Scorpions

While Uli Jon Roth is most noted for his work with Scorpions, it was not Uli Roth's first band. Before joining Scorpions, he had several bands like Blues Exchange, Blue Infinity, and Dawn Road.

Before Uli joined Scorpions, the band had already recorded, released, and toured behind their album Lonesome Crow. During the Lonesome Crow tour, Scorpions opened for upcoming British band UFO. Near 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, a friend of the Schenker brothers, was then called in temporarily to finish off the tour.

The departure of Michael Schenker led to the breakup of the band. In 1973, Uli Roth, who had helped Scorpions complete the Lonesome Crow tour, was offered the role as lead guitarist, but turned the band down, preferring instead to remain in the band Dawn Road. Rudolf Schenker eventually decided that he wanted to work with Roth, but did not want to resurrect the last Scorpions lineup. He attended some of Dawn Road's rehearsals and ultimately decided to join the band, which consisted of Roth, Francis Buchholz (bass), Achim Kirschning (keyboards) and Jürgen Rosenthal (drums). Roth and Buchholz persuaded Rudolf Schenker to invite Klaus Meine to join on vocals, which he soon did. While there were more members of Dawn Road than Scorpions in the band, they decided to use the Scorpions name because it was well-known in the German hard rock scene and an album had been released under that name.

In 1974 the new line-up of Scorpions released Fly to the Rainbow. The album proved to be more successful than Lonesome Crow and songs such as "Speedy's Coming" and the title track began to establish the band's sound. In one interview Uli mentioned that "Drifting Sun" was the first song he wrote with Scorpions. Achim Kirschning decided to leave after the recordings. Soon after, Jürgen Rosenthal had to leave as he was being drafted into the army. Later, in 1976, he would join a German progressive rock band called Eloy and record three albums with them. He was replaced by a Belgian drummer, Rudy Lenners.

In 1975 the band hit their stride with the release of In Trance, which marked the beginning of Scorpions' long collaboration with German producer Dieter Dierks. The album was a huge step forward for Scorpions and firmly established their heavy metal formula, while at the same time garnering a substantial fan base, both at home and abroad. Cuts such as "Dark Lady", "Robot Man" and the title track are still considered classics by fans today.

In 1977, Scorpions released Virgin Killer. The album's cover featured a nude prepubescent girl covered with broken glass. The cover art was designed by Stefan Bohle who was the product manager for RCA Records,[15] their label at the time. The cover brought the band considerable criticism and was pulled or replaced in several countries. Despite the controversy, the album itself garnered significant praise for its music from critics and fans alike.

The following year, Rudy Lenners resigned due to personal reasons and was replaced by Herman Rarebell.

For the follow-up Taken by Force, RCA Records made a determined effort to promote the album in stores and on the radio. The album's single, "Steamrock Fever", was added to some of RCA's radio promotional records. Roth was not happy with the commercial direction the band was taking. Although he performed on the band's Japan tour, he departed to form his own band, Electric Sun prior to the release of the resultant double live album Tokyo Tapes. Tokyo Tapes was released in the US and Europe six months after its Japanese release. By that time in mid 1978, after auditioning around 140 guitarists, Scorpions recruited new guitarist Matthias Jabs.^[Source]

Discography

Uli Roth had a short, but highly prolific tenure with the Scorpions in the 1970s, releasing four studio albums and one live album. In the 2000s, Uli Roth has occasionally rejoined his former bandmates for several concerts to play some older songs, as chronicled on the Live At Wacken DVD.

• Fly To The Rainbow (1974)
• In Trance (1975)
• Virgin Killer (1976)
• Taken By Force (1977)
• Tokyo Tapes (1978)
• Live At Wacken (2006)

Pictures