21/04/2024
An incident involving Judas Priest guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton inspired Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker to write "Blackout". Schenker recalls: "I remember we had a party with K.K. and Glenn from Judas Priest and for a while, there were also the guys there from Def Leppard. And we were having a party with K.K. and Glenn and they gave me a drink, and it was beer, and I was, 'No, no, you have to have the right mix: whiskey, beer and wine on top of it.' And they are like, 'What!?' And I was, 'Yes, come on.' And we were getting heavily drunk and we had a good time. And I think K.K. had the idea, 'Hey, let's go to the Def Leppard guys.' Because we were in Cleveland - the Cleveland Hall, next door was the hotel."
"So we went to the Def Leppard guys and then somehow, they were watching television. They were very young in these days. This was 1980 I think, because we were playing together, Def Leppard, Judas Priest and Scorpions in Cleveland. So I saw them watching TV and I poured my drink into the television. And the whole television went 'p**f!' And this was the situation and I said, 'OK, we have to leave, we have to go now.'"
"But anyway, it became so crazy, and the next morning I wake up in my hotel room and I said, 'What's happening?' I went to Herman and he wasn't there, he wasn't at the party, and I said to Herman, 'Hey, I'll tell you what, it was crazy last night. I remember to this point and this point' and he said, 'You know what you had? You had a blackout.' And I said, 'Blackout?' And then he said, 'Hey, you know, that's a great title for an album. And because of this kind of special party, I went back home and said I think I have to write a song, the music, because Klaus was writing most of the lyrics."
"So I sat at home and made the song and then went to Klaus and he came up with the lyrics and then we had it."
https://youtu.be/qGPT1kfaSEs?si=rA2jGsXmwzkSWD1K