Michael w Scorpions 79

[Stitsel]

Yeah I gotta agree w/Duojett here on this....as much as I'm a major fan of Mad Mikey, the guy's a total nutcase. For years and years it was Rudy & his stable outlook on business and maintaining a great band that tried to always steer his little brother in the right direction, whether it was simply advice or whatever. Sure Michael's a better guitar player than most, but Rudy always put the band and the songs 1st. At the turn of the last century, when Michael was at a very low point in his life ( selling his iconic black & white Gibson etc.  ) & then Dean came along, reportedly it was Rudy that advised him to go for it, that's from Michael himself. He wasn't sure because he'd been associated with the Gibson for so long, and was worried about rather fans would take to it or whatever. Anyhow, I think we all know Michael's been his own worst enemy forever & it gets old hearing the same old bullshit spewing from his mouth, year after year. I love the guy, but come on! I love that Mad Mikey Drinking Game someone posted on here a few years back, that pretty much sums it up.

[Dinosaur David B]

Yeah I gotta agree w/Duojett here on this....as much as I'm a major fan of Mad Mikey, the guy's a total nutcase. For years and years it was Rudy & his stable outlook on business and maintaining a great band that tried to always steer his little brother in the right direction, whether it was simply advice or whatever. Sure Michael's a better guitar player than most, but Rudy always put the band and the songs 1st. At the turn of the last century, when Michael was at a very low point in his life ( selling his iconic black & white Gibson etc.  ) & then Dean came along, reportedly it was Rudy that advised him to go for it, that's from Michael himself. He wasn't sure because he'd been associated with the Gibson for so long, and was worried about rather fans would take to it or whatever. Anyhow, I think we all know Michael's been his own worst enemy forever & it gets old hearing the same old bullshit spewing from his mouth, year after year. I love the guy, but come on! I love that Mad Mikey Drinking Game someone posted on here a few years back, that pretty much sums it up.


 

So because Michael is bat shit, Rudi could not have possibly NOT credited him and screwed him out of royalties for songs he wrote and played on? We all know that shit happens all the time in loads of bands. 

I don't know what's true and what isn't here other than MS wasn't credited for tracks he claims he wrote/played on. The evidence he wasn't credited is on the album liner notes. I don't know if Michael's claims are true.

But I know this:

There are two premises being posed here on this thread:
1. MS is batshit (true/false)
2. Rudi screwed Michael out of credit, if not royalties. (true/false)

We ALL agree premise 1 is true. But premise 1 being true does not make premise 2 false -- or true for that matter. 
Premise 2 is not contingent on premise 1 in any way. Both things can be true.

 
 

[Duojett71]

I think it’s fairly well known that people who are not dealing with a full deck are not grounded in reality, and it is very common for those people to blame others for their mistakes. That’s just life. Is it possible Rudi screwed him out of a couple songwriting credits? Sure…anything’s possible.I don’t think Michael’s version of history is enough to go on. I think it’s more likely that Michael has a lot of sour grapes and chooses to blame others for his bad decisions. I believe, based on comments I have heard him say and comments I have read, that he is extremely jealous of his brother’s success. Much of that is due to the fact that Michael knows he is the much better guitarist. He probably doesn’t really respect Rudi as a player, and in turn doesn’t believe he deserves the sustained level of success he has had since the late 70’s or early 80’s. 

 

[Dinosaur David B]

That could well be the case. I don't know. But I've seen MANY interviews with Michael where he says he could have had higher levels of success MANY times in his career if that's what he'd wanted --he could have stayed in UFO (they were just starting to break), joined the Stones or Ozzy when they asked, etc. He says he never cared about that -- he just wanted to do his own thing. I mostly believe that. There's been a lot of what we all call that self-sabotaging his career, but I think Rudi was right in telling him if he'd taken the Stones or Ozzy gigs, he'd have ended up dead. 

Whether he's right or wrong, MS believes that Rudi screwed him. He has no respect for Rudi as a player, and never misses an opportunity to slag him. Then he says -- with a straight face, "but I'm not bitter!"     He's bitter as fuck. 
 

[Stitsel]

I can't argue with what you're saying DDave, but I always find it suspect when someone accuses someone of whatever, 30-40 yrs after the fact, that's all. Decades went by & not a peep from Mad Mikey, if it is true ( & it very well could be ) he didn't seem to be sweating it much back then. Of course he had his own struggles, his own career etc., but I never recall hearing him gripe it was Rudy's fault when he was in the poor house & selling off his gear. All through the 80s-90s-00s we never really heard this revelation, meanwhile Mikey was cranking out albums as usual so it seemed he was doing fine...the UFO re-union/s etc. & solo albums every other year or whatever.Touring a lot still. He always seemed to be looking forward, not backward. Now it's all we hear. I thought it was cool when he had that vest with Scorpions,UFO,MSG patches on it...but then he sewed these little "ex" right before the logos....what is it Michael? Are you proud of it & simply happy, or trying to distance yourself from it, or what....? 
 

[Dinosaur David B]

I can't argue with what you're saying DDave, but I always find it suspect when someone accuses someone of whatever, 30-40 yrs after the fact, that's all.

Sure. Michael actually admits he had his head up his ass (to put it mildly) for all those years and never realized it. I don't think he's blaming Rudi for where he is in his career success-wise. That was his own bed he made, and he seems to acknowledge that.

But whether his claims are true or false, I do believe that the idea that his brother didn't credit him for his work probably sticks in his craw -- far more than the financial ramifications associated with those actions. 

Hell, I know I'm still bitter about musical shit that happened in the 80s to me that had zero ramifications. 
 

[Stitsel]

This is probably why Blackers held his nose but agreed to a five way split on songwriting in Purple; everyone got a slice of the pie: publishing, writing credit etc., even if say, Paice just provided a backbeat or whatever.Still, it was each members' individual contributions that got us the finished product, the (usually) great song. It was an easy way to keep the peace, and keep the band together.