The average listener with only a passing interest in heavy metal might be surprised that the Scorpions had been recording since 1972 – they actually formed in 1965 – as their success in the United States didn't really begin until the release of 1982's Blackout. Hip-O's Box of Scorpions is the first U.S.-released box set from the veteran German rockers to sample from their entire 30-year career…
Biography
Scorpions are a hard rock/heavy metal band from Hannover, Germany, best known for their 1984 rock anthem “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and their singles “Wind of Change”, “No One Like You”, “Still Loving You”, and “Send Me an Angel”. The band has sold over 75 million records worldwide. Rudolf Schenker, the band’s rhythm guitarist, set out to find a band in 1965. At first, the band was school-kind with beat influences and Schenker himself on vocals. Things began to come together in 1969 when Schenker’s younger brother Michael and vocalist Klaus Meine joined the band. In 1972 the group recorded and released their debut album Lonesome Crow with Lothar Heimberg on bass and Wolfgang Dziony on drums. During the Lonesome Crow tour, Scorpions opened for upcoming British band UFO. At the end of the tour the members of UFO offered guitarist Michael Schenker the lead guitar job; an offer which he soon accepted. Uli Roth was then called in temporarily to finish off the tour. The departure of Michael Schenker led to the break up of the Scorpions. In 1973, guitarist Uli Roth, a friend of the Schenker brothers, was in a band called Dawn Road. He had been offered the role as lead guitarist in Scorpions after Michael Schenker’s departure but turned the band down. Rudolf decided that he wanted to work with Roth but did not want to resurrect the last Scorpions lineup. Rudolf Schenker attended some of Dawn Road’s rehearsals and ultimately decided to join the band, which consisted of Roth, Francis Buchholz (bass), Achim Kirschning (keyboard) and Jurgen Rosenthal (drums). Roth persuaded Rudolf Schenker to invite Klaus Meine to join, which he did soon after. While there were more members of Dawn Road than Scorpions in the band, they decided to use the Scorpions name because they had released an album and were known in the German hard rock scene.
Blackout was the Scorpions' first majorly successful album, due to its clever balance of pop/rock (the title track), power ballads ("When the Smoke Is Going Down"), and catchy heavy metal ("Dynamite," "No One Like You"). Vocalist Klaus Meine had a throat operation prior to the record's release, and surprisingly, his voice sounds more melodic and lively than ever…
On their studio first outing in three years, Germany's seemingly eternal Scorpions keep the sound a perfect balance between nu metal guitar crunch and '80s heavy metal melodies. Humanity Hour, Vol. 1 is a worthy if not utterly successful musical follow-up to 2004's Unbreakable – a record that saw the band coming back to its strengths after a long bout of wandering about in the creative desert. Humanity Hour, Vol. 1 is a collaboration between the band and co-producers James Michael and Desmond Child…
Clocking in at 79 minutes and 55 seconds, the Scorpions have yet another greatest-hits compilation, this 2002 release on Hip-O entitled Bad for Good: The Very Best of the Scorpions…
Although the Scorpions had already achieved fame after 1982's Blackout, Love at First Sting brought them their biggest single of the decade, the slick anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane," with some greatly underrated songs to back it up…