In a new interview with SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, former UFO guitarist and Scorpions founder Michael Schenker has revealed that his brother Rudolf Schenker ‘used’ him to make more money.
When asked whether he was approached to participate in the Scorpions’ 60th-anniversary concert on July 5, 2025, he responded with, “No. I just know that I have been a very big part of creating Rudolf as a musician. I don’t think without me, he would have been there, and maybe the other way around the same way.”
He also revealed, “But the thing is that I have to protect myself from Rudolf. Every time he wants to do something with me or every time they wanna do something big and they need my name, he misuses me. And I’m very sad that he keeps doing that.”
Calling his brother a bully, the guitarist continued, “He’s seven years older than me. He’s a bully. He has been abusive to me for many, many years. He has distorted my image for many years, and he just pretends as if nothing ever happened. I guess, ’cause I asked other people, ‘Hey, how does your older brother treat you?’ And they say, ‘Oh, exactly the same.’ So I think it’s just the thing they do. They think they own you, they can do with you whatever they want. I’m seven years younger. ‘That’s just my little brother, nobody, blah, blah, blah.’”
In recent years, Michael Schenker has given several interviews where he criticized his brother, Rudolf. Michael called Rudolf ‘a con artist’ and said he took Michael’s image for himself. He also accused the Scorpions of changing the story of his short time with the band and said he regretted giving Rudolf part of the songwriting credit for the Scorpions song ‘Coast To Coast.’ Michael said these issues came up when he was asked to help with the 50th-anniversary reissues of Scorpions’ albums.
While Rudolf says he loves his brother, the rocker thinks he can’t be in a band since he is an ‘extreme guitar player.’ He also added that they weren’t in touch. “[At] the moment, no,” he said in an interview a few months ago. “From my side, I would talk [to him] immediately. I even can’t be bad with him because I know what the situation is, where he talks from.”
Michael first played on Scorpions’ 1972 album ‘Lonesome Crow.’ He gained recognition in the 1970s with UFO albums like ‘Phenomenon’ and ‘Lights Out.’ Schenker rejoined Scorpions for their 1979 album ‘Lovedrive’ but left shortly after to form the Michael Schenker Group.
Scorpions’ 60th anniversary tour will start on February 27 at Las Vegas, US, make stops at Mexico, Brazil, Denmark, Sweden, Poland Germany and more before wrapping up in July 24 at Nîmes, France.