Scorpions Pictures

German rock band Scorpions to wrap up career

The German rock band Scorpions is bringing down the curtain on a career spanning more than four decades.

Published: 2010-01-24 Provider: USA Today

Fricke’s Picks: UFO

In June 1973, the British hard-rock quartet UFO landed in Germany for a tour — as a trio, because their guitarist suddenly quit. UFO had already gone through two other guitarists since forming in 1969. But it was fourth time lucky when singer Phil Mogg, bassist Pete Way and drummer Andy Parker borrowed local teenage dynamo Michael Schenker, then in Scorpions, for the German dates. Schenker soon joined UFO full time, flanking Mogg’s tough-glam bray with meaty, melodic riffing, and charging the band’s boogie locomotion with lethal, articulate soloing on a run of albums — 1974’s Phenomenon, 1975’s Force It and 1976’s No Heavy Petting, all reissued with bonus tracks (Chrysalis/EMI) — that became holy text for the spandex boys just around the bend, including Def Leppard, Iron Maiden and Guns n’ Roses. UFO were, at the start, better jammers than composers (ballads were essentially breathers between cannonballs), and Phenomenon opens tentatively: “Oh My” sounds like it reads. But that album’s heavy-Yardbirds assaults, “Doctor Doctor” and “Rock Bottom,” are two of UFO’s — and Schenker’s — best moments on record. By Force It, the writing was sharper (”Let It Roll,” “Shoot Shoot”) and bolder (”Out in the Street”). No Heavy Petting came with keyboards and a poised mix of crunch and radio-wise pop that paid off in later FM hits like “Lights Out” and “Only You Can Rock Me.” Those two songs are on The Best of UFO (1974-1983) (Capitol), out soon to coincide with a U.S. tour by the current lineup of UFO (which will not include Schenker, who has been in and out of the band a few times since 1979). That set has everything for the novice, but the reissues — with seventeen extra tracks spread over them, including period demos, outtakes and hot, live juice — are the real phenomenon.

Published: 2008-04-09 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Fricke's Picks

The Scorpions Get Ready For Their Last Tour… Ever (Audio)

Having rocked arenas in four different decades, influenced countless other hard rock bands, and become perhaps Germany’s biggest rock band of all time, The Scorpions are embarking on their final ...

Published: 2010-04-14 Provider: StarPulse

Winehouse Poised to Be U.K.’s 2007 Best Seller, Patti Smith Hosts Bob Dylan Podcasts, “Guitar Hero III” Heading to Mobile Phones

Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black has sold more than 1.5 million copies in the U.K., making it likely to become the biggest-selling album of the year across the pond unless former X-Factor winner (the U.K.’s American Idol) Leona Lewis surges in the last week of 2007 record-buying, the BBC reports. Winehouse will still finish out the year triumphant, with six Grammy nominations in the States and her own record here for the highest-selling debut by a British female solo artist, awarded when Black was released earlier this year. For the last three months, Patti Smith has been hosting a little-known podcast chronicling Bob Dylan’s life story. In the Legacy Recordings series, the tenth episode of which was just posted, Dylan’s career is revisited with commentary from Smith, the Band’s Garth Hudson, RS‘ own Anthony DeCurtis and Jazz great George Wein. Check it out here. Verizon Wireless has landed the exclusive rights to bring Guitar Hero III to its wireless customers. The new version includes fifteen tracks from the game (including the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Suck My Kiss” and the Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane”) and like its bigger brother, Guitar Hero III Mobile allows players to buy new song packs each month. Kenny G joins Paul McCartney, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell as the latest artist to have his music for sale at Starbucks. G will release a disc of Latin love songs titled Rhythm and Romance on February 5th via a deal with the coffee giant and Concord Records. The Hives have put the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ remix of their single “Tick Tick Boom” up for free download for a limited time. The remix, by YYY’s guitarist Nick Zinner, will also appear as the B-side to the Hives’ next single in the U.K., “We Rule the World (T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.).”

Published: 2007-12-21 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Morning News Roundup

Radiohead a la O'Riley: Transcribed & Transformed

Rock music and classical musicians rarely converge in the concert hall, and when they do the results are often dispiriting. String-quartet tributes to Metallica, or the Berlin Philharmonic tackling ballads by the Scorpions, tend to arrive at the lowest common denominator of both styles -- which is...

Published: 2006-11-21 Provider: Washington Post

German rock band Scorpions to end career (AP)

AP - The German rock band Scorpions is bringing down the curtain on a career spanning more than four decades.

Published: 2010-01-24 Provider: Yahoo

World celebrities sing to stop global warming (AFP)

AFP - British rock group Duran Duran and heavy metal band Scorpions are among 55 world celebrities who have joined in recording a song to draw attention to the global warming crisis, organisers said on Monday.

Published: 2009-09-14 Provider: Yahoo