Scorpions is a German rock band founded in 1965 in Hanover by guitarist Rudolf Schenker. Since its start, the band’s musical style has evolved from hard rock to heavy metal to glam metal to soft rock. The most successful form of the band lasted from 1978 until 1992, and comprised Klaus Meine (vocals), Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitar), Matthias Jabs (lead guitar), Francis Buchholz (bass), and Herman Rarebell (drums). Schenker has been the band’s only constant member, but Meine has performed on all of Scorpions’ studio albums, Jabs has been a consistent member since 1978, and bassist Pawe Mciwoda and drummer Mikkey Dee have been with the band since 2003 and 2016, respectively.
Scorpions are one of the best-selling hard rock and heavy metal bands in history, with over 100 million albums sold worldwide. “Wind of Change” (from Crazy World) is one of their most well-known successes, a symbolic hymn of the political upheavals in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as the fall of the Berlin Wall, and it remains one of the best-selling singles in the world, selling over 14 million copies. Two songs on their ninth studio album, Love at First Sting, “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “Still Loving You,” are recognized as some of the most influential and successful works, both in heavy metal music and among rock ballads, and are classified as “rock anthems.”
