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Scooter is a German techno band. The band is currently made up of members H.P. Baxxter (born Hans-Peter Geerdes), Rick Jordan (born Hendrik Stadler) and Jay Frog (born Jürgen Frosch). Among their more well-known hits are "RAMP! (The Logical Song)", "Hyper Hyper", "Fire!", "How Much Is The Fish?", "Nessaja", "Weekend!" and "Hello! (Good to be Back)".

History

Originally the group started as a side project in 1994. Their debut single Vallée De Larmes (French for Valley Of Tears) reached #8 on the German dance chart. In April of that year, Scooter played their first live show in Hamburg, Germany, where vocalist H.P. Baxxter began freestyling off the top of his head to an instrumental dance track. At that point, Scooter officially became a group, and Baxxter's rapping would become one of the band's trademarks.

In 2002, Scooter enjoyed somewhat of a comeback, with 6 top twenty UK singles ("RAMP! s pl(The Logical Song)", "Nessaja", "Posse (I Need You On The Floor)", "Weekend!", "The Night", and "Maria (I Like It Loud)") all charting in an 18 month period (prior to this comeback, they only ever had one top twenty single in the UK, "Back In The UK").

They have a sort of "trademark" style of techno, with most of their songs featuring some "rap shouting", sometimes featuring a high pitched vocal, which is evident especially on their biggest hit "RAMP! (The Logical Song)" (which samples "The Logical Song" by Supertramp). Much of their music features elements of a live performance, including the roar of the crowd, and the echoing sound of H.P.'s voice.

Scooter's style would also appear to harp back to that of The KLF, especially so with the track entitled "Posse! (I Need You On The Floor) - with a sample which recurrs throughout the work of The KLF. KLF references are also frequently used in Scooter songs. Both bands have released singles with the title "Fuck the Millennium": KLF in 1997 under the pseudonym 2K, and Scooter in 1999. Relatively lenghty and complex samples used in KLF tracks have often surfaced in Scooter tracks, such as the entire opening seconds of the KLF's 3am Eternal being used to open Hello (Good to be Back) by Scooter.

On September 9th, 2005, Scooter performed their first concert in North America at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois along with opening acts such as Dj Markski (Chicago), Dj Erikk, Aquagen, and Benassi Bros. It was at the Chicago concert that the single, "Hello! (Good To Be Back)" waayed to the public for the first time.

Most recently Scooter went on their latest tour entitled "Who's Got The Last Laugh Now?" Tour 2006, named after the latest studio album. After the tour they released a CD and 2 disc DVD entitled "Excess All Areas", containing the final concert of the 2006 tour on one disc, and every single video for every single release on the other.

Lineup

Current

*Hans-Peter Geerdes (H.P. Baxxter 1993-present) - vocals, guitars a.k.a 'Sheffield Dave'
*Hendrik Stedler (Rick Jordan 1993-present) - keyboards
*Jürgen Frosch (Jay Frog 2002-present) - keyboards

Former

*Sören Bühler (Ferris Bueller, 1993-1998) - keyboards
*Axel Broszeit (Axel Coon 1998-2002) - keyboards
Both left to pursue solo careers.

Management

*Jens Thele (Manager)

Discography

Studio Albums

External links

; Official
*Scooter Official Site
*Jay Frog Official Site
; Fansites
*http://www.scootertechno.lt (Lithuanian Fan site) version
*http://www.scootertour.nl (Dutch fansite)
*Dave's fan site
*The only Australian Information/Fan-Site
*http://www.discogs.com/release/451117 (a tribute to Scooter)
*Fansites Discography of Scooter
* http://www.scootertrace.ru Large Russian fansite
*http://www.scooter-posse.ru United Scooter Force Russian fansite
*http://www.scooterposse.ru Scooter Zone. Russian fansite
*http://www.scootermusic.pl
*http://www.scootertechno.pl
*http://www.scooterfanpage.ic.cz
Category:Electronic music groups
Category:Techno music groups
Category:Hardcore music groups
Category:Happy hardcore music groups
Category:Trance music groups
Category:Eurodance groups
Category:1990s music groups
Category:2000s music groups
Category:German musical groups