German Rock Icons Scorpions Retiring For Good!

After rocking the world like a hurricane for a staggering 45 years, German rock legends Scorpions have finally decided to call it quits. That is, after they complete their tour to support their upcoming album release "Sting In The Tail".

The band is currently recording their 17th studio album in Hanover, Germany, and is set to be released in an undisclosed date early this year.

The band went through several ups and downs after being in the music industry ever since founding rhythm/lead guitarist Rudolf Schenker started the band in 1965. Being in a group for THAT long is a minority in this business where it isn't common to see bands immediately go separate ways after only a few years.

What surprises me is that while a lot of their contemporaries continue to rock out (Aerosmith) or form reunion tours (Van Halen), the Scorpions goes completely the opposite direction with this move. They won’t be having problems financially, as the band has amazingly sold over 75 million albums worldwide!

I hope the group would make their final album a memorable one. In retrospect, I do feel a bit disheartened that the creators of music I listened to when I was growing up will throw in the towel finally. In the end though, after dishing out rock hit after another for more than four decades, the rock icons deserve this break.

Photo source: Wikipedia.org

Aerosmith Set To Replace Steven Tyler?

When I read the news about Aerosmith holding auditions to find a replacement for longtime vocalist Steven Tyler, I was both saddened and relieved at the same time.

The feeling of relief came after the realization that Joe Perry and the gang are still quite serious in continuing to dish out rock n' roll madness, as what they've been doing for the past 4 decades. However, this situation can only be added to the number of recognizable rock bands that replaced their prominent vocalists. It's a hit and miss kind of scenario.

I was saddened by the fact that, Steven Tyler might not be able to recover from this current setback, although I'm still rooting for him to do so.

The only band that I thought really successfully made this transition is AC/DC.

After the venerable Bon Scott passed away and left the Aussie rock juggernaut temporarily reeling from the loss, replacement Brian Johnson came and owned the screamer spot bigtime. The millions of records sold by the band fully attests to the extent of Brian's success as AC/DC's replacement vox.

Other than AC/DC, I really can't think of any other band that made it as good as they did.

Let's just hope that Tyler does recover to reclaim his rightful place in the band's line-up.

Here the video of Steven Tyler falling off the stage, sustaining injuries that caused the group to cancel several shows and look for Tyler's, hopefully temporary, replacement.