Two years ago, the Scorpions announced that they were canceling their plans to retire. In a new interview, guitarist Matthias Jabs explained the reason for that decision: Basically, they were enjoying it too much to stop, and offers to keep playing were still rolling in.

Speaking with the Rock Pit in a video interview, which you can watch above, Jabs said that the change in heart came during the Sting in the Tail Tour, which was planned to be the band's farewell. “We noticed already we have too much fun to really quit,” he said. “We want to slow down and we don't wanna play that many shows per year anymore. … So we decided to slow down a bit. But when the final show was done, and it was shortly before Christmas, at the end of January in 2013, this ‘MTV Unplugged’ offer came around the corner, and we couldn't say no. We thought, 'Wow! This is great. This is a great new challenge. We haven't done it in our long career, so let's go for it. And at the same time, before that, the record company put two contracts on the table, which is unusual, I think, for a band that says, 'Okay, we wanna quit.'"

On Feb. 20, the Scorpions will take the next step forward in their 50-year career with a new album, ‘Return to Forever,’ with a European tour to follow. But for Jabs, it’s seeing how his music has connected with newer generations in concert that keeps him going.

“[W]e have such a younger audience, meanwhile, due to Facebook, I think,” he noted. “At least we have more than 6 million Facebook [likes], and the research say 80 percent are between 18 and 28 years old. So, for a band that celebrates their 50th anniversary, that's quite amazing. And a lot of them, obviously, rushed to the front, so even though it might be only 10 to 15 percent in the entire audience, those are the ones we see. And this is energy boosting. It's much more fun. So we said, 'Let's do it again.'"

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