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Eye II Eye Scorpions Koch Records, 1999
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You could make a convincing argument for Jung's theory of synchronicity based on the simultaneous fall of Communism and heavy metal as creative social forces circa 1989. Is it coincidence that just as the former East Bloc rushed to embrace Vaclav Havel and McDonald's, the teenage Top 40 audience gobbled up Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer? Things got light and frothy. Not to say there wasn't a place for the Iron Maidens and Van Halens in this new world order, but they became a side dish instead of the main course. The nachos with extra cheese you snarf down at the movie theater, not the steak-and-potatoes of the blue-jeaned, working-booted, football-cheering TEAM. The monolithic triumphalism of metal had much in common with the tanks parading through Red Square on May Day and Rocky's raised fist. Metal was made for the 1970's and 1980's, when we could still inflate our heroes like helium balloons and be unironic about it. Grunge and the pretty-boy hair bands grunge displaced were, in the Metal Dialectic, the true onset of decadence -- although most music critics would view it the opposite way. So ten years later, you couldn't pick anyone better to show where metal stands today than the guys who were either caught in the middle or the instigators of this whole thing, depending on your point of view: the Germans. Ja, the Scorpions have returned with their new album Eye II Eye, their declining fortunes in North America offset by continued mega-popularity in Europe and South America. Since forming in 1969, they have sold 22 million records worldwide on the strength of their bludgeoning, leather-driven style. These days, allegations that the Teutonic heavy metal fivesome furnished the blueprint for Rob Reiner's This Is Spinal Tap sometimes overshadow their moments of glory, such as meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev after the ballad "Wind of Change" topped the Russian charts in 1990. For the second album in a row, the Scorps have adopted the motto of, "We are songwriters, not metal gods." 1996's Pure Instinct was laden with melodic ballads; Eye II Eye features more rockers, but still leaps all over the musical map with twice-filtered influences: Lenny Kravitz riffing on "Mysterious," Presidents of the United States of America quirkiness on the Monica Lewinsky spoof "To Be Number One," and Achtung Baby-to-Pop U2 as Klaus Meine's new dress code. Gone are the ferocious blonde locks, departed is the "Lovedrive" of those "Big City Nights." Nothing gets a metal fan going like an E power chord through a stack of blazing Marshalls. The trouble is, those kick-ass riffs are constructed from a limited harmonic palette and guitarist Rudolf Schenker has clearly tired of variations on "Smoke On The Water." Songs like "Yellow Butterfly" and "Du Bist So Schmutzig" harken back to the band's semi-psychedelic 1970's output before they broke through on MTV. You could trace this album's pluralistic ambiance back to Germany's struggle to adopt a Europe-wide currency and integrate foreigners into its society in the last ten years. In retrospective, the controversy about scantily clad, caged women in those early Scorpions videos almost evokes nostalgia. Especially when their countrymen Rammstein face heat from conservative critics today for being favorites of the Littleton killers. Eye II Eye is as melodic and unthreatening as a Paul McCartney solo album for the most part. And with Tipper Gore looking to redecorate the White House instead of chairing the PMRC, we have indeed come full circle. It's a long way from "Helllloooo California... Rock You Like A Hurricaaaaannne!" Jung would agree. Even Karl Marx might. A recent conversation with Rudolf Schenker, 47, was looking to get his views on where his Hanover quintet fits into today's fragmented music scene. Lucas Aykroyd: How have the Scorpions evolved musically over the years? Rudolf Schenker: The Scorpions started as an experimental kind of band. We tried to find a style. Starting in 1979 and through the 1980s, our style came together. We had all that exposure on MTV. The peak was in 1990, when we released Crazy World. And then we saw that because everything changed with grunge and alternative, we had to somehow find a new kind of flavor in our music. Technology is going forward. We want to keep our music up-to-date, not become an oldies band. When you always work with heavy rock producers, you can end up with the same concept. What was it like working on the new record with producer Peter Wolf (Frank Zappa, Heart, Starship) at his studio in Austria? Peter picked only three songs out of our 50 or 60 that we had back in January 1998. We said, 'Let's see how far we can go without losing our roots.' He said, 'OK, let's start from zero.' It was a good idea because he put everybody together to start writing. Sure, Klaus and I still write the most stuff, but you never know what comes out if you bring in others. In the earlier days, a producer would pick 13 or 14 songs we already had, we'd do basic tracks and overdubs, and that was it. Here, we tried a new process and tried to get as much out of each song as possible as we wrote it. This album had to represent a push for creativity, to get some new spices in. The title track on Eye II Eye is a standout with that wistful guitar hook. It's a requiem, really. Yes, it's about getting older. Peter Wolf said to Klaus, 'Why aren't you writing about the loss of your father and stuff like this?' Klaus wasn't sure about this, and he told me about it. I had a song I'd already written with a 'getting older' kind of feeling, and I said to Klaus before he went to Florida on vacation for two weeks, 'Listen to this song. I think it could fit well with this kind of lyric.' When he came back, he showed me the lyrics he had. We liked how it worked and we put it on the record. This kind of thing has to fit perfectly, if you're going to talk about these deep kind of feelings. On a lighter note, you spoofed the Monica Lewinsky situation in the first single, "To Be Number One." It's almost an alternative song. It's very left field! I had my problems with this song, because it's very far from what the Scorpions are all about. Klaus had the idea of somebody who is a loser, but he wants to be a winner. When he comes home, puts on his T-shirt, and throws a bone to his dog, he is number one. Ironic stuff. The Monica Lewinsky thing in the video was actually the idea of the video producer, because the song says the guy has 'got no Monica.' The producer said, 'You know, we have to do the White House!' It was funny, but we were a bit late with the story because our album came out later than expected. Anyway, I like the music. If you listen to it and forget it's the Scorpions, it's a good song. What do you think of the media hype about the Death of Rock? I'm not worried. Rock comes back. No question about it, because everything goes in circles. I remember when the Bay City Rollers were big and then all these boy groups, like New Kids On The Block. But when kids grow up, they want the real stuff, instead of polished pop. Something tough. So they'll come into rock. It's not just about music, it's a life philosophy. It starts with the music and goes through the clothes. I think 24 hours a day about music. Rock is really a true form of music. For a long time, rock musicians wrote the best ballads because their soul is in it. What's the difference between performing for North American audiences and fans in others parts of the world? The first time we came over here to play in 79, I sensed Canada and America are the home of rock and roll. You have rock radio. In Germany, you have mostly Top 40 and pop stations. Over here you have the right kind of arenas, the right buses -- everything is really rock-and-roll-like. The audience here also knows how to react. Europeans keep their distance. In North America, they get closer. The more you go to the Southern Hemisphere, the more intense and crazy the fans get, because they're not used to it. You have to be careful that no damage is done because they have a hard time staying under control. But we have a good audience, mostly very civilized but very emotional. You must be excited about the prospect of performing at the World's Fair in your hometown this summer. It will be fantastic! The Berlin Philharmonic came to us four years ago and asked us if we would like to do a crossover project, playing six or seven old Scorpions songs and two or three new ones with them. We liked the idea very much. For the World's Fair in Hanover, we will bring out an album with the orchestra and give a big concert with them on June 28 when the fair opens. There will be two stages, one with us and one with the orchestra. They'll start, then we'll play our stuff, and then the stages will come together and we'll both play. We can't wait. | March 2000
Lucas Aykroyd covers the rock beat for Wall of Sound, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and other leading music publications. He is the author of 1984: The Ultimate Van Halen Trivia Book. |
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