The Scorpions
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- For other uses, see Scorpion
The Scorpions are a heavy metal band, originally from Hanover, Germany.
Founded in 1969, the Scorpions spent their first fifteen years as a largely unheralded German hard rock band, popular in Europe and Japan but unable to crack the large American market. Still, the band made significant progress in that regard between 1979 and 1983 on the strength of the albums Lovedrive and Blackout. However, it was the 1984 release of Love At First Sting which finally secured the band massive commercial visibility with American audiences. Powered by the success of the single "Rock You Like A Hurricane" the Scorpions assumed a premier role in heavy metal. The band enjoyed a high degree of success through the early 1990s thanks to the release of the Crazy World album in 1990 and the single "Wind of Change." The song muses on the socio-political changes occurring in Eastern Europe and in the other parts of the world in the end of the Cold War.
They were the first western group to play in the former Soviet Union, and on July 21, 1990 they joined many other guests for Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall in Berlin. The Scorpions performed both versions of "In The Flesh" from The Wall.
Current band members:
- Klaus Meine (vocals)
- Matthias Jabs (guitars)
- Rudolf Schenker (guitars)
- James Kottak (drums)
- Pawel Maciwoda (bass)
Past band members include:
- Michael Schenker (guitars)
- Ulrich Roth (guitars)
- Lothar Heinburg (bass)
- Francis Buchholz (bass)
- Ken Taylor (bass)
- Ralph Rieckermann (bass)
- Wolfgang Dziony (drums)
- Jurgen Rosenthal (drums)
- Rudy Lenners (drums)
- Herman Rarebell (drums)
- Curt Cress (drums)
Discography
Studio albums
- Lonesome Crow (1972)
- Fly to the Rainbow (1974)
- In Trance (1975)
- Virgin Killer (1976)
- Taken by Force (1977)
- Tokyo Tapes (live recording, 1978)
- Lovedrive (1979)
- Animal Magnetism (1980)
- Blackout (1982)
- Love at First Sting (1984)
- World Wide Live (live recording, 1985)
- Savage Amusement (1988)
- Best of Rockers 'n' Ballads (1989, compilation)
- Crazy World (1990)
- Face the Heat (1993)
- Live Bites (live recording, 1995)
- Pure Instinct (1996
- Eye II Eye (1999)
- Moment of Glory (With the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, 2000)
- Acoustica (Unplugged, 2001)
- Unbreakable (2004)
The Scorpions have also released singles and videos, plus many Best Of compilations.
External links
de:Scorpions
nl:The Scorpions
sv:Scorpions
