Michael Schenker: Scorpions’ Rudolf Schenker ‘Copied Everything’ and ‘Steals Things’ But ‘I’m Not Bitter’
Guitarist Michael Schenker has repeatedly blasted his brother and former Scorpions bandmate Rudolf Schenker in the press in recent years. Continuously denouncing Rudolph's playing abilities, Michael was at it again on the Music Mania podcast (audio below), slamming his old brother for his unoriginality.
First, Michael cited his booming career at 23 years old having played the United States with UFO, adding that this "opened the door for the Scorpions," who were seven years older than him. "So Rudolf can't really quite catch people, newcomers from Russia and China, they cannot put one plus one together together, why [was] the younger one successful before the older one? It doesn't add up. And usually it's the other way around. But it was that way," said Michael.
"I taught Rudolf how to play guitar, I taught him how to… He learned from me how to write songs. He wasn't able to write any songs," the guitarist continued. "Everything I did with Klaus [Meine, Scorpions singer] he copied and basically copied by my melodies, he copied everything. He wanted to present a fake, to be a Michael Schenker, confuse the people."
Michael holds no ill will towards his brother, stating, "I'm happy for him. As long as Rudolf is happy, I'm happy for him," when asked about Rudolf's success. Regarding Rudolf's happiness, however, Michael prodded, "One day I heard him coming into the kitchen at my mom's place, and he said, 'This f--king rat race.' So I knew he wasn't quite happy, even though he was successful."
Tying in the notion of copying him and the rat race comment, Michael went on to say, "The thing is, he's doing the opposite of what I do: he steals things and I focus on the art of lead guitar as pure self-expression; it's the exact opposite. Rudolf just looks at the trends and sees what's there and copies everybody else who is successful and does the same thing and that's all. It must be a very boring life, but I guess he likes it. But then again, if he comes into the room saying, 'F--king rat race,' maybe he's not that happy."
Harboring no resentment, Michael also added, "So I'm not bitter about this whole thing. I'm just disappointed that Rudolf had to do it with cheating. He could have established that without cheating." Speaking about Rudolf's new family and child, the guitarist sees good things on the horizon, musing, "But he has a new family and I think through the pureness of his child's eyes, he will learn something — he will learn what real happiness is."
In the past, Schenker has called Rudolf a "trick master" and sounded off on his erstwhile Scorpions bandmates for the way he was credited on the band's debut album, Lonesome Crow, as well as his contributions on Lovedrive.
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