This is kind of odd. Until I was about 14 years old, I really didn’t care about music. Nothing really did much for me. I actually made it deep into 7th grade without actually knowing who the hell Bon Jovi was - quite an accomplishment for an 80s kid.
A neighbor changed all that. He was a few years older than me. He decided that I shouldn’t be cast adrift listening to crap. My salvation came in the form of Savage Amusement, an album by The Scorpions.
Now, this currently stands as one of the more maligned Scorpions albums. But
Mathias Jabs, guitarist for the Scorpions. He's cooler than you, and he knows it. (Photo by Photo Agency)
I still love it, and I completely know why it hooked me. First of all, the band’s singer, Klaus Meine, sounds like nobody else. He just has this really mysterious, almost superhuman, quality. Then there was the guitar sound. I wasn’t a guitar aficionado back then. But they just sounded lethal, like chainsaws slathered in rattlesnake venom. Too cool!
That propelled me to take up the guitar. Which also led me to Queensryche. I still love this band, too. And I love them for more than their individual parts. Geoff Tate isn’t my favorite singer by a long shot. And the guitar sounds? They offend my ears, to be honest.
So why the love? Because the band has two guitarists, and they work hard to differentiate their parts and back them lock together, playing different lines and chord voicings. Brilliant! And they work hard on lyrics and themes, not just sticking to what worked for one album. Also, there’s always been an earnest quality about them that says they love music, and they take it seriously. And their music is always able to evoke some emotion from me. That merits my respect.
Stuff like Iron Maiden, Helloween, Gammy Ray and whatnot followed The Scorps and Queensryche. The Grunge Era was horrible for me, but I’m grateful for much of the new metal coming out of Europe. But that’s a post for another day.
