Hello Moscow! We are Scorpions!

A friend of mine back in high school used to love shouting that all the time. Of course, you must do it in Klaus Meine’s thick German accent for maximum effect.

I also remember back in grade school, there was a kid that was always going on about how “Scorps rule.” Then one day they no longer ruled, it was now Iron Maiden.

A benefit of being the Metal Director at my college radio station was all the guest listing and other fun fringe benefits. Scorpions were going on a big arena tour and once again I went with my friend Tori to see the show. Scorpions were headliners, Great White was also playing, and openers were Trixter. Got to see Trixter play (not the biggest fan of theirs, but Steve Brown’s a pretty good guitar player), then we went backstage for the meet and greet. Got to meet all the Trixter guys, and they were pretty down-to-earth and nice guys. Tori was nuts over them, if I remember correctly. In fact, I still have pictures of both of us with the Trixter guys at that concert. Then we got to meet the Scorpions. They exuded road veteran status, big rock stars (not snobby, but certainly distant tho friendly). Tori and I also found it quite funny how drummer Herman Rarebell was hitting on Tori and asking her to come back to their hotel after the show to party. Tori was a bit embarassed and no we didn’t go, but it was funny how a guy who was old enough to be her Dad was hitting on her. But hey, such is being a rock star… in any other context it’d just be creepy, but somehow this was acceptable. Go figure.

We missed most of Great White’s set, but were able to catch a bit of it from the floor in front of the stage (whoo… benefits). Scorpions came on and blew the roof off the house. Just an amazing show. I recall watching Rudolf Schenker running all around the stage, end to end, riser to riser, just an amazing amount of energy. Fantastic show. Again, this is what you get for and from being a veteran.

While Scorpions of course has fantastic faster songs, I always thought they wrote great ballads. That said, I always thought “Wind of Change” was a bit cheesy. I don’t think the song is timeless in and of itself (i.e. lyrics aren’t about some concept that can transcend time), but that’s actually what makes the song timeless. It captured and became somewhat of a theme-song representing a specific moment in the history of the world. For that, it makes it a classic and memorable song. Still, one of my favorite ballads from Scorpions is “Still Loving You”: