects and in 40 years of Scorpions I’ve never done a solo record, you know, so, man, artistic freedom, there will be a whole new chapter waiting…you never know. But the point is that we really finish off this amazing run, 40 years, on a high note, with a powerful album…and we never disappoint our audience, that’s what it’s all about.”

So maybe, just maybe, the Scorpions have some sting in them still.