The Scorpions - Humanity

Second Supper recently conducted an interview with SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

Second Supper: On your past albums, the SCORPIONS have drawn controversy for cover art such as "Virgin Killer". Do you believe such art would be acceptable on new albums today? How have artistic standards in rock changed since you started out?

Schenker: "'Virgin Killer' was an idea of the record company. The company guy came up and said, 'Even if I have to go to jail, I will do it.' As a German band, the journalists never went through the lyrics. We came up with 'Virgin Killer', and had the song, and the album cover, and the journalists said we can't do that. We told them to go to the album and listen to the lyrics. The 'Virgin Killer' is time. We wouldn't do that today. It's too far away from what the SCORPIONS are. What we liked very much was album sleeves like 'Lovedrive', which was pure rock 'n' roll. Also, the days of vinyl with the big album sleeve was the time when you could really see this piece of art on the cover. With the sales of CDs going down and people downloading, this part of what we had is gone. Today people don't want to listen to the whole album anymore."

Second Supper: Are artists tied down by this lack of emphasis on albums?

Schenker: "Of course. It's not so deep anymore. The record companies don't have the money to support bands that make experiments. You go to a record company, you have to have a hit with the first album, or you can go. There is no chance to build up a band like PINK FLOYD or GENESIS or LED ZEPPELIN. So they're not thinking too deeply. It's not good, but maybe times will change again."

Second Supper: The SCORPIONS have certainly been a career-building band. What's next in your career?

Schenker: "We're still watching the world. We want to be a part of this revolution. By traveling around the world we can see things coming up, warning us, and trying to put it into music. We're still on the road with 'Humanity Hour 1', and then we'll see what we'll do recording-wise. It's more important that we go on tour — more important than it was 20 years ago. We can see how much young kids enjoy live concerts. You can't download [the experience of] live concerts. We have a great chemistry and friendship in the band, and when we have an idea we put it on tape and bring out a new album."

Read the entire interview at www.secondsupper.com.

Metallica: Death Magnetic cover

What do you think?

In Stone Age Caves, Art and Music Mixed

I thought this article was worth posting a link for. The earliest marriage of art and music from Discovery News:

At least 12,000 years ago, the most popular musical events might have taken place in torch-lit caves next to walls covered in art, according to new archaeological research in France.

Stone Age-era caves there bear paintings located in the most acoustically resonant places, where sound lingers or echoes.

The first cathedrals, theaters and concert halls, researchers now theorize, may have been inspired by musical performances held in caves. [read more]

LP Art Exhibit at the Lake County Discovery Museum

Explore sixty years of outstanding album cover artwork in the special exhibition, LP Art, at the Lake County Discovery Museum. Since the conception of album art in 1939, it has become an integral part of music and popular culture. See the cover evolve from early jazz sleeves to iconic rock covers to interactive cd booklets. View some of the most memorable and inventive album covers of all time by artists like Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Beck. Relive a generation where record shops were like art galleries, and even bad music was graced with beautiful artwork.

The exhibit contains sections on rock, punk, jazz, funk, hip hop, pop, novelty and children's records. It also features highlights from the remarkable catalogues of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Pink Floyd. A special area focuses on album covers by famous visual artists such as Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Takashi Murakami and Robert Mapplethorpe. The exhibit also includes the history of the various audio formats and packaging that were used to distribute music over the years, including Edison phonographic cylinders, records, 8-tracks, cassette tapes, Compact Discs (CDs) and MP3 files.

The exhibition features numerous hands-on activities for children and adults. In the Cover Art Studio kids can design their own album cover or interpret a classic such as Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.” At the Cover Shoot visitors can take the stage with various costumes and props and get in touch with their inner rock star. Adults can get in on the fun as they try to recall band logos in our Album Art Alphabet game. A free audio tour provides a soundtrack for visitors as they explore the exhibit.

LOCATION
The Lake County Discovery Museum is located in the Lakewood Forest Preserve on Route 176, just west of Fairfield Road in Wauconda, Illinois.

HOURS
Monday – Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

ADMISSION
$6 for adults and $2.50 for youth ages four to 17. Children three years and under are free. Seniors are $2.50 after 2 p.m. On Discount Tuesdays, admission is $3 for adults, and youth 17 years and under are free. Admission is always free for museum members.

Click here to download a coupon for $1 off Museum admission.

Call 847-968-3400 for more information.

Beatles Butcher Cover

This cover really created a hub-bub back in the day before the powers that be pasted new covers over the old. "Baby you're a rich man" if you have this in your collection.

Bob Dylan Loves The Art World

"The music world's a made-up bunch of hypocritical rubbish. I know that the book people are a whole lot saner. And the art world? From the small steps I've taken in it, I'd say, yeah, the people are honest, upfront and deliver what they say.”

Woodstock Revisited

The Museum at Bethel Woods Celebrates the Legacy of the 1960s and the Woodstock Music & Art Fair

The Museum at Bethel Woods opened its doors June 2, at the site of the historic 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair. An integral part of the non-profit Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the award-winning Museum tells the story of the Sixties and Woodstock, through a state-of-the art interactive experience.

For more information on The Museum at Bethel Woods or Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, please visit www.BethelWoodsCenter.org.