The Scorpions Drummer And Other Rockers Who’ve Served Jail Time

When Scorpions drummer James Kottakm was banged up in Dubai for a month after being accused of offensive behavior and insulting Islam, the Scorpions stick man joined a long and industrious list of rockers who have fell foul of the law in one way or the other and ended up serving time in the ‘big house’.

The Scorpions drummer allegedly drunk alcohol, flashed his middle finger, bared his butt, and snarled, ‘What is that disgusting smell?’ at a group of Pakistani and Afghan passengers in a Dubai airport.

The Scorpions drummer was also accused of using the phrase ‘non-educated Muslims.’ Now the Scorpions beat boy should’ve known that cliched rock n’ roll behavior and Islam don’t mix well, and now one half of the Scorpions rhythm section is learning that lesson the hard way in a Dubai cell.

Yet the Scorpions beat-master has not only left a vacant position on the Scorpions drum stool, he’s joined the ranks of other rockers, a lot more talented and famous than anyone in The Scorpions, who’ve had their butts thrown in the can for their hell-raising antics.

The Scorpions drummer may be in a heavy metal band, but he’s not a heavy metal god like Ozzy Osbourne. The wild man of rock went off the rails early on a Crazy Train. The Wizard of Oz spent his first six weeks in custody before he was even famous. His crime? Stealing clothes from a shop! Beat that little Scorpians drummer boy.

Nowadays, Paul McCartney may have a squeaky clean image compared with the unsavory looking Scorpions drummer, but the Long and Winding Road once led to Macca spending ten days in a Japanese slammer for being caught in possession of seven ounces of marijuana at a Tokyo airport. Whoops!

Compared with Chuck Berry, the Scorpions drummer is a petty criminal in every sense. Old Chuck has done some serious bird. Driving around with No Particular Place to Go, has landed Berry in some serious hot water. In 1944 he did four years for armed robbery. In the 1960s he did three years for violating the Mann Act, and in 1979 he did a further four months for tax evasion. Roll Over Beethoven!

Arthur Lee was a lot cooler than the Scorpions drummer, the lead singer of Love also did a lot more jail time. After he fired a.44 Magnum outside his Los Angeles apartment in June 1995, cops raided Lee’s home and found a box of 500 amour-piercing bullets. Suspecting him of being a potential cop-killer or terrorist they locked him up for a 12-year-stretch, of which Lee served six.

Doors front-man Jim Morrison was a repeat offender when it came to getting on the wrong side of the boys in blue. Unlike the Scorpions drummer, the Lizard King never got busted for calling out Islam, but he was once arrested by the FBI in Arizona for abusing a flight crew on a commercial airliner whilst under the influence. Morrison could have served ten years in prison for the offense, he didn’t. Despite being arrested on numerous occasions, Morrison had better luck than the Scorpions drummer and was never sentenced to any jail time.

Like the Scorpions drummer, Jimbo may have ‘woke up in the morning and grabbed himself a beer’, but unlike the Scorpions drummer, Jim Morrison probably had the good sense not to get wasted on wine in Muslim countries.