SCORPIONS Frontman Klaus Meine Looks Back On Eye To Eye Album – "The Best Mistake That We Ever Made"

My Global Mind recently caught up with Scorpions frontman Klaus Meine to discuss the band’s long career. An excerpt is available below:

Q: Viewing the band’s back catalogue do you feel that the Scorpions have ever made a bad album?

Klaus: “I think in the late ’90s which was a decade which was so much dominated by alternative and grunge music and all that music revolution that took place. For all the bands that had come from a successful career out of the ’80s and being classic rock bands it was a time where you had to fight to survive as a classic rock band. I think that the second half of the ’90s and towards the end of the ’90s where we recorded Eye To Eye was an album where we experimented a lot. It was not very well received by our fans but maybe it was the best mistake that we ever made. We found out how important it is to go back to the Scorpions DNA. A few years later when we came back with Unbreakable I think we were right on track. Classic and Hard Rock came back in a big way.”

Q: What would you say is the secret of success?

Klaus: “The secret of success, like this band when we started as young kids in Germany, we were always looking for the right chemistry as a band. As you know we had Rudi’s brother Michael in the band, Michael Schenker started playing with us. Then he went to UFO in England and we had Uli Jon Roth who joined the band throughout the seventies. We did Tokyo Tapes always with great guitar players. It was always a guitar-driven band, a hard rock band. Of course we were always able to show the full spectrum of all the emotions. Of course we became very strong writing super ballads as well. I think one of the reasons for the longevity is partly because the chemistry was always strong, 
the band was built on friendship and on teamwork. Like on our new single says it all, ‘We built this house on a rock’.”

Go to this location for the complete interview

The Scorpions are by far the most successful German rock band and one of the most successful international acts of all time. After four decades on the international stage, they will make their final curtain call with a three-year world tour. And along the way, the band will show once more what they do best: playing live. The final Scorpions tour – the perfect occasion to film a documentary about one of the greatest bands of all time.

For one and a half years the renowned filmmaker Katja von Garnier accompanied the Scorpions: She was allowed to be up close when the band was on tour: Around the world, for 18 months, in the places of their greatest successes, at spectacular concerts and never seen moments behind the scenes of a monster tour. That’s how the breath taking pictures from the live shows in, which the spectators can literally feel the „on the road“ atmosphere, the euphoria of thousands of fans and the goosebumps causing tension before the show, came into existence. Rock close up – with the biggest German rock band as the lead actor and many of their well-known companions and admirers in interviews.

This film will accompanies them on their journey – from Thailand to Russia and Germany to Brazil. It also provides a look into the band’s beginnings with archive material from the most important moments in Scorpions history. Companions and friends describe the Scorpions “phenomena”. Forever And A Day is about rock legends. It is the farewell to a band that has made history.

Deutsche Welle is producing the 90-minute documentary. Partners are ZDF and Nordmedia. Executive producer is DOKfilm Potsdam. A DVD will also be produced and made available.

Forever And A Day trailer:

On February 7th, Forever And A Day made its debut at the Berlin International Film Festival (also called the Berlinale). Check out a Deutsche Welle report: