Scorpions’ Klaus Meine: ‘It’s Hard to Understand’ Why Trump Wants Border Wall
Having grown up in Germany, just 10-years-old when the Berlin Wall was was erected, Scorpions frontman Klaus Meine has been a first hand witness to the effects of a wall used to divide the citizens of the world. Over 25 years after the Berlin Wall came down and the band's "Wind of Change" ballad defined the times, a new wall, dividing the U.S. and Mexico, is being proposed by President Trump, a move Meine is failing to comprehend.
"It's all kind of crazy — Brexit with the U.K. and with the USA, and when you see all the news over here coming from America between America and North Korea. It's frightening. It's really scary," the singer told Billboard in a recent interview. He spoke about the Scorpions' recent U.S. tour, noting he was able to "feel" the presence of uncertainty toward the future.
"America seemed to be our closest ally all our lives, our friends, and now nobody knows. I mean, it's almost 30 years ago the Berlin Wall came down and there's somebody in the White House now talking about putting new walls up. It's hard to understand," he continued. Meine explained how his band has tried to "build bridges" throughout their career and how the toppling of the Berlin Wall seemed to signify union and that "it was more about one world." Today, things feel like they're "falling apart" according to the rock legend. "I never thought in my lifetime I would see that. It's like the clock ticking backwards."
Embodying the current political and social landscape, the Scorpions returned to the title of their 1990 album, Crazy World, for their recent tour's moniker. Before the trek launched, we spoke with guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who commented on Trump's proposed wall as well.
"I’ll tell you one thing: as we learned, building borders is not the answer. It’s not the way. I think that’s maybe a momentum, but I think sooner or later the wall will be gone because walls never last a long time," Schenker affirmed. "Okay, we have [the Great Wall of China] now, but that’s more of a tourist attraction than a wall for keeping other people away from everyone else. In this case, what can I say? I’m not a politician, but I’m very sad when I see things like that because time is going backwards. Some people going away from the wall and taking the wall down and now other people are building one again," he added, lamenting, "It’s stupid, but that’s the way life goes sometimes."
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