"Wind of Change" is one of Scorpions most famous songs, released appropriately during the time of the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. But was it actually written by the CIA as a form of cold war propaganda?
A new podcast series hosted by New Yorker journalist Patrick Radden Keefe will explore this long-passed around rumor, premiering in full on May 11th on Spotify. He said he's spent 10 years exploring it, and will uncover his findings as part of this series.
Scorpions claim they wrote the massive hit after performing in Moscow in 1989, with other big names like Bon Jovi and Motley Crue. But what if there is another truth?
In an interview with Deadline, Keefe said “It’s a story that stretches across musical genres, and across borders and periods of history, so it was important to me that you hear the music, and the accents and the voices, and judge for yourself who might be lying and who is telling the truth. I’ve had so much fun pursuing this crazy story over the course of a year, exploring the dark byways of Cold War history and doing nearly a hundred interviews in four countries with rockers and spies. I can’t wait to share it with the world.”
Crooked Media co-founder Tommy Vietor said that the story is “crazy enough to be true”. “We know that the CIA covertly sponsored cultural events during the 50s and 60s,” he added. “They paid to film George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm. They sponsored a European tour for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Why not help a German rock band write a power ballad to shred the iron curtain? And while the CIA closely guards its secrets, Patrick is one of the best investigative journalists and writers of his generation, and no one is better positioned to find out the truth.”
Sounds like a fun must-listen. We'll be tuning in. Here's a trailer:
