
In an interview on Appetite for Distortion, the legendary UFO and Scorpions guitarist Michael Schenker said he was invited to be a member of The Rolling Stones back in the 70s before Ronnie Wood, but he didn’t returned the call.
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“I got phone-called to get an audition for The Stones, and I was shocked – I never called them back. Ronnie Wood got the job, and I never knew he was a Michael Schenker fan.
“He introduced his whole family to me as we played in ’83 and told people, ‘I’m a Michael Schenker fan’ and stuff.”
“It was pretty easy because I was very young, I just came over to England, I couldn’t speak English.
“I was actually able to be in England where people had interest in music, like, respected it also as a profession and then developing with UFO – that was enough, that was honestly enough; intuitively, I knew that was enough.
“UFO, I turned them into a rock band, I could’ve done the same with The Rolling Stones, but I think what’s meant to be will happen. That was enough of a handful to deal with UFO.
“I was at the beginning of my development as a guitarist, the first Scorpions album I just did when I was 15, my first written song ‘In Search of the Peace of Mind’ was my music, not the Scorpions music, still my favorite solo.
“That was it, I was able to experience fame and let go of it, understand who I am, who I was, and now celebrating, getting all the people from different eras, different stages, singing with my band.”
“It’s more than a handful. It goes from Ozzy Osbourne, The Rolling Stones, it goes from Aerosmith, David Coverdale, it goes on and on and on, but at some point, it stopped because I think it was a fact that Michael wasn’t joining anybody.
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I am a Brazilian journalist, a Classic Rock and Heavy Metal lover. Music has always been part of my life, helped me through tough moments and was with me to celebrate the good ones. When I became a journalist I knew I wanted to write about my passions. After college I did a postgraduate degree in digital communication. This has helped me to make the website better and bring the best of classic rock to the world! MTB: 0021377/MG