Scooter: Making music and headlines

Very few Germans bands have found international success the way Scooter has. The techno trio that got its start in Hamburg in 1993 has fans around the world, with particularly devoted followers in the former Soviet bloc nations, especially Russia. There, frontman H.P. Baxxter is so well-known that he was obliged to do a TV ad for the Russian branch of the electronics chain Media Markt.

Scooter attributes its success in eastern Europe to the time-specific overlap between the rise of the band and the new feeling of liberty that people experienced after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Scooter's music hit the era's key nerve, and the hype around the band has lasted until today. Whether in London, Berlin or Moscow, the techno-trio continue to fill large venues.

Scooter drew international criticism after crossing from Russia to Crimea to perform at the ZBFest rock festival in Balaklava in early August 2017 (above). Since the Ukrainian peninsula's de facto annexation by Russia in 2014, Ukraine has banned people from traveling to Crimea unless it occurs at special checkpoints manned by Ukrainian officials. H.P. Baxxter and the band arrived via Russia.

A March 2011 departure from Russia also caused controversy. On a flight from Moscow to Berlin, H.P. Baxxter agreed to a photo with fellow passengers - the extreme right-wing German band Kategorie C. While Kategorie C flaunted the photo online, Baxxter said he didn't know who they were when they approached him. He argued he takes photos with tons of fans (like above) a day and can't vet every one.

Around the same time, a second photo surfaced on a right-wing music blog. It showed Baxxter taking tea during a 2006 honorary visit to the German city Leer. In the photo, his black polo is emblazoned with "Burzum," the name of a Norwegian black metal band whose lead has far-right views. The photo was quickly identified as a manipulated fake and taken down upon request from Baxxter's label.

In relation to the two controversial and contested photos - both of which appeared on the far-right music blog Oireszene - Scooter's label Kontor Records stated "that neither the Band Scooter nor its front man H.P. Baxxter has maintained any type of contact with or affinity for the right-wing scene." Oireszene published the label's statement and removed all offending material.