12/14/2025
Discovering Scorpions
by Eddie Martinez
I was introduced to the Scorpions at an early age. I have always been a huge music fan and started listening to Elvis early on while watching his movies, and then the Jackson 5 when I was 5 years old. I got into the Beatles and then Bob Seger as I got older and my taste of music became more distinguished. Always a fan of Motown as well, I was listening to everything from Disco to Boston. I had a friend of mine who moved back into the neighborhood after he came back from the service and he invited me over to hang out and catch up. When I got to his house it was the typical late 70s early '80s rocker setup. Tapestries on the wall of Zeppelin and Sabbath and a stereo system that at the time, looked like it was built by NASA. While we started catching up he was turning me on to all kinds of new music and this was my first taste of metal. He played everything from Sad Wings of Destiny by Judas Priest, to the original Iron Maiden albums. Then he got to the Scorpions. He put on In Trance 1st so that he could show me where the band had come from. He then put on Lovedrive and Blackout. That was it, I begged him to let me borrow those albums. I took them home and I played them over and over and I could not believe that I had not ever heard this music before. The energy of metal had seared my soul and I knew from that point on that was what I wanted to do and the kind of music I wanted to listen to. Klaus Meine is such an influence on me and was a huge part of me wanting to be a vocalist in a rock and roll band. Now here I am, 42 years later, and I am blessed to be surrounded by an amazing group of musicians that allow me to sing these incredible songs from this incredible band. Looking forward to sharing them with you soon on tour. DON'T STOP AT THE TOP!!! E.M.
12/12/2025
Scorpions - Favorite Era?
by Tom Hunter
Most Scorpions fans are passionate about their favorite era of the band as the band evolved from their early beginnings until present day. Ask any fan what their favorite era is and they are quick to answer and will always follow up with why. Scorpions enjoyed their most commercial success from the period of 1979’s “Lovedrive” through 1984’s “Love at First Sting” and arguably what I will call a 4th era later in this article. This era saw a meteoric rise in the band’s popularity and exposure. This era saw a progressively more mainstream approach to their music resulting in becoming a global touring juggernaut. Fans of Scorpions music from the pre-Lovedrive era had to not only adapt to this new approach, but had to also look beyond their fierce loyalty to Uli Jon Roth, whose guitar playing style was linked to neoclassical metal more than the mainstream “radio rock” that the Scorpions would increasingly lean towards. Uli Roth played guitar on Fly to the Rainbow(1974), In Trance (1975), Virgin Killer (1976), Taken by Force(1977) and Tokyo Tapes(1978). The hard rock style of this era, paired with Uli’s style formed the first era of the band. Scorpions first album was “Lonesome Crow” released in 1972 and while recognizable as a Scorpions record, much different than what was to come. The 2nd Era (1979 to 1984) saw the departure of Uli Roth came Matthias Jabs who has played on all but the first 5 Scorpions albums. Matthias brough a firebrand style of guitar riffing and soloing. His contributions to the 2nd era success of the band can not be understated! The 3rd Era of the band, beginning with Savage Amusement(1988) and Crazy World(1990) had much commercial success including “Wind of Change” from Crazy World becoming a global hit with sales of 14 million copies sold worldwide. I refer to the “4th Era” as a time when mainstream music was changing, “hair metal” would soon be overshadowed by “Grunge” and would also be the last era of major commercial success for Scorpions. The current era of the band starting with Face the Heat(1993) continues to see Scorpions producing great music, touring and even with some experimentation thrown in with Eye II Eye(1999), which I personally love and listen to still. So, fans of Scorpions will be divided into groups by era or as so many do, love all of the output of the band with few exceptions.
What’s my favorite era? It is actually 2 and crosses over beginning with In Trance through Love at First Sting. I gave this a lot of thought prior to writing this blog. The first album I ever heard was Lovedrive. That album had me racing to the record store to gobble up all I could, which in turn, made me a huge fan of the band. Then came Blackout. Oh man, now I was hooked. The opening of side one with “Blackout” blew my mind. To this day I think of that first time I heard that song when I play it on stage and I can’t believe that 40+ years later that song gives me the chills! Chears, TH