Do we like them?

Do we like Rudolf Schenker?

Our score: 6 out of 10. No harmful words or acts turned up, but the record we could verify is thin and his brother's public criticism is unresolved.

Rudolf Schenker is the guitarist and main songwriter behind the Scorpions, the German hard rock band he started as a teenager in Hanover. He has been the one constant member through decades of line-ups, which is why he gets asked about the band's future more than anyone.

The big stoush in his story is with his own brother. Michael Schenker, a guitarist who was in the band's earliest days, has said in interviews that he won't rejoin the Scorpions because he has to protect himself from Rudolf. That is Michael's account, and no court case or formal finding came up in our searches.

Rudolf's side, as the rock press reported it, has been fairly mild. He has said he still loves his brother and that Michael has long disliked the business side of music, and he has not been reported escalating the fight. Where you land depends on whose version of a decades-old family and money dispute you trust, and we can't settle that from here.

On the harm check, we searched for anything he has said or done about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants, climate or public health, and for who he keeps working with. Nothing harmful came up. That is an absence of evidence rather than a deep audit, so treat it as a pass on what we found.

On the recent stuff, the band has been reported on a 2026 farewell-style tour, but our fetch tools were knocked out partway through, so we couldn't open the articles to confirm dates or details. We also couldn't verify a statement from him on the war in Ukraine, only that his bandmate Klaus Meine spoke about changing a lyric in Wind of Change.

The honest read is a lean yes. A lifetime of a band known for songs about peace, no harmful campaigning that we could find, and one ugly family feud that is mostly one-sided in the press. If more turns up on that feud, this score could move.