BUTTERFLIES AND HURRICANES BY MUSE

Butterflies And Hurricanes

change,
everything you are
and everything you were
your number has been called
fights, battles have begun
revenge will surely come
your hard times are ahead

best,
you've got to be the best
you've got to change the world
and you use this chance to be heard
your time is now

change,
everything you are
and everything you were
your number has been called
fights and battles have begun
revenge will surely come
your hard times are ahead

best,
you've got to be the best
you've got to change the world
and you use this chance to be heard
your time is now

don't,
let yourself down
don't let yourself go
your last chance has arrived

best,
you've got to be the best
you've got to change the world
and you use this chance to be heard
your time is now

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APOCALYPSE PLEASE BY MUSE

Apocalypse Please

declare this an emergency
come on and spread a sense of urgency
and pull us through
and pull us through
and this is the end
this is the end of the world

it's time we saw a miracle
come on it's time for something biblical
to pull us through
and pull us through
and this is the end
this is the end of the world

proclaim eternal victory
come on and change the course of history
and pull us through
and pull us through
and this is the end 
this is the end of the world

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MUSE HISTORY

English trio Muse (vocalist and guitarist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, drummer Dominic Howard) debuted very young. Following the EPs Muse (Dangerous, 1997) and Muscle Museum (1998), the first full-length album, Showbiz (Maverick, 1999), sounded at time like a parody and at time like an improvement over Radiohead's original sound. The "shoegazing" guitar tremoloes ofSunburn and Uno were the highlights, whereas the majestic Cave and Muscle Museumcontinued the Brit-pop saga from an oblique perspective and the singer indulged in a couple of classy plaintive ballads (Unintended,Falling Down). The band focuses on teenage angst, but neither the lyrics not the music are particularly effective at rendering their philosophy.
Bellamy emphasizes the two most personal elements of his music on Origin of Symmetry(Mushroom , 2001): the guitar noise (feedback, fuzz, droning) and his hyper-emotional, quasi-operatic singing. Add the piano, that is rapidly becoming his favorite instrument, and the result is a curious blend of post-grunge cliches (best summarized inCitizen Erased) and timbric hallucination (Hyper Music). There are cool ideas in Plug in Baby, New Born, Space Dementia,Darkshines, but they tend to repeat themselves to death, and one suspects the (limited) technical skills of the trio are to blame for it.
Absolution (Warner, 2003) graduated their falsetto-driven progressive hard-rock to new artistic heights. Having better modulated the combination of hard and soft moments, and steered clear of the bombastic Queen sound, they penned a sequence of mini-dramas staged around an apocalyptic message. Apocalypse Please is emblematic of the instrumental maturity: it is driven not so much by the operatic vocals as by the military tempo that mutates into intense drumming. The mood is geometrically enhanced by the central break, a duet between the synthesizer and wordless vocals, and the thundering piano notes that bookend it at the beginning and the end. Matthew Bellamy's vocal skills are best displayed in the atmospheric ballad Sing For Absolution, whose crescendos are of a psalm-like intensity, in the funereal lullaby Blackout, an agonizing whisper amid wavering strings, and in the moribund closer Ruled By Secrecy, as close to a monastery prayer as a rock band can get. However, the peak of pathos may occur in the few pieces that lean towards hard-rock: Time Is Running Out, a plaintive melody fueled by burning riffs, Hysteria (a virulent showcase of Chris Wolstenholme's virtuoso bass), Stockholm Syndrome, Thoughts of a Dying Atheist.
Black Holes and Revelations (2006) added baroque pop arrangements, i.e. a bit of Verve, to their original musical synthesis (Supermassive Black Hole).
The Resistance (Warner, 2009) is a mixed blessing. The first three songs are charming unpretentious ditties: Uprising boasts the driving burning sinister boogie rhythm of T.Rex;Resistance (probably the album's highglight) starts out with ghostly electronics, tribal drums and carillon piano, but then explodes with a soaring Brit-pop refrain; and Undisclosed Desires is a synth-pop ballad a` la Depeche Mode. Then United States Of Eurasia picks up steam with Queen-style bombast, I Belongmutates from a clownish music-hall tempo to a martial melodrama, and the hymn-like Guiding Light is an ominous reminder of the group's un bridled ambition. The three-movementExogenesis features a ponderous orchestral overture, a David Bowie-esque apotheosis and a confused chamber adagio.

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HISTORY OF NIRVANA

In their brief seven-year history, Nirvana unwillingly brought alternative music into the mainstream and defined a generation of young people alienated by baby boomers, Michael Jackson and Madonna.
Nirvana's roots lie in the underground hardcore scene of the mid-1980s; the Olympia-based Melvins and New York's Sonic Youth were early mentors of the band. Nirvana's crossover appeal was rooted in their ability to blend the hardcore fury of drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic with Cobain'sdoleful, introspective lyrics and melodies.
Novoselic and Cobain met in 1985 in their hometown of Aberdeen, Wash., a rural logging community outside Seattle. Their first musical incarnation as the Stiff Woodies featured Cobain on drums, Novoselic on bass and whoever happened to be around on guitar. By 1987 they had morphed into Nirvana; Cobain moved to vocals and guitar, and drummer Chad Channing was added. Nirvana soon gained the attention of the hip Seattle label Sub Pop and their debut album, Bleach, recorded for just over $600, was released in June 1989. Dave Grohl of the Washington, D.C. hardcore band Scream replaced Channing in September 1990.
During the summer of 1991 the band opened for Sonic Youth on their European Festival tour. Nirvana's landmark performance at the Reading Festival was featured in the documentary "1991: The Year Punk Broke" and marked the beginning of their worldwide recognition. Ironically, 1991 marked the birth of Nirvanamania and the beginning of Cobain's mental and physical deterioration. The group signed with Geffen Records to record their much anticipated second album, and when Nevermind was released in the fall of 1991, it symbolically knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous off the top of the U.S. album charts. The success of the album, which went triple platinum, was fueled by MTV's incessant airplay of "
Smells Like Teen Spirit." The song was hailed as the anthem of the grunge generation and its appeal broadened the band's fan base to include mainstream jocks, metalheads and alternative wannabes; the very people Nirvana music was supposed to alienate.
Rumors of Cobain's heroin use were ever-present and as the band grew into a multi-million dollar commercial entity, he began to withdraw into his own drug-induced world. The band's stability was questioned in the wake of a variety of bizarre stunts including Cobain's penchant for showing up at concerts in women's clothing and mocking his way through songs, and Novoselic and Grohl's nationally televised kiss following a Saturday Night Live performance. Cobain's marriage to hardcore diva 
Courtney Love in 1992 only fueled the negative publicity fire.
The recording of their third studio album was delayed by Cobain's health problems -- he complained of chronic stomach pain and was hospitalized several times -- and Geffen released Incesticide, a compilation of B-sides and rarities late in 1992 to appease the cash cow fans starved for new Nirvana material. By the spring of 1993, the band was ready to go back in the studio. They recruited Steve Albini (Pixies, Breeders, Jesus Lizard) to produce In Utero,the long-awaited follow up to Nevermind. The album was released in September 1993 followed by a three-month North American tour, which included their celebrated appearance on "MTV Unplugged."
In early 1994 Nirvana embarked on a European tour that was cut short in February by Cobain's much publicized drug overdose in Rome. At the end of March Cobain entered a drug rehab facility in Los Angeles and on April 1 he escaped from the center and returned to Seattle. Cobain's body was found April 8 in his Seattle home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
After Cobain's death, Grohl and Pat Smear formed the Foo Fighters, whose hit 1995 self-titled album was an invigorating, upbeat departure from the angry, tortured strains of Nirvana.
Several albums have been released since Cobain's death, including a live set and a subdued and eerily morbid perfomance on MTV's Unplugged in New York. In the years following his death, there has been much controversy over the ownership of Nirvana's music. The two surviving band members, Grohl and Novoselic, fought with Cobain's wife Courtney Love over the issue of releasing a new album containing rare or unreleased tracks. On October 29, 2002, following a grueling legal battle, the album Nirvana was released containing several greatest hits and one unreleased track, "You Know You're Right". (A live version of this song can be found on Outcesticide V(5) Disintegration. This was released prior to the album Nirvana.)
According to some, notably public access host Richard Lee of Seattle, Kurt Cobain was murdered. His ongoing documentary has been running since the week after Cobain's demise. In addition, a documentary film called "Kurt & Courtney" was made by filmmaker Nick Broomfield which suggests that Love had Cobain killed. However, these are generally considered to be conspiracy theories and the official verdict of death by self-inflicted gunshot wound is widely accepted.
Cobain wrote in a journal often, leaving 22 notebooks filled with his writing when he died. In November 2002, a sampling of these writings was published as Journals. The book is 280 pages with a simple black cover; the pages are arranged somewhat chronologically (although Cobain generally did not date them). The journal pages are reproduced in color, and there is a section added at the back that has explanations and transcripts of some of the less intelligible pages. The writings begin in the late 1980s, around the time the band started, and end in 1994.
NIRVANA MEMBERS
Kurt Cobain - vocals, guitar (1985-1994) Krist Novoselic - bass (1985-1994)
Aaron Burckhard - drums (1985-1986)
Chad Channing - drums (1986-1990)
Dale Crover - drums (1988)
Dave Foster - drums (1988)
Jason Everman - guitar (1989)
Dan Peters - drums (1990)
Dave Grohl - drums, backing vocals (1990-1994)
John Duncan - guitar (1993)
Pat Smear - guitar (1993-1994)

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HISTORY OF VAN HALEN

After more than two decades of playing sold-out concert halls, selling millions of albums and enduring various lineup changes and solo projects, Van Halen is recognized as one of the most resilient and successful rock bands to emerge from the 1970s.Eddie and Alex Van Halen were raised in Pasadena, the children of Dutch immigrants who immigrated to California in 1967. The Van Halen brothers grew up taking classical piano lessons, switching to guitar (Eddie) and drums (Alex) as teenagers. In 1974, they hooked up with David Lee Roth (vocals) and Michael Anthony (bass), while gigging around town in their band Mammoth. Within a few years, they had become one of the most popular draws on the Los Angeles scene. Fans packed L.A.'s smoky rock clubs to check out Eddie's unconventional guitar riffs and Roth's over-the-top showmanship.
The band got a break in 1976 when Kiss bassist Gene Simmons noticed them at a local club and financed a recording session for the band. On the strength of Simmons' recommendation, as legend has it, Van Halen was signed to Warner Bros.
Their debut album, Van Halen, was released in 1978 and included the hit singles "Runnin' With the Devil" and a cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me." Eddie Van Halen took electric guitar technique to new heights with his patented two-handed tapping and pull-off effects, while Roth's tongue-in-cheek histrionics proved to be a refreshing alternative in an industry chock full of self-important rock stars.
Within six months of its release, Van Halen was certified platinum. The album not only launched Van Halen's career, but it came to influence countless American rock bands during the next decade.
During the next few years, Van Halen became one of the hardest working and most profitable bands in the recording industry, releasing a string of multi-platinum albums in quick succession; 1979's Van Halen II, 1980's Women and Children First, 1981's Fair Warning and 1982's Diver Down.
But it was the album 1984, released on New Year's Day of that year, that solidified the band's superstar status. The album contained the mega-hits "Jump," "Panama" and "Hot For Teacher," with their accompanying raucous videos that received seemingly non-stop airplay on MTV.
All was not well within the band, however. Rising tensions between Roth and the other band members were increasingly evident; on their 1984 world tour the band didn't even play on the same stage, but rather performed on four separate platforms, symbolic of the escalating rift among its members. Finally, in 1985, after taking time off to record a successful solo album (and delaying work on the follow-up to 1984) Roth parted ways with Van Halen.  
rule
 




 
1974
Mammoth kicks Mark Stone out of the band. Michael Anthony endures a rigorous audition in a Pasadena, CA, garage and accepts an invitation to join the band, quitting his band, Snake, in the process. The quartet decides to change their name because Mammoth is already in use by another band. They pass on Rat Salad to adopt David Lee Roth's suggestion: Van Halen.
April 4: Van Halen becomes a regular act at Gazarri's in West Hollywood, CA, a breakthrough that gets them out of the backyard party scene.
May 17: Robin "Ruby" Leiren become's Ed's first guitar tech after listening to Ed's various band incarnations at Marshall Junior High School.
1976
May: Van Halen is "discovered" by Gene Simmons at the Starwood in Los Angeles, CA. They record a demo at Village Recorder Studios in Los Angeles. Two guitar solos are later recorded at Electric Ladyland Studios in New York, where Eddie has his first exposure to overdubbing, a technique that he feels is very uncomfortable. While in New York, the band performs using KISS's equipment for S.I.R.'s Bill Aucion, who passes to sign the band Piper because he sees no commercial potential in the fledgling Van Halen.
1977
May: On a rainy Monday night, Van Halen is "rediscovered" by Ted Templeman and Mo Ostin at the Starwood. Unbeknownst to the band, Templeman has also scouted them out the night before. They later recorded a twenty-five song demo from which they will pick nine songs for their first album, Van Halen.
1978
February 10: 
Van Halen is released.
May 24: 
Van Halen is certified gold.
July 23: Edward Van Halen gives his first interview for a national magazine: Guitar Player.
October 10: 
Van Halen is certified platinum.
December 10: Van Halen enters the studio to begin recording
Van Halen II.1979
March 23: 
Van Halen II is released.
April 3: 
Van Halen II is certified gold.
May 8: 
Van Halen II is certified platinum.1980
February: David Lee Roth forms the Jungle Studs, a group of 14 adventurers consisting of lawyers, accountants, and doctors (Dave is the only musician). They make annual treks that include kayaking Alaskan rivers and climbing mountains in Nepal.
March 26: 
Women And Children First is released.
May: While filming a performance for Italian television at the Piper Club in Rome, Italy, David Lee Roth executes a flying leap from Alex Van Halen's drum riser and hits a low-hanging lighting rig, fracturing his nose and giving himself a minor concussion.
May 29: 
Women And Children First is certified gold.
June 2: 
Women And Children First is certified platinum.
December 31: Edward Van Halen proposes to Valerie Bertinelli with an $8,000 emerald-cut diamond ring.
1981
April 11: Edward Van Halen weds Valerie Bertinelli at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Westwood, CA.
April 29: 
Fair Warning is released.
July 7: 
Fair Warning is certified gold.
November 18: 
Fair Warning is certified platinum.1982
April 14: 
Diver Down is released.
June 26-27: Van Halen holds rehearsals in Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios in Hollywood, CA, in preparation for the Hide Your Sheep tour.
October 15: Edward Van Halen's left wrist is x-rayed at Hand Surgery Associates in New York, NY. A fracture is found that results in the cancellation of three shows on the Diver Down tour.
October 22: Van Halen Day is declared by Mayor Sara Robertson in Worchester, MA, after WAAF Radio sponsors a 25,000-signature petition to get the band to add a third show at The Centrum.
1983
March: The 5150 Studio is built. It begins as a forty-foot-long room with an adjustable ceiling height of up to 18 feet.
April 20: Edward Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli sign paperwork to lease Marvin Hamlisch's Malibu, CA, beach house for the summer of 1983.
Summer: Edward Van Halen writes and records "Strung Out" and three instrumentals for The Seduction of Gina, a movie-of-the-week starring Valerie Bertinelli, at Hamlisch's beach house.
1984
January 9: 
1984 is released.
February 25: "Jump" begins a five-week peak at #1 on the U.S. Billboard's Singles chart.
March 12: 
1984 is certified gold and platinum.
March 17: 
1984 begins a four-week peak at #2 on Billboard's Top LP chart.
October 22: 
Van Halen is certified platinum fives times over. Van Halen II is certified triple platinum. Women And Children First is certified double platinum.
October 24: 
1984 is certified platinum four times over.
December 31: David Lee Roth releases his first solo album, Crazy From The Heat.
1985
January 23: 
1984 is certified platinum fives times over.
April 1: David Lee Roth leaves Van Halen (unofficially on April Fool's Day).
1996
July 22: Van Halen enters the studio with David Lee Roth to begin recording material for Best Of Volume 1.
August 7: 
Van Halen is certified platinum ten times over.
August 8: 
1984 is certified platinum nine times over.
September 4: Van Halen with David Lee Roth appears on the MTV Video Music Awards and presents the award for Best Male Video to Beck. The reunited quartet receives a standing ovation from the shocked and delighted crowd. At the backstage press conference, emotions flare as Ed and Dave argue about answers to give the reporters. Frustrated with the reporters' questions, Ed attempts to set the record straight saying that the only thing happening between the band and Dave at the time is the Best Of Volume 1 project. Dave's reaction reportedly leads the rest of the band to consider never working with Dave again.
October 5: Ed, Al, and Mike are presented with an Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the 1996 Foundations Forum at the Palladium in Hollywood, CA. They are also presented platinum awards for surpassing the 10-millon-sales mark for 
Van Halen.
October 22: Best Of Volume 1 is released.
October 29: Video Hits Volume 1 (VHS) is released.
 
gutter

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HISTORY OF SCORPIONS

The Scorpions 1965 
             The Scorpions 1965 
                                                   1972: Michael Schenker, Joe Wyman, Lothar Heimberg, Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker.
     1972: Michael Schenker, Joe Wyman, Lothar 
      Heimberg, Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker    

Like many youngsters born in post-war Germany, Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker were influenced by the music and other life-enhancing delights imported into their homeland by American GI’s – Elvis Presley, chewing gum, blue jeans and leather jackets, but most of all rock ‘n’ roll. From an early age, both of them had an irresistible urge to grab a guitar and step into the limelight. In the early 1960s the Beatles sparked off the beat revolution. By the mid-1960s Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker, both of whom were blessed with understanding parents, had also taken to the stage with their beat groups. In 1965 Rudolf Schenker started up the SCORPIONS in Hanover. Rudolf’s younger brother Michael Schenker was, like Matthias Jabs, smitten by beat music and the burgeoning rock culture. Guitarist and songwriter Rudolf Schenker’s earliest influences were the raw riffs of bands like The Yardbirds, Pretty Things and Spooky Tooth, who in those days were regarded as the real hard rockers. At New Year 1970, the younger Schenker brother Michael, who despite his youth had already established himself as an outstanding guitarist, left the Hanover-based group Copernicus, along with singer and composer Klaus Meine, to join Rudolf Schenker’s SCORPIONS. Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine teamed up to form the accomplished Schenker/Meine songwriting duo, so laying the foundations for a spectacular success story.

In 1972, the SCORPIONS released their remarkable debut album, Lonesome Crow, produced by Conny Plank in Hamburg. The vocal and instrumental ingredients which over the years were to develop into the typical, unmistakable SCORPIONS sound, were already recognisable: uncompromising, guitar-orientated hard rock, on the lines of what Jimmy Hendrix, Cream and Led Zeppelin generated in the mid-1960s. The distinctive SCORPIONS style came from the combination of two electric guitars, a fusion of fabulously forceful power riffs with dazzlingly exuberant guitar solos. Added to which was the instantly recognisable voice of singer and front man Klaus Meine with his highly expressive and polished delivery. In one respect, the SCORPIONS were unique on the German rock scene of the period. Because, right from the start, the band was aiming for the very top of the international hard rock business, Klaus Meine wrote all his lyrics in English. In the creative partnership of Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine Germany had finally found its answer to the famous beat and rock composing teams of the English-speaking world. The first album Lonesome Crow set the band on the path to international success. The SCORPIONS toured as support band with Rory Gallagher, Uriah Heep and UFO. Throughout their history Rudolf Schenker has been the unshakeable driving force behind the SCORPIONS. He adopted his father’s philosophy of life – nothing is impossible as long as you believe in it. Right from the foundation of the SCORPIONS, he had only one declared ambition: "one day the SCORPIONS will be one of the best heavy rock bands in the world!" It was an idea to which all the band members were committed. The SCORPIONS were constantly on the lookout for fresh challenges. Every change in the line-up was seen as an opportunity to move closer still to success and the achievement of absolute professionalism.

1974: Uli Roth, Francis Buchholz, Klaus Meine, Jürgen Rosenthal, Rudolf Schenker

1974: Uli Roth, Francis Buchholz, Klaus Meine,



Jürgen Rosenthal, Rudolf Schenker

In 1973, following a joint tour with UFO, Michael Schenker joined the British rock group. He was replaced as SCORPIONS lead guitarist by Ulrich Roth. He too was an exceptional guitar player with an almost mystical talent. With Ulrich Roth, the SCORPIONS continued unwaveringly to explore the hard rock genre. In the 1970s, the SCORPIONS undertook tours of Western Europe, playing countless venues and conquering one country after another. They would appear wherever there was somewhere to plug in their instruments. In 1973, they accompanied The Sweet on their first European tour. The SCORPIONS went on to record their next four studio albums with Ulrich Roth. Fly to the Rainbow, (1974) features a solid, high-energy brand of heavy rock never before heard from a German band. The title track Speedy’s Coming typifies the SCORPIONS style of ultra-hard rock combined with catchy melodies. Beginning with their third LP In Trance, (1975), they began their working relationship with well-known international producer Dieter Dierks. They were firmly launched on their hard rock career. In Trance was the best-selling RCA album in Japan, where a regular SCORPION mania broke out. In 1975 the SCORPIONS toured Europe, sharing top billing with KISS.

1975: Francis Buchholz, Klaus Meine, Rudy Lenners, Uli Roth, Rudolf Schenker
1975: Francis Buchholz, Klaus Meine, Rudy Lenners, Uli Roth, Rudolf Schenker

In Germany that same year, they were voted best live group. During their first UK tour in 1975, the SCORPIONS entered what might be called "the lion’s den", playing at Liverpool’s legendary Cavern Club. In the birthplace of hard rock, they succeeded in gaining the acceptance of the most dyed-in-the-wool British fans. Gigs at the renowned London venue, the Marquee, were further highpoints of the mid-1970s. The SCORPIONS achieved their ambition to be the top German hard rock band, when their fourth album Virgin Killer (1976) won the "LP of the Year" award in Germany. In Japan, Virgin Killer gained them their first Gold Disc. Their follow-up album Taken by Force (1977) was also awarded a Japanese Gold Disc. In 1978 the SCORPIONS toured Japan, the world’s second largest music market, where they got a foretaste of what it was like to be superstars. When they arrived at Tokyo airport, the five heavy metal men were mobbed by adoring fans. Ulrich Roth left the band after the 1978 Japanese tour.

Japan 1978     
         Japan 1978   
                                      Japan 1978: Klaus Meine, Uli Roth, Herman Rarebell, Rudolf Schenker, Francis Buchholz
    Japan 1978: Klaus Meine, Uli Roth, Herman Rarebell,
          Rudolf Schenker, Francis Buchholz

The highpoint and conclusion of the SCORPIONS’ Ulrich Roth period is the double album Tokyo Tapes (1978) which even now is cherished around the world as a collector’s item. Michael Schenker filled in briefly (he recorded several songs on Lovedrive (1979) until Matthias Jabs finally entered the fray. In 1978 an advertisement appeared in the Melody Maker: the SCORPIONS were looking for a new lead guitarist. In London, they auditioned 140 hopefuls, before deciding on Hanover-born Matthias Jabs. Thrown in at the deep end, Matthias Jabs immediately joined the band in recording Lovedrive (1979) which was then in production. The album was to be the group’s biggest triumph so far, and is still one the SCORPIONS’ best-ever albums. The sleeve received a prize for the best artwork of the year. In 1979, Michael Schenker rejoined the SCORPIONS for a short spell, but left the band while on tour. In 1980, he founded MSG, the Michael Schenker Group. Matthias Jabs once again leapt into the breach and achieved the amazing feat of learning, literally overnight, the entire programme for the current tour. In Matthias Jabs, the SCORPIONS had finally found the lead guitarist whose creativity, virtuosity and enthusiasm continue to make a decisive contribution to the band’s success. With him, the band achieved an even more solid sound. Like the missing piece in the jigsaw, his guitar style fitted to perfection into the group dynamic, creating the unique SCORPIONS sound. Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs still form the musical backbone of the band. With bass man Francis Buchholz (who joined the SCORPIONS in 1973 at the same time as Ulrich Roth) anddrummer Herman Rarebell (who first featured on Taken By Force in 1977), they finally established the combination that was to continue its victorious progress across the globe right up until Wind of Change. Already hailed as a super group during the 1978 tour of Japan, in 1979 the band, comprising Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs, set out to conquer the vast US market. Their weapons: a professional attitude paired with a steely determination to succeed and a philosophy of friendship, both within the band and towards their fans, as well as great musicality. As a rock band working on the international scene, the SCORPIONS had long since created their own musical identity. In the 1980s, the built  up a considerable following in the States. Van Halen launched their musical career in the mid-1970s with cover versions of SCORPIONS songs: Speedy’s Coming (from Fly to the Rainbow) and Catch Your Train (from Virgin Killer).USA was the biggest market of all for hard and heavy rock.

Since 1974, the SCORPIONS had In 1979, now professionally managed and boosted by the success of Lovedrive, the SCORPIONS with their definitive line-up – Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs – embarked on their first major tour of USA rock arenas as opening act with Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and AC/DC. In Chicago, the SCORPIONS swapped the headliner billing with Ted Nugent, since the SCORPIONS had more fans in the city. On this first American tour, the SCORPIONS quickly learned the rules of the game in the international rock business.

Fans at the Hotel in Japan 1978  
      Fans at the Hotel in Japan 1978  
                                                              1979: Francis Buchholz, Herman Rarebell, Klaus Meine, Matthias Jabs, Rudolf Schenker
  1979: Francis Buchholz, Herman Rarebell, Klaus
         Meine, Matthias Jabs, Rudolf Schenker

Their seventh album Lovedrive was released in the USA in 1979, and was the first SCORPIONS production to receive a Gold Disc there. Animal Magnetism followed in 1980. With the two albums, the band finally made their North American breakthrough. On their second US tour the SCORPIONS were top of the bill. The era of SCORPIONS monster tours had begun. After more successful world tours, in 1981, while recording Blackout, Klaus Meine lost his voice. Not wishing to stand in the way of the band’s success, Klaus Meine wanted to pull out.

But the unshakeable friendship between Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine and the close and supportive relationship within the band allowed the seemingly impossible to happen. After lengthy vocal retraining and two operations on his vocal chords, Klaus Meine overcame the trauma. And that was not all: in 1982, he re-emerged with a much increased vocal range. One critic wrote: "They have given Klaus Meine metal vocal chords." The band’s decision to stand by their lead singer through this troubled time later proved to be the most crucial the SCORPIONS ever took in the their entire career. It was Klaus Meine who in 1989 composed their smash hit Wind of Change. In 1982, on their second US tour as headliners with Iron Maiden as support act, the SCORPIONS promoted their groundbreaking album Blackout, with Helnwein’s stunning sleeve design. The single No One Like You and the Blackout LP reached the US Top Ten, the LP was voted Best Hard Rock Album of the year and awarded a Platinum Disc. One hit followed another, and in the 1980s the SCORPIONS captured the hearts of hard rock fans around the world.

Blackout World Tour 
Blackout World Tour 
                                    Love At First Sting Tour Crew
      Love At First Sting Tour Crew

In 1984 the SCORPIONS became the first German hard rock band to play three successive gigs in front of 60,000 fans at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The SCORPIONS had finally scaled the Mount Olympus of rock. With three albums featuring simultaneously in the US charts: Animal Magnetism (1980), Blackout, (1982) and Love at First Sting (1984), the SCORPIONS spent two years on the road playing as headliner or co-headliner at all the big rock festivals that sprang up around the world after Woodstock. The SCORPIONS toured the globe, with a fleet of articulated lorries, Nightliner buses, helicopters, private jets and the inevitable limos. Hanover’s heavy metal band played all the main rock venues in North, Central and South America and Europe. In Asia, they played in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan. This was the golden age of heavy rock. With gigantic stage and light shows and dramatic firework effects, the SCORPIONS unleashed a pyrotechnic display of sound and light. Their relentless energy sent the fans wild. To US audiences, the SCORPIONS, with their polished, hard-edged "melodic rock" and Klaus Meine’s dramatic power singing with its dizzying top notes, came to epitomise the best in heavy rock. Groups like Bon Jovi, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, later to become mega bands, were support acts on the SCORPIONS’ worldwide tours, learning what it meant for a band to hold its own in the rock arena in front of an audience of millions. Love at First Sting became one of the most successful albums in rock history. It includes the SCORPIONS’ most electrifying numbers Rock You Like a Hurricane, Bad Boys Running Wild, and the masterpiece Still Loving You. The critics struggled for superlatives. Rolling Stone called the SCOPRIONS "the heroes of heavy metal". The SCORPIONS were admitted to the exclusive club of the world’s 30 greatest rock groups. Their ballad Still Loving You became an international rock anthem. In France alone, the single sold 1.7 million copies. The song unleashed a wave of hysteria among French fans not seen since the Beatles and became the SCORPIONS’ musical trademark around the globe.

The SCORPIONS’ most memorable appearances as headliners were at the 1983 US Festival in California’s San Bernadino Valley in front of an audience of 325,000 and at the first Rock in Rio in 1985 where they were cheered by 350,000 enthusisatic South American SCORPIONS fans. The 1985 double album World Wide Live, a counterpart to the 1978 Tokyo Tapes, impressively documented the band’s more recent international triumphs. In 1986, the SCORPIONS topped the bill at the legendary Monsters of Rock Festival and played in the Hungarian capital Budapest, their first-ever appearance in an Eastern Block country. By now the SCORPIONS were a household name, with hard rock hits like Rock You Like a Hurricane, No One Like You, Blackout, Big City Nights, Dynamite, Bad Boys Running Wild, Coast to Coast and The Zoo featuring in the charts around the world. In the 1980s, the SCORPIONS created a kind of modern hard rock that is just as popular today. Their authentic power rock ballads, such as Still Loving You, Holiday and later Wind of Change, Send Me an Angel, When You Came Into My Life and You and I, along with acoustic based songs such as Always Somewhere and When the Smoke is Going Down have managed to win over even the most unyielding haters of hard rock.

US-Festival 1983 in San Bernadino/California
               US-Festival 1983 in San Bernadino/California

Savage Amusement, the last album co-produced with Dieter Dierks, was released in 1988. It reached N° 3 in the US chart and N° 1 in Europe. Even after years of touring the USA and the rest of the world, the SCORPIONS did not rest on their laurels and continued to seek out fresh challenges. As a prelude to their 1988 Savage Amusement world tour, they penetrated the Iron Curtain to give 10 sell-out concerts in Leningrad for 350,000 Soviet fans. They were the first international hard rock band to play in the former USSR, cradle of Communism. Hard rock, heavy metal and especially the SCORPIONS’ ballad Still Loving You had already found their way through the Iron Curtain. The SCORPIONS are still given a rapturous reception in Russia today. A year later, in August 1989, 20 years after Woodstock, the Soviet authorities, encouraged by the success of the SCORPIONS’ 1988 Leningrad concert, gave permission for the legendary Moscow Music Peace Festival. Here, the SCORPIONS shared the stage with other international hard rock acts, including Bon Jovi, Motley Crüe, Skid Row, Cinderella and Ozzy Osbourne and the Russian band Gorky Park playing to 260,000 Soviet rock fans in Moscow’s Lenin Stadium. In September 1989 Klaus Meine drew on his impressions of the Moscow Music Peace Festival, to create the SCORPIONS’ smash hit Wind of Change. Then, in November 1989, came a completely unexpected event. The fall of the Berlin Wall. Throughout the world, Wind of Change became the hymn to glasnost and perestroika, providing the soundtrack to the opening of the Iron Curtain, the fall of Communism and the end of the Cold War. One year later, in 1990, the SCORPIONS played in Potsdamer Platz where a section of the Wall once stood, in Roger Waters’s spectacular production, The Wall. The SCORPIONS recorded a Russian version of Wind of Change. They also gained a distinguished fan. In 1991, the members of the German band were invited to the Kremlin to meet Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet head of state and party leader. It was a unique event in the history of the USSR and rock music.

US-Festival 1983 in San Bernadino/California  
 US-Festival 1983 in San Bernadino/California 
                                                                                 Moscow 1989 
  Moscow 1989

For the SCORPIONS too, the wind of change continued to blow. Before the production and release of their worldwide mega seller the Wind of Change CD, Crazy World (1990), their long relationship with Dieter Dierks, the Cologne-based producer of so many successful recordings, came to an end. The very first album to be produced by the SCORPIONS themselves, Crazy World, made in Los Angeles, co-produced by Keith Olsen and featuring the smash hit Wind of Change, immediately became the most successful CD to date. Not only was Crazy World the most successful album, Wind of Change was the worldwide top single of 1991, occupying the N° 1 slot in 11 countries. In 1992, they received the World Music Award as the most successful German rock act. Crazy World is impressive testimony to the songwriting talents of the SCORPIONS’ masterminds: Matthias Jabs’s contribution is the dynamic title track Tease Me, Please Me, while Rudolf Schenker once again proves his ability to hit the spot with his classic SCORPIONS ballad, Send Me an Angel, and Klaus Meine displays his brilliance as a composer in Wind of Change. At the end of the 1992 Crazy World tour, the SCORPIONS and their long-time bass player Francis Buchholz parted company. The 1993 CD Face the Heat (co-producer: Bruce Fairbairn), featured the band’s new bass man, conservatoire graduate Ralph Rieckermann. In 1994 the SCORPIONS again received a World Music Award. Yet another high point of their career came when, at the invitation of the family of the "King of Rock ‘n’ Roll", Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, and the "King of Pop", Michael Jackson, they performed their cover version of His Latest Flame at the 1994 Elvis Presley Memorial Concert in Memphis, Tennessee. In the same year the SCORPIONS committed themselves to helping United Nations efforts on behalf of refugees from the civil war in Rwanda. In only one week the band produced and released their benefit single White Dove. At the end of 1995, just before completing the Pure Instinct CD, co-produced by Keith Olsen and Erwin Musper and released in 1996, the SCORPIONS’ veteran drummer and long-time companion Herman "The German" Rarebell left the band. During the 1988 Savage Amusement tour, the US heavy metal band Kingdom Come, whose producer was Keith Olsen, had been a warm up act for the SCORPIONS. Even then, the Germans were impressed by the style of the group’s Californian drummer James Kottak.

In 1995 the SCORPIONS engaged former AC/DC manager Stewart Young, and it fell to him to call James Kottak on the phone and hire him as drummer for the upcoming 1996/97 Pure Instinct Live Tour. James Kottak became the first American to play in the German rock band. With the two new members, bass player Ralph Rieckermann and drummer James Kottak, the SCORPIONS had introduced a new generation of musicians into the group. On the Pure Instinct world tour, the SCORPIONS proved that they were still among the global players on the international rock scene. Not only did they play in Europe, the USA and South America. In countries like Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, they continued to notch up well above average record sales and collect gold and platinum discs. In November 1996, the SCORPIONS were the first international hard rock band to play to fans in Beirut after the end of the civil war in Lebanon. On the 1999 recording of Eye to Eye, produced by Peter Wolf, James Kottak worked in the studio with the SCORPIONS for the first time. The cover of Eye to Eye marked a change of image for the SCORPIONS. Only the founder members of the band, Rudolf Schenker, Klaus Meine and Matthias Jabs feature on the front cover. The album itself is a statement of the SCORPIONS’ awesome talents as songwriters and instrumentalists. Songs like Mysterious, Mind Like a Tree, Eye to Eye, Yellow Butterfly and A Moment in a Million Years show the band at the pinnacle of their creativity. With Du Bist So Schmutzig (You’re So Dirty), the SCORPIONS are heard for the first time singing a German lyric. As part of their 1999 Eye to Eye world tour, at the invitation of Michael Jackson, they played at the Michael Jackson and Friends benefit concert in Munich. True to their motto "Don’t stop at the top" the SCORPIONS are starting the new millennium with a new musical challenge: a crossover project with the internationally renowned classical orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, once conducted by the great Herbert von Karajan.

Michael Gorbatschew receives the Scorpions at the Kreml     

              Michael Gorbatschew



     receives the Scorpions at the Kreml

                                                                      1993: Herman Rarebell, Ralph Rieckermann, Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs
            1993: Herman Rarebell, Ralph Rieckermann, Klaus Meine,
                Schenker, Matthias Jabs

In 1995, the Berlin Philharmonic was exploring the possibility of a crossover project and was on the lookout for a suitable band. Over the years even this classical orchestra had been aware of the SCORPIONS' success and international reputation.  The two Mercedes of German music agreed on a joint venture under the direction of the internationally successful crossover producer, composer, conductor and arranger, Austria’s Christian Kolonovits. As early as 1995 the SCORPIONS began their preparations. Since then, both groups of musicians have continued to working on the project, while still fulfilling current engagements around the world and bearing in mind the timing of EXPO 2000 in Hanover.After the release of the Eye to Eye CD in 1999 and the subsequent world tour, the SCORPIONS got down to serious business in the autumn of the same year. The SCORPIONS gave a foretaste of what is to come when, at the invitation of the German government, they played in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on 11 November 1999, the 10th anniversary of German reunification. Joining them in their performance of Wind of Change were 166 cellists. The work was conducted by the distinguished cello virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich.

In January 2000, the SCORPIONS and Christian Kolonovits began studio recordings in Vienna. The Berlin Philharmonic recorded the orchestral parts in April 2000. The complete work was mixed during April and May 2000 at the Galaxy Studios in Belgium, using the state-of-the-art Surround System Atmos 5.1. The crossover CD Moment of Glory, featuring the SCORPIONS with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, was released on 19 June 2000. The first live performance took place at EXPO in Hanover on 22 June 2000. The album also includes the official EXPO anthem Moment of Glory. For UNBREAKABLE. With their uncompromising rock album the SCORPIONS have unequivocally sounded their return in 2004 to the worldwide hard’n’heavy arena. UNBREAKABLE is a concept album in a very special sense. It symbolises the indestructibility of the basic musical coordinates of the SCORPIONS. The unique power triad of outstanding musical figures: singer-songwriter Klaus Meine, guitarist and composer Rudolf Schenker and lead guitarist and composer Matthias Jabs. UNBREAKABLE, the twentieth SCORPIONS album, is the quintessence of thirty-five years of SCORPIONS history. And at the same time it marks the re-commitment of Germany’s internationally most successful hard rock export to their essential strengths. “First and foremost we are a rock band,” says Klaus Meine, leaving no room for doubt. “Our fans expect to really feel the lethal sting of the SCORPIONS. So with UNBREAKABLE we’ve recorded a typical SCORPIONS album.” Seconded by Rudolf Schenker: “After side projects like Moment Of Glory and Acoustica we owed our fans a kick-ass, bad-to-the-bone rock CD.” Rudolf Schenker sees UNBREAKABLE as building a bridge between the SCORPIONS and their fans. “It’s an album that brings the old and the new generation of SCORPIONS fans together.

1999: Rudolf Schenker, Ralph Rieckermann, Klaus Meine, James Kottak,Matthias Jabs     
1999: Rudolf Schenker, Ralph Rieckermann, 
Klaus Meine, James Kottak,Matthias Jabs
                                                                     With the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra 2000
   With the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra 2000

Matthias Jabs sums it up: “With the new album we’ve returned to what the SCORPIONS are really all about. Hand-made rock music. Pick up the instruments, plug them in, play,” is how he describes the highly successful three months spent working in the studio with producer Erwin Musper. “The band together in one room for the basic tracks - back to the roots but in the contemporary rock sound of 2004. And at the same time we’ve reshaped our live set with the new songs.” Erwin Musper, who as producer and sound engineer knows the SCORPIONS better than anyone else, goes even further: “The SCORPIONS have set a new standard with UNBREAKABLE. It’s the best material the SCORPIONS have written in the last five years. Any rock band setting out to record a new album, should have UNBREAKABLE as a reference in their sound library.” Erwin Musper knows what he’s talking about. Born in The Netherlands, he’s been working with the SCORPIONS as producer and engineer since 1988. In addition, he has worked in the USA for many years as producer for bands such as Metallica, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. SCORPIONS drummer/composer, James Kottak, is up front about it: “UNBREAKABLE is the best record ever from Germany’s No. 1 rock machine.” With UNBREAKABLE 2004 Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs are going onto the musical offensive with a typical SCORPIONS coup: Pawel Maciwoda is the new bass player of Germany’s globally most successful rock act. This new band member is another signal that there’s no going back for the SCORPIONS.

Together with drummer James Kottak, this hard rock bass player, steeled in the New York professional scene, represents a pressure build-up in the SCORPIONS’ now outstanding rhythm’n’groove section. UNBREAKABLE symbolises the musical and personal identity that has characterised the SCORPIONS for over thirty-five years and accounted for their lasting worldwide success. All this has ensured that the SCORPIONS are the only German band to have unswervingly pursued an international career for over thirty-five years. “We’ve often been through hell, to experience heaven. We’ve always had faith in ourselves and have never accepted limitations for ourselves,” is how Rudolf Schenker sums it up. “Doing a world tour and seeing how people respond to the music and are carried away by it,” is for Rudolf Schenker simply “the best there is.” An “adventure” that he “wouldn’t miss for the world.” For SCORPIONS vocalist Klaus Meine it’s “a fascinating experience, again and again, to contribute towards a peaceful world through the global language of music. To show that music is a language that crosses frontiers and overcomes differences.” The outstanding date in this respect was the concert the SCORPIONS – from Germany – gave in 2002 in Volgograd. For these musicians, born in post-war Germany between 1948 and 1955, it was a deeply felt contribution towards atonement. What’s important for Matthias Jabs is to make “music that’s enduring” and that embodies the identity of the SCORPIONS. Over time and up there in front of the fans. Music that satisfies the band’s own musical needs and those of their audiences. Music, above all, that stands the test of a live concert – in the full exposure of the spotlights, “where you can’t hide anything.” In 2004 Klaus Meine gives this summary of the impressive history of the SCORPIONS: “There’ll never be any substitute for live concerts with real music and real feelings.” It’s a statement from the heart that also looks forward into the future. And UNBREAKABLE is the musical statement of now from Germany’s only global band.

2004: James Kottak, Matthias Jabs, Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Pawel Maciwoda
2004: James Kottak, Matthias Jabs, Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Pawel Maciwoda

2004: James Kottak, Pawel Maciwoda, Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs
2004: James Kottak, Pawel Maciwoda, Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs


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