First Posted 22:16:00 01/24/2010
BERLIN-- The German rock band The Scorpions is breaking up after more than 40 years together courting controversy and selling more than 100 million recordings, its founder said in an interview published Sunday.
Rudolf Schenker told the weekly Bild am Sonntag that the group, best known for its power ballad "Wind of Change" which became closely associated with the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, was ready to call it a day.
"Yes, we're quitting," the 61-year-old guitarist said. "We are working on our last album right now and are getting ready for the final tour."
The final release, "Sting In The Tail", on March 19 will be followed by a two- or three-year world tour, said singer Klaus Meine, also 61.
"We're not getting any younger," he said. "We'd rather go out with a killer album and follow our hearts."
Schenker and drummer Wolfgang Dziony started the band in 1965, and Meine joined four years later.
In 1976, the band ran into trouble when it released the album "Virgin Killer" featuring a picture of a naked prepubescent girl on its cover.
The photograph was replaced after a storm of controversy in countries such as the United States and Britain.
"The Scorpions" scored their first top-10 hit in 1984 with "Still Loving You" and made the charts with anthems like "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "No One Like You" and "Send Me an Angel".
Over the years, they replaced four bassists, six drummers and two guitarists.
"Wind of Change" came out in 1990, a few months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and became 1991's biggest-selling single worldwide. It led to an invitation that year to play for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the Kremlin.
"We totally lived our dream," Meine told Bild am Sonntag. "We achieved everything you can achieve with a rock band."
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnew....o-call-it-quits
SCORPIONS: 'We Have Reached The End Of The Road' - Jan. 24, 2010
Veteran German rock hard rockers SCORPIONS have released the following statement:
"Important message to our fans:
"It was always our pleasure, our purpose in life, our passion and we were fortunate enough to make music for you whether it was live on stage or in the studio, creating new songs.
"While we were working on our album these past few months, we could literally feel how powerful and creative our work was and how much fun we were still having in the process. But there was also something else: we want to end the SCORPIONS' extraordinary career on a high note.
"We are extremely grateful for the fact that we still have the same passion for music we've always had since the beginning. This is why, especially now, we agree we have reached the end of the road. We finish our career with an album we consider to be one of the best we have ever recorded and with a tour that will start in our home country Germany and take us to five different continents over the next few years.
"We want you, our fans, to be the first to know about this.
"Thank you for your never-ending support throughout the years!
"We uploaded the very first snippets from our new album for you here. And now
let's get the party started and get ready for a 'Sting in the Tail'!
SCORPIONS' new album, "Sting In The Tail", will be released in Europe on March 19. The CD was recorded at a studio in Hannover, Germany with Swedish producers Mikael "Nord" Andersson and Martin Hansen (the team behind THE RASMUS' "Dead Letters" CD).
Check out the cover artwork below.
SCORPIONS recently extended their record deal with Ariola, which is part of the international media conglomerate Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
In a December 2009 interview with the Polish web site Plejada, SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker stated about the band's forthcoming CD, "After 'Humanity - Hour 1', which was more in the concept-album [vein], talking about the problems in the world, we said, 'OK, we talked about all these things which [were] happening and now we don't wanna talk again about problems, now we wanna party. We're going back to the roots of the band.
"We have great rock songs fantastic rock songs we have great ballads... The mixture if 10 percent ballads and the rest is up-tempo and mid-tempo [material]. And I think we have a great team of people working for us, producer team from Sweden they're great people and we're doing this recording in Stockholm and in Hannover, where my studio is.
"It looks great. We have a fantastic sound, because my studio is very good for guitars, and this time we're looking very much also to bring the guitars up, and, of course, with the great voice of Klaus, with the right melodies, giving the right vibe the typical SCORPIONS sound."
Added singer Klaus Meine: "We recorded the last album in the U.S. This has a more European kind of feel, I think, working in Germany and in Sweden. And we're looking very much forward to releasing this in the spring and we can't wait to play the songs live on stage.
"We tried to find this spontaneous moment not to overproduce things and to keep things really fresh.
"There are a lot of great songs on this record. And we always had our fans in mind [when putting the material together], especially the tour next year, because we hope many [of the new] songs we can [perform live] on the road."
2009 was the year of the SCORPIONS: they received the German lifetime achievement ECHO, collected many other awards, and undertook a grand tour through Russia, the U.S. and Europe. However, it is 2010 that will set a milestone for the career of the most successful international rock band from Germany. The SCORPIONS will be touring the world for the next two years and performing in the largest venues and stadiums that cross their path. The mammoth tour will be launched for the first time in many years in Germany. "It was important for us to give our fans a chance to celebrate a never-to-forget party with us," said Schenker. Meine added, "2010 is going to be a very special year for the SCORPIONS, so it is an especially good feeling to be able to start this tour at home."
The performances in Germany will be followed by concerts in the U.S., South America, Asia, Russia and various countries in Europe.
SCORPIONS' brand new DVD, "Amazonia - Live In The Jungle" a live recording of the SCORPIONS concerts in Manaus and Recife, Brazil is in stores now.
genau das dacht ich auch^^
