FACES : THE SCORPIONS PREFER DOING OWN STING

“Our new album definitely won’t sell as well as our last album but we don’t care,” said Matthias Jabs, who plays guitar for the Scorpions, the famed German heavy-metal band.

When’s the last time you heard anybody in the music business--where greed reigns--make a statement like that?

It should be noted that Jabs was in his right mind at the time and not under the influence of anything stronger than the beer--German, of course--he was drinking in a Beverly Hills cafe.

“That’s the way we feel, “ he reiterated, speaking for fellow Scorpions Klaus Meine (vocals), Francis Buchholz (bass), Herman Rarebell (drums) and Rudolph Schenker (guitar).

Jabs was a little steamed that weekday afternoon. The discussion revived memories of a battle with their record company, PolyGram, over the new album, “Scorpions World Wide Live,” which was recorded at concerts in Southern California and Europe.

“They were mad at us,” he said. “We didn’t want to do what they wanted. But I can understand their thinking. They want to sell records. We want to sell records also, but we have artistic concerns too.”

Jabs said PolyGram wanted to make the package more enticing by doing what many artists do these days with live albums--add one or two new studio cuts. Live albums, usually just greatest hits performed in concert, rarely sell as well as albums of new material. Adding those bonus tracks tends to lure buyers who might ordinarily forgo a live album. “World Wide Live” might even be a tougher sell because, as a two-record set, it costs a bit more. (PolyGram officials declined to comment.)

None of this seemed to concern Jabs.

“We don’t consider this an album that should be on top of the charts anyway,” he said. “How many live albums ever do that? It’s for the fans who go to our live shows and want a record of our songs done live.”

Their objections to including new studio material on the album are purely artistic. “We recorded a new song that was close to being put on the album,” Jabs explained. “But we took a break and decided not to do that. The new song recorded in a studio wouldn’t feel right on a live album. Our instincts told us it was wrong. The album would lose that special live feeling. You wouldn’t get the sense that it’s a complete live show. We didn’t want to use it just for marketing purposes.”

Getting air play for a live album--a live heavy-metal album in particular--is difficult under normal circumstances, especially without a single offering new material. But even with such a single, the Scorpions wouldn’t get air play easily. Lately there’s been a backlash against heavy metal, on both TV video shows and radio.

That didn’t seem to bother Jabs either. “I don’t expect radio to play this album a lot,” he said. “We don’t care. Radio never played us a lot anyway. Radio only started to play us for the first time last year. We made it here without radio. If we get played on radio that’s fine. If we don’t that’s fine too. We can do without it if we have to.”

“World Wide Live” is No. 35 on the Billboard magazine pop album chart after two weeks. That fast start is mostly indicative of sales to hard-core Scorpions fans who buy anything the group records. After this early spurt, interest in the album is likely to tail off, and there’s no hit single to revive it.

A tour would certainly help album sales. But the Scorpions are still worn out from the last tour. Aside from a few stadium dates that are being negotiated for the summer, they won’t tour this year.

If “World Wide Live” is a hit, it will have to overcome formidable odds.

While touring this country as an opening act in the early ‘80s, the Scorpions began accumulating avid American fans. Though the band was new to America it wasn’t a new band. Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker, who compose nearly all the music, started the Scorpions in 1971 in Hamburg.

While going through various personnel changes and settling into a musical format, the Scorpions were recording and performing in Europe. In 1979, promoting its “Lovedrive” album, the band finally ventured into the American market. Its lineup has been stable since that year, when Jabs, who began his career with a $20 guitar at age 13, was hired to replace Jimi Hendrix imitator Ulrich Roth. At 28, Jabs is the youngest member of the band. The others are in their mid-30s.

Most heavy-metal bands resent that label. The Scorpions are no exception. Most heavy-metal bands claim to play melodic music and emphasize songs over gruesome imagery and head-rattling power chords. The Scorpions are no exception.

But, regarding the issue of melody, the Scorpions do have a case. Many of their songs are genuinely melodic and unlike the average HM group, they do sing ballads. And thanks to the vocal skills of Meine, the best HM singer this side of Ronnie Dio, the band handles ballads impressively.

In other words, this is not a bunch of sleazy rowdies who play loud, meandering music with grisly themes. Regarding that heavy-metal stereotype, Jabs said: “A lot of heavy metal is ugly and sick. Some of those musicians are real weird. We’re not that way.”

But don’t get the wrong impression. The Scorpions aren’t wimps. Nor are they saints. They’ve used sexy, trashy album covers and occasionally dabble in the sordid.

“We have our rough side, of course,” Jabs noted. “We do some songs that you can call heavy metal. But that’s just part of what we do.”

The Scorpions are the only German band that’s achieved major international success. In countries like America, Spain, Portugal and France, the group is hugely popular.

Surprisingly, however, in Germany, the Scorpions aren’t the top band. They aren’t even in the Top Five. “Maybe we’re No. 10,” Jabs said, not disguising his disgust. “We’re still much more accepted by neighboring countries. German people know us but don’t accept us.”

One of the big problems is that the Scorpions sing in English. “German bands that sing in German do better in Germany,” Jabs explained. “We won’t sing in German. This kind of rock music and German lyrics don’t go together. If we were singing in German we wouldn’t be a rock ‘n’ roll band with big audiences in many countries. We’re sorry we’re not bigger in our own country. They don’t know what they’re missing.”