I enjoyed working with the Scorpions. They're completely committed to Rock-n-Roll, 24/7, right down to the Gibson Flying V's and the black leather pants. 
      
      They're also very serious about who they are and what they do, while still managing to maintain a sense of humour about it all, if that's not too much of a dichotomy.
        
        Occasionally they're misunderstood.
        
        In September 2007 a Vancouver music critic wrote: "One archetypal story has the Scorps stomping out of a screening of "Spinal Tap" in a huff because the film parody struck too close to home". 
        
        Knowing the Scorpions, as I do, nothing could be further from the truth!  For example ...
        
        I was sitting with the band one night in the lobby of the Merdien Hotel in Vancouver when the actor Harry Shearer walked by. Rudolf did a double take.
        
        "That was the bass player from Spinal Tap!", Rudolf said, visibly excited.  A few minutes later, Harry walked back in our direction again.
        
        "Excuse me",  Rudolf said.  "Are you Harry Shearer?".
        
        "Well, uhm, yes I am", was the shy reply.
        
        "VEE ARE THE SCORPIONS!!!", shouted Rudolf, delighted to be in the presence of a true Heavy Metal legend. 
        
        "It's nice to meet you", said Shearer, in a quiet, bemused voice.
        
        
        After Harry left, Rudolf told me he was certain -- in fact, he heard it from a reliable source -- that Harry Shearer,  Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest had, to some degree, used The Scorpions as inspiration for their Spinal Tap characters.
        
        A few years later I met Harry Shearer  again, this time at the "ASCAP Music Awards" in Los Angeles. I asked him if it was true that The Scorpions had  inspired the Spinal Tap film in any way.
        
    "No", was all he said.