Fuck Yeah Scorpions

Rudolf Schenker Has Started Putting Up Pictures of His Italian Travels in Facebook and Twitpic Again….

And this is one of them.

…they are getting ready.

Scorpions’ History (1965 - 1973)

Scorpions is one of the greatest rock bands that has ever lived. Originally founded by Rudolf Schenker in 1965, the band hailed from Hildescheim, Germany, with its original line-up as follows:

• Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitarist, vocals)
• Lothar Heimberg (bass)
• Wolfgang Dziony (drums)

At the time, the band produced songs which had beat influences to them.

It was by 1969 that began to see the solid framework of the band’s line-up, when Michael Schenker and Klaus Meine moved on from their old band - Copernicus - and joined Scorpions. And it was here that both Meine and Schenker forged a friendship that lasted well since then, up to this day, the most important basic foundations of Scorpions - friendship, loyalty, generosity, and trust. And so the line-up thus became this:

• Klaus Meine (vocals)
• Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitarist)
• Michael Schenker (lead guitarist)
• Lothar Heimberg (bass)
• Wolfgang Dziony (drums)

In 1972, Scorpions produced their first album, Lonesome Crow, as a soundtrack album to accompany a movie of the same name, revolving around drug abuse as its theme. As they toured for the album and reached the UK shores, they became the opening act for another upcoming band, UFO. It was by the end of this tour that UFO invited Michael Schenker into the band as their guitarist, and he soon accepted, leaving behind an opening for the Scorpions guitarist, of which Uli Jon Roth, back then a committed guitarist to Dawn Road, was called in by Rudolf to help them play through the tour to the finish.With Michael gone, after the Lonesome Crow tour was completed, the band unfortunately broke up, but never left to die - its spirit remained, living on, especially in Rudolf. And luck struck when, after Scorpions plus Uli Jon Roth had done awesomely in the last concert of the Lonesome Crow tour, Uli found himself enjoying the whole thing immensely, and was keen to work again with Rudolf. Rudolf, by this time, was also very interested in returning to the rock scene, but didn’t want to resurrect the old line-up (given the fiasco, shouldn’t be at all a surprise). And so he was invited to come see Dawn Road during their rehearsals, and eventually decided upon joining the band, by then consisting of the following members:

• Uli Jon Roth (lead guitarist, vocals)
• Francis Buchholz (bass)
• Achim Kirschning (keyboards)
• Jurgen Rosenthal (drums)

Before this line-up was finalized before going public again, Uli persuaded Rudolf to ask Klaus to join the band as well, of which as we know, Klaus was more than happy to oblige. By 1973, the line-up was finalized as follows:

• Klaus Meine (vocals)
• Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitarist)
• Uli Jon Roth (lead guitarist)
• Francis Buchholz (bass)
• Achim Kirschning (keyboards)
• Jurgen Rosenthal (drums)

It may come to light, that why, although the ratio for Dawn Road members to Scorpions are 2:1, did they settle on the latter name for the rest of the journey? The answer was simple; because Scorpions by then already had a solid ground in the German music scene, having released and album and went on a tour. 

And so began another adventure for Scorpions, with the rise of the 1970s. 

Sources: Scorpions’ official site, wikipedia (yes, this is disputable), and Uli Jon Roth’s official site