Michael Schenker: They Decided to Carry Aerosmith Without Me
Feb 7, 2024 13:33:31 GMT -5
AeroCooper and tomass like this
Post by fwanger on Feb 7, 2024 13:33:31 GMT -5
The balls on this guy.
Michael Schenker Reveals Why He Didn't Get the Aerosmith Gig, Explains Decision to Rejoin Scorpions in Late '70s
"Michael Schenker is trying to steal our rhythm section!"
The_Phoenician
Jan 13, 2024 02:49 PM
Michael Schenker Reveals Why He Didn't Get the Aerosmith Gig, Explains Decision to Rejoin Scorpions in Late '70s
Rock guitar legend and early member of the Scorpions, Michael Schenker, explained why he didn't end up joining Aerosmith despite getting the chance to rehearse with the band's rhythm section.
Michael started his playing career a long time ago, back when he was just a kid. At one point, he did join his older brother Rudolf in Scorpions, but things just didn't work out. Eventually, Schenker would continue his career as a member of UFO and would even get some pretty exciting offers, which, as he claimed, he refused.
However, despite his multiple famous refusals to join big rock artists, it seems that there's at least one case where he didn't get the gig. Speaking to Classic Rock magazine in a recent interview, Schenker was asked about offers to join Thin Lizzy and Aerosmith.
As far as Thin Lizzy goes, Schenker said that he "was friends with Phil Lynott." However, he simply didn't want to join the band. But as far as Aerosmith was concerned, things were a little more complicated.
"With Aerosmith, I got as far as rehearsing with [drummer and bassist] Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton in Boston," he recalled. "At the time, Steven Tyler was in the hospital, and I remember [rhythm guitarist] Brad Whitford coming into the room, being shocked at seeing me, and running out again, saying, 'Fuck!'"
"I think he went to see Tyler in the hospital and said, 'Michael Schenker is trying to steal our rhythm section! You need to do something!' So they decided to carry on Aerosmith without me."
Be it just his theory or not, Michael ended up not becoming a member of Aerosmith. This was around the time when Joe Perry left in the late 1970s and the band eventually tapped Jimmy Crespo.
"Rudolf knew that I was the ticket for Scorpions to break in America"
And not long before that, Michael was out of UFO and back again in Scorpions for a bit, recording guitars on 1979's "Lovedrive." When asked whether this was a "comfortable fit" at the time, Schenker simply said "No" and added:
"Rudolf knew that I was the ticket for Scorpions to break in America, because I'd written a hit album with 'Lights Out.' I tried to fit in, because my brother cried on the telephone after the first time I left, and he begged me to help me again."
"But I knew I couldn't do it, and I didn't stay. I couldn't face telling them, I just had to run away, I was too shy. I knew if I tried to talk to them they would try to seduce me into staying, so I had to run so far away to where they couldn't find me."
"Rudolf was so disappointed," Michael said. "But I had left UFO for a reason, and here I was doing the same shit again."
"I had my own vision"
So why did he leave?
"I had my own vision," he explained. "And I'd experienced enough fame at that point to know what I wanted to do and didn't want to do. I didn't need fame or success, I wanted to be an artist."
"But then [manager] Peter Mensch was waiting for me and he threw me straight back into the machine! I thought, 'This is crazy! What am I doing here? I just ran away from my own brother, and now I'm back in the same situation!'
"From 1978 to 1980, I was in limbo-land, in transition," he recalled, adding that "it wasn't a good time for me."
Michael Schenker Reveals Why He Didn't Get the Aerosmith Gig, Explains Decision to Rejoin Scorpions in Late '70s
"Michael Schenker is trying to steal our rhythm section!"
The_Phoenician
Jan 13, 2024 02:49 PM
Michael Schenker Reveals Why He Didn't Get the Aerosmith Gig, Explains Decision to Rejoin Scorpions in Late '70s
Rock guitar legend and early member of the Scorpions, Michael Schenker, explained why he didn't end up joining Aerosmith despite getting the chance to rehearse with the band's rhythm section.
Michael started his playing career a long time ago, back when he was just a kid. At one point, he did join his older brother Rudolf in Scorpions, but things just didn't work out. Eventually, Schenker would continue his career as a member of UFO and would even get some pretty exciting offers, which, as he claimed, he refused.
However, despite his multiple famous refusals to join big rock artists, it seems that there's at least one case where he didn't get the gig. Speaking to Classic Rock magazine in a recent interview, Schenker was asked about offers to join Thin Lizzy and Aerosmith.
As far as Thin Lizzy goes, Schenker said that he "was friends with Phil Lynott." However, he simply didn't want to join the band. But as far as Aerosmith was concerned, things were a little more complicated.
"With Aerosmith, I got as far as rehearsing with [drummer and bassist] Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton in Boston," he recalled. "At the time, Steven Tyler was in the hospital, and I remember [rhythm guitarist] Brad Whitford coming into the room, being shocked at seeing me, and running out again, saying, 'Fuck!'"
"I think he went to see Tyler in the hospital and said, 'Michael Schenker is trying to steal our rhythm section! You need to do something!' So they decided to carry on Aerosmith without me."
Be it just his theory or not, Michael ended up not becoming a member of Aerosmith. This was around the time when Joe Perry left in the late 1970s and the band eventually tapped Jimmy Crespo.
"Rudolf knew that I was the ticket for Scorpions to break in America"
And not long before that, Michael was out of UFO and back again in Scorpions for a bit, recording guitars on 1979's "Lovedrive." When asked whether this was a "comfortable fit" at the time, Schenker simply said "No" and added:
"Rudolf knew that I was the ticket for Scorpions to break in America, because I'd written a hit album with 'Lights Out.' I tried to fit in, because my brother cried on the telephone after the first time I left, and he begged me to help me again."
"But I knew I couldn't do it, and I didn't stay. I couldn't face telling them, I just had to run away, I was too shy. I knew if I tried to talk to them they would try to seduce me into staying, so I had to run so far away to where they couldn't find me."
"Rudolf was so disappointed," Michael said. "But I had left UFO for a reason, and here I was doing the same shit again."
"I had my own vision"
So why did he leave?
"I had my own vision," he explained. "And I'd experienced enough fame at that point to know what I wanted to do and didn't want to do. I didn't need fame or success, I wanted to be an artist."
"But then [manager] Peter Mensch was waiting for me and he threw me straight back into the machine! I thought, 'This is crazy! What am I doing here? I just ran away from my own brother, and now I'm back in the same situation!'
"From 1978 to 1980, I was in limbo-land, in transition," he recalled, adding that "it wasn't a good time for me."