History of the song "Wind of Change" (1990) - Scorpions (Scorpions)
In its time, one of the most popular rock band Scorpions' hits "Wind of Change" was very popular among Soviet listeners. This fact was quite obvious, because Klaus Meine created this masterpiece being under impressions from the performance in Moscow sports centre "Olympiysky". And although the members of the famous far beyond the borders of their homeland collective visited the USSR for the first time a year earlier, the history of the composition dates back to 1989....
The band's homeland appreciated "Wind of Change" just as much as our listeners did. Just a few months after its release, the Berlin Wall was torn down. In the summer, at the very dawn of the nineties, Scorpions performed their legendary hit on the very spot where it once stood... This event marked "Wind of Change" as the iconic anthem of German reunification.
A year later, the Soviet Union collapsed. This gave music lovers from all over the world a reason for countless speculations that Klaus had managed to catch the very same variable breeze, and his creation became almost a prophecy for all Soviet inhabitants... Since then, "Wind of Change" has symbolised the collapse of the socialist camp, the end of the Cold War and Perestroika.
The band members included the composition on "Crazy World", a record that saw the light of day at the beginning of the new decade. Five years later, the now hit song was also added to the live recording "Live Bites". In the early noughties, the song was re-recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and included on the album "Moment of Glory". Subsequently, Scorpions released an acoustic version of "Wind of Change", as well as several foreign-language versions, including a Russian version.
The song became an unquestionable leader in a number of countries, including the guys' home country of Germany, as well as France and Austria. As for the American Billboard Hot 100, the track only reached number four on this chart.
Curious facts...
If you follow the voting conducted by the German TV channel ZDF among its viewers, the composition "Wind of Change" is the hit of the century.
In 1990, Scorpions musicians performed their famous hit for Mikhail Gorbachev personally. The event took place in the Kremlin.
Interestingly enough, this song became the main background for the advertisement of the computer game "Call of Duty: Black Ops". It was in this series that the "Berlin Wall" location was present.
