Review of 20th Century Masters by the Scorpions **

This stuff was popular when I was in grade school.  I liked it well enough then, but I moved onto better stuff.  There is some good guitar work on this album.  However, it is as the Joe Satriani band, except the Scorpions have a vocalist.  I’m not going to say that these guys can’t play.  Richie Kotzen put out an album with a guitarist I revere, Greg Howe.  What I will say is that the canvas that the Scorpions play their music over is pathetic.  Guitar solos over pathetic chord changes don’t make for good albums.  I find this music borderline annoying, and easy to get sick of.  The Scorpions are another one of those 80s hair bands that all played the same style.  When I think of the Scorpions it conjures up the idea that they were just a fad, and in that comparable to Def Biscuit and the Korn Tones.  This is commercial music.  It is meant to sell.  It is a cold and calculated attempt of a band and corporate America to get rich by following the fad formulas of the day.  I will admit that this band is easily recognizable because their vocalists sings in a weird but unique style.  However, if you remove the vocalist, the Scorpions are impossible to recognize as different from the music of their day.  For example, you could take a song without vocals by Stryper and compare it to a song by the Scorpions, essentially there is zero difference.