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Scooter (band)

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Scooter

Scooter are a German hard dance band founded in Hamburg,[1] who have sold over 25 million records and earned 80 gold and platinum awards. Scooter are considered the most successful single-record German act with 23 top ten hits.[2] The band is currently composed of members H.P. Baxxter, Rick J. Jordan and Michael Simon. Although most of the band's early recordings are in the styles of happy hardcore or hard trance, Scooter have experimented with other dance genres such as hardstyle and jumpstyle, and occasionally hip hop [3], hard rock[4] and house[5].

Scooter's trademark sound features fast tempos and happy melodies, accompanied by frontman H.P. Baxxter "rapping" lyrics, and occasionally choruses involving artificially pitched voices. Among their more well-known hits are "Hyper Hyper", "How Much Is The Fish?", "Ramp! (The Logical Song)", "The Night", "Jigga Jigga", "Nessaja", "Maria (I Like It Loud)", "Jumping All Over the World", and "Ti Sento".

Career

Celebrate the Nun and The Loop (1988–1993)

In 1986 H. P. Baxxter and Rick J. Jordan met in Hanover, Germany through a small ad and founded the synthpop band "Celebrate The Nun". The band released Meanwhile in 1988. Allmusic wrote that "top-drawer songwriting and consistently catchy hooks lifted" the group above other Depeche Mode wannabees of that era.[6]"Will You Be There" topped out at number 5 on the Billboard Dance/Club play chart on June 23, 1990. This was followed by a number 12 song on the same chart She s A Secretary/Strange on December 8.[7] In 1991 the band released Continuous, but this was less successful because synthpop's popularity was declining.[6] Slin Tompson left the band in 1990 to start a project on his own. Lead vocals were done by Baxxter and female vocals were delivered by Baxxter's sister Britt Maxime.[8] Not finding the expected success in the new wave arena Baxxter kept working at the former Hamburg based Indie label (currently Edel Records) in distribution and sales where he met Scooter's future manager Jens Thele.[9] Soon afterwards, in late 1993, the former Celebrate the Nun members joined up with Baxxter's cousin Ferris Bueller under the management of Jens Thele to form a remix team known as The Loop. The Loop became one of the top remix teams in Germany, releasing remixes for artists like Adeva, Holly Johnson, The Tag Team and RuPaul.[10]

Beginning (1994–1997)

Scooter started as a project in 1994. Their debut single "Vallée De Larmes" (French for Valley of Tears) reached #8 on the German official dance chart. In April, Scooter played their first live show at "The Palladium" in Hamburg. At that point, Scooter officially switched from being a project into a band, and Baxxter's "rapping" became one of the band's trademarks.

At first, "Hyper Hyper" was expected to be a small hit within the club scene, but it became a platinum record, selling 700,000 units,[9][11] eventually reaching number 2 on Germany's Media Control single chart. Scooter's third single "Move Your Ass" reached number 3 within Media Control's single chart after a few weeks of its release. The follow-up singles, "Friends" and "Endless Summer", occupied similar positions.

The band maintained the initial technique of their sound throughout their second album, Our Happy Hardcore, until the style became noticeably different with their 1996 single "I'm Raving" (from the 3rd album Wicked) as the tempos were down to 138 BPM from their previous tempos which were between the range of 160 and 190 BPM. The single got gold certification, reaching no. 4 in Germany.

Scooter's fourth album, Age of Love, went gold, selling 250,000 units within four weeks of its release.

1998–2002

Scooter in Moscow, circa 2000. From left to right: H.P. Baxxter, Rick J. Jordan, Axel Coon

In 1998, Ferris Bueller (Soren Buehler) left the group to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by DJ Axel Coon, who had been working with the band at the recording studio for some time already. Scooter released one of their memorable singles "How Much is the Fish?" which charted at #3, selling over 300,000 units and becoming another gold single. Their fifth album, No Time to Chill, reached the number 4 position on the Media Control album chart.

In July 1999, "Faster Harder Scooter", Scooter's first single from their sixth album, Back to the Heavyweight Jam, reached number 7 at home. "Back to the Heavyweight Jam", "Fuck the Millennium", band members' use of aliases and the spoken intro to "Fuck the Millenium" all heavily reference The KLF, who pioneered the concept of live crowd samples as part of their stadium house concept and White Room album.

Scooter released their seventh album, Sheffield, in May 2000. Sheffield took another new direction including 6/8 rhythms on tracks "Don't Gimme the Funk" and "Sex Dwarf". In late 2000, after their second single "She's the Sun," Scooter were awarded a Comet at the 2000 VIVA Comet Awards in the "Most Successful Dance Act" category.

The band's 21st single, "Posse (I Need You on the Floor)," was the first Scooter single since "Endless Summer" to include a high-pitched-voice in the chorus. Their eighth album, We Bring the Noise, released in June 2001, included another single, "Aiii Shot the DJ." A limited edition version of the album included a cover of the 1978 City song "Am Fenster" as a bonus track.

In December 2001, Scooter released their 23rd single "Ramp! (The Logical Song)" from the compilation album Push The Beat For This Jam. The single shipped over 200,000 units in Germany and went gold in many countries as well as platinum in Australia, Norway, and the United Kingdom, where 407,000 copies of the single were sold.

2002–2006

At the beginning of 2002, the band released their second Best Of album titled Push the Beat for this Jam (The Singles 98-02). Coon left the band to pursue a solo career in DJing and remixing, and Jay Frog became the new DJ. Jay Frog already had previous experience with the band, as he replaced Axel Coon during selected shows during the previous tour while Coon was ill.

As a quick way of introducing the new member Frog to their fans, the trio released a second compilation album in November 2002, 24 Carat Gold. Scooter's 24th single, "Nessaja" was a cover version of the title track from Peter Maffay's musical Tabaluga, and debuted at number one on the German official single charts.

Scooter enjoyed a comeback within the UK charts, with 6 top 20 UK singles "The Logical Song" (UK #2), "Nessaja" (UK #4), "Posse (I Need You On The Floor)" (UK #15), "Weekend!" (UK #12), "The Night" (UK #16) and "Maria (I Like It Loud)" (UK #16) all charting within an 18 month period.[12]

In 2003, the video for "Weekend!" caused a scandal with its scenes of topless dancers. The song reached number 2 on the German Media Control single chart.

In March 2003, Scooter released their next studio album, The Stadium Techno Experience. The album climbed to number 7 on the Media Control album chart. The single "The Night" became the last to feature the high pitched voice effect and reached the Top 10 in Germany. The next single from the album, "Maria (I Like It Loud)", was released in collaboration with hardcore producers Marc Acardipane and Dick Rules, reaching number 4 on the single charts.

Mind The Gap was Scooter's 10th studio album, released in three different versions: basic, regular and deluxe. The 28th single, "Shake That!" flavored with 70s disco sound was released on 4 October in most European countries, entering the German Media Control single chart at number 8 and gaining Gold certification in the Czech Republic.[13]

Their 11th studio album, Who's Got the Last Laugh Now?, featured a cover version of "Everlasting Love." The Who's Got The Last Laugh Now? 2006 tour was followed by the release of both the CD and the 2-disc DVD entitled Excess All Areas, one of the DVDs containing the final Hamburg concert of the tour and the second containing every music video released so far.

2006–2008

On August 14, 2006, it was announced that Jay Frog had decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career. Frog was replaced by Michael Simon, who had remixed some of Scooter's tracks while in search of success with his "Shahin & Simon" project. On August 19, Scooter played at the Tufertschwil Open Air in Switzerland, where Simon debuted.

The single "Behind the Cow" was premiered at The Dome 40 in Düsseldorf on December 1, 2006, and was released on January 19, 2007. The song and its lyrics are based on "What Time Is Love?" by The KLF. Their 12th album The Ultimate Aural Orgasm, which includes the songs "The United Vibe" (cover version of Den Harrow's "Catch the Fox"), "Scarborough Affair" or "The Shit That Killed Elvis" (collaboration with Jimmy Pop, the frontman of American fun-rock-band The Bloodhound Gang), was released on February 9, 2007. The second single release of The Ultimate Aural Orgasm was "Lass Uns Tanzen" which appeared in stores on March 23.

On August 10, Scooter released a new single called "The Question is What is the Question", the release of which surprised many of their fans as they were expecting a third single from the current album rather than new material. The band released a jumpstyle cover version of classic 70's track "How Do You Do" by Mouth & MacNeal. Scooter released their 13th studio album, Jumping All Over the World, on 30 November 2007, containing all three singles ("The Question is What is the Question", "And No Matches" and "Jumping All Over the World"). A limited edition of the album contains a bonus CD including all Scooter's German top ten hits, from "Hyper, Hyper" to "How Much Is The Fish?" as well as a previously unreleased version of "The Question Is What Is The Question?"[14]

In November 2007, the band made its debut tour of Australia, never having visited the country before despite a #1 single there (The Logical Song) some 6 years earlier. Scooter performed at the famous Scattered rave party in Sydney as well as in Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.

In March 2008, the group embarked on its first arena tour of the UK as part of Clubland Live, appearing alongside other All Around The World acts such as Cascada and Ultrabeat. During this tour, Scooter performed a retooled version of "I'm Lonely" from Jumping All Over The World; the single was released in Germany on 18 April 2008. "The Question Is What Is The Question" was released in the UK the same week, charting at number 49. The band made international news in May 2008 when Jumping All Over The World unexpectedly entered at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart, replacing Madonna's album Hard Candy after just one week[15][16] It is Scooter's first number 1 in the UK and first album release there in five years.

2009 Onwards

Rick J. Jordan and Michael Simon together while promoting Under The Radar Over The Top.

February 2009 saw the release of a Scooter tribute album entitled Hands On Scooter, featuring artists such as The Bloodhound Gang, Status Quo, and Sido covering or sampling Scooter songs.[17]

During the summer of 2009, Scooter announced their next studio album, Under The Radar Over The Top. On August 14, 2009, Scooter released "J'adore Hardcore", the first single from Under The Radar Over The Top. "J'adore Hardcore" was based on Planet Funk's "Chase the Sun" and The Pitcher's "I Just Can't Stop.".[18] On July 30, 2009, during the video shoot for "J'adore Hardcore," Baxxter was almost a victim of a car bomb attack in Majorca, Spain.[19] Michael Simon reported that Baxxter was alright and it was a very near miss. For their next single, single, "Ti Sento", Scooter collaborated with Italian singer Antonella Ruggiero.[20] Ti Sento became a hit in Germany, and was released the day Under The Radar Over The Top was released. During the first week of sales, Under The Radar Over The Top appeared 2nd on the German charts. Ti Sento appeared as a number 11 hit on German charts the same week and peaked at 10 the following week. It was confirmed on November 3 that "The Sound Above My Hair" would be the third single from the album. The video premiered on YouTube on the 12th of November.[21] The single was released on November 27.[22]

On February 9, 2010 it was announced that Scooter would perform the official song of the 2010 IIHF World Championship. This song would be "Stuck on Replay", and it would in addition be released as the 4th single from Under The Radar Over The Top.[23]

The "Under The Radar Over The Top" Tour was announced before the album was released. The tour was a week long through several German cities such as Hamburg[24], Berlin, and Leipzig [25] and one Swiss city, Zurich, throughout March 2010. This was the largest tour to date, and again featured the Sheffield Jumpers [26]. During this tour, Scooter performed in front of a total of 40,000 people, and the Hamburg concert was the largest on the tour, with a sold out venue of 14,000. This was followed by Leipzig, with 10,000 people attending the final concert of the tour.

Regardless of the tour, "Stuck on Replay" performed poorly in the charts, entering the German charts at position 34 after the first week of sales and dropping to position 38 after two weeks of sales. "Stuck on Replay" also entered the Austrian charts at 58.

A week after the tour, Scooter announced in an interview with a Russian radio station that a live DVD, CD, and Blu-Ray of the Hamburg concert would be released. It was eventually announced that Scooter's fourth live DVD would be released on May 7, called Live in Hamburg. Controversy rose when it was announced that the live tour version of "Where The Beats...", which was specially re edited for the tour, would be the only track not included on Live in Hamburg due to copyright issues with a sample that resembled the U2 song Where The Streets Have No Name [27].

On May 10, 2010, Scooter announced another European tour to follow up the previous "Under The Radar Over The Top" tour, which would take place December 2–12, and be known as the "Stadium Inferno" tour, and would tour through several German cities like Rostock, Stuttgart, and Dresden. At the same time, a very large concert was announced to take place on the 25th of June, 2011 in Hamburg once again[28]. , at the HSH Nordbank Arena, which has a capacity of 57,000 people, which is more than four times the capacity of the O2 World Hamburg where the previous Hamburg concert took place.[29] On June 29, 2010 it was announced Scooter would be headlining the Clubland Live 4 Tour, appearing alongside other acts such as Ultrabeat and Alex K. [30]. This would be the Scooter's second tour of the United Kingdom.

Musical style

Scooter's musical style has been defined as a fusion of Happy Hardcore and Hard Trance. Scooter has taken inspiration from such artists like Marc Acardipane, Charly Lownoise and Mental Theo, and more recently artists like Technoboy and Headhunterz. Frontman H.P. Baxxter performs his own vocals, which usually rhyme and occasionally involve puns, sayings, and idioms. Scooter vocals are usually shouted, and are usually meant to arouse a crowd. Crowd samples prevail in Scooter's style, with songs like "Maria (I Like It Loud)", "J'adore Hardcore", and "Seven Bridges" featuring full crowd refrains. Most of the music produced by Scooter is above 135 BPM, though there are also occasional slow tracks. Many of the slower tracks, such as "Second Skin", draw inspiration from New Wave music, which leans toward H.P. Baxxter and Rick J. Jordan's roots as new wave musicians before Scooter began.

Lineup

Current

Former

  • Sören Bühler (Ferris Bueller, born: 29 September 1971) – 1993–1998, keyboards
  • Axel Broszeit (Axel Coon, born: 23 March 1975) – 1998–2002, keyboards
  • Jürgen Frosch (Jay Frog, born: 7 May 1976) – 2002–2006, keyboards

Collaborations

Management

  • Jens Thele (Manager)
  • Kai Busse (Bookings)
  • Klaus Perreth (Tour-Management)

Discography

Main article: Scooter discography

Live performances

Concerts

Scooter are known for giving very extravagant live performances, usually with dancers on stage performing certain styles of dancing, like Jumpstyle or the Melbourne Shuffle.[31][32] These are accompanied by laser shows and pyrotechnics (an example of such would be a light changing positions every beat while small explosions occur on stage at the same rate).[33] In concert, Scooter encourages crowd participation, often having frontman H.P. Baxxter shout out certain phrases and have them mimicked by the crowd between songs, and having the crowd sing along to the chorus of many songs.[34][35][36] Scooter also opens concerts with large introductions, coupled with laser shows and thematic music.[37] Fireworks also make occasional appearances during both indoor and outdoor shows.

List of Tours

Year Tour Title
1997 Age Of Love Tour
1999 No Time To Chill Tour
2000 Sheffield Tour
2002 Push The Beat For This Jam Tour
2004 We Like It Loud Tour
2006 Who's Got The Last Laugh Now? Tour
2007 Lass Uns Tanzen Club Tour
2007 The Ultimate Aural Orgasm Australian Club Tour
2008 Clubland Live Tour
2008 Jumping All Over the World Tour
2010 Under The Radar Over The Top Tour

In 1998, Scooter made a guest appearance on the popular German action/crime TV series Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei. In the episode Tödlicher Ruhm ("Deadly Fame"), Baxxter is held for ransom by a young DJ who accuses him of stealing lyrics for the song "The Age of Love."[38]

The Norwegian comedy duo Bye & Rønning made several parodies of Scooter, including Scooter in studio and Party in Heaven.

Oliver Pocher, a German comedian, performed a comedy spoof of HP Baxxter on VIVA.[39]

In 2003, the English dance music group Emmet formed a Scooter tribute act entitled "Moped." Their songs received airplay on BBC Radio 1.[40]

Scooter tracks often feature in releases of the Les Mills group fitness program Bodycombat.

"Nessaja" was used in the opening of the 2009 film Brüno. "Crank It Up" had previously been used as the theme tune for Brüno's segments on Da Ali G Show.

References

  1. ^ "Biography".billboard.com.
  2. ^ "Biography".scootertechno.com.
  3. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyOklpQq-nU
  4. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r32LcBqiv7I
  5. ^ http://www.djshop.de/realplayer.php?tid=7000118308&aid=7000016419&type=mp3
  6. ^ a b Celebrate The Nun Allmusic bio
  7. ^ Billboard Celebrate The Nun Chart History
  8. ^ "Celebrate the Nun".thesecondfuture.net/de/projekte/ctn/celebratethenun.html.
  9. ^ a b "Celebrate the Nun".musicline.de.
  10. ^ "Biography/1986-1993".scootertechno.com.
  11. ^ "Certification".musikindustrie.de/gold_platin_datenbank.html.
  12. ^ EveryHit.com Search "Scooter"
  13. ^ "Biography/October 2004".scootertechno.com
  14. ^ "Biography/Jumping_All_Over_The_World".scootertechno.com.
  15. ^ "BBC_News".bbc.co.uk.
  16. ^ "Billboard_News".billboard.com.
  17. ^ Hands On Scooter: Various Amazon.de
  18. ^ News ScooterTechno.com
  19. ^ Von Mark Pittelkau Und Anna Hesse. "Bild.de". Bild.de. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  20. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEmG6w-KFno
  21. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W47NAhGME4
  22. ^ http://www.amazon.de/Sound-Above-My-Hair/dp/B002USOW3G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1271000106&sr=8-1
  23. ^ http://www.iihf.com/channels10/iihf-world-championship-wc10/home/raffle.html
  24. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENLP1NpbwTk
  25. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zktnm4nqDjk
  26. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmIP53KOYSQ
  27. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iIhh3cLKiE
  28. ^ http://www.creative-talent.net/index.php?id=56&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=566&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=34&cHash=e759ff9426
  29. ^ http://www.hsv-hshnordbank-arena.de/
  30. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BeVb819rpg
  31. ^ "The dome 51 Scooter". YouTube. 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  32. ^ "Scooter – Jumping All Over The World (Live in Berlin 2008 – HQ)". YouTube. 10 maart 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  33. ^ "Scooter Leipzig ( 29.03.2008 )". YouTube. 2008-03-29. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  34. ^ "Scooter – One / Always Hardcore (Live in Berlin 2008 – HQ)". YouTube. 10 maart 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. ^ "Scooter – Maria / I Like It Loud (Live in Berlin 2008 – HQ)". YouTube. 10 maart 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eeOQu2GVgg
  37. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeVvTkU6PuU
  38. ^ Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei: Tödlicher Ruhm at the Internet Movie Database
  39. ^ "Scooter Live at Life". Youtube.com. 3 July 2006. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  40. ^ Moped – The UK's Number 1 Scooter Tribute Band
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