Every Moment Has A Song

(Reprinted from Ultimate Classic Rock)

Three years after telling the world that they were taking their amplifiers and heading home, the members of Scorpions have reconsidered that whole retirement thing — in fact, it sounds like their upcoming schedule will keep them as busy as ever.

Singer Klaus Meine confirmed the news — which began to become obvious last summer — in an interview with Classic Rock Magazine, describing their change of heart as “a gradual decision” and explaining, “It’s one thing to say, ‘This is going to be the end of the Scorpions’ and another to do it.”

Going on to describe their 2010 release ‘Sting in the Tail’ album as “such a success that a whole new generation of fans joined the party,” Meine continued, “It was amazing. And you know that with all the best parties it’s sometimes hard to find the door?”

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And although he wouldn’t get any more specific than that, saying “We’ll just have to see what’s realistic,” Meine did reveal that fans should be seeing as well as hearing more Scorpions: “We’re working on a documentary about the band’s history. We filmed the tour’s big finale, which was very emotional.”

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Remember Ozzy Osbourne’s 1993 “No More Tours” retirement tour? It was followed about a year later by “The Retirement Sucks Tour”. Does the phrase “when hell freezes over” ring a bell?

Am I the only one who’s growing a little cynical about rock band “retirements”? I nearly went to see the Scorpions last year, as much because I thought it would be a last chance as any other reason. But I suppose these things are always going to be conditional: if they have enough fun on a “last” tour or someone throws enough money at them for another, the retirement becomes, in retrospect at least, kind of farce.

If you pay to see something advertised as a “retirement tour”, you’re not just paying to see a band you presumably like, but you’re also paying to see a bit of history–a famous band’s final tour. If they tour again they aren’t taking back your enjoyment in seeing the “farewell tour”–but they are taking back some of the significance of what you saw, and perhaps some of the reason you spent money on the ticket too. Am I the only one skeptical enough to think it possible that a band has, or someday will, artificially drive up ticket sales for a tour by simply calling it that last one they’ll do? (Not that rock stars aren’t completely straight-laced and honest or anything…)

Other than Glen Campbell’s recent Alzheimer’s-induced Goodbye Tour, I suppose the only “retirement tour” that can be fully trusted is the one that’s never announced as such–Bob Marley in 1980 or Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Street Survivors” tour. Rock stars tend to be more like Brett Favre than Jim Brown when it comes to giving up the spotlight.