Wind of Change

Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify

It’s 1990. The Berlin Wall just fell. The Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse. And the soundtrack to the revolution is one of the best selling songs of all time, the metal ballad “Wind of Change,” by the Scorpions. Decades later, journalist Patrick Radden Keefe heard a rumor: the song wasn’t written by the Scorpions. It was written by the CIA. This is his journey to find the truth. Wind of Change is an Original Series from Pineapple Street Studios, Crooked Media and Spotify.

#6 in the Top 100 music All time chart

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112 Listeners

4 Comments

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Top 10 Wind of Change Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Wind of Change episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Wind of Change for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Wind of Change episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

1. My Friend Michael

Wind of Change

05/11/20 • 45 min

LANGLEY, VIRGINIA, 2011:

The Scorpions’ song “Wind of Change” became the soundtrack to the end of the Cold War. But decades later, New Yorker investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe heard a rumor from a trusted source: the Scorpions didn’t write the song. The CIA did.

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62 Listeners

10 Comments

2. You Call It An Operation, We Call It A Performance

Wind of Change

05/18/20 • 47 min

KYIV, UKRAINE, 2019: Patrick flies to Ukraine and witnesses how fully the political message of “Wind of Change” still resonates with fans at a Scorpions show in Kyiv. Plus: what does the CIA say when you come right out and ask about the agency’s connection to the band?

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29 Listeners

2 Comments

3. America’s Secret Weapon

Wind of Change

05/25/20 • 45 min

LAGOS, NIGERIA, 1961: One of America’s most beloved singers died without ever knowing that during the Cold War she had been used by the CIA. And a 40-year-old mystery resurfaces: when the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was picked to tour behind the Iron Curtain in 1977, was an undercover CIA officer planted among their entourage?

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24 Listeners

2 Comments

4. The KGB Rock Club

Wind of Change

06/01/20 • 47 min

LENINGRAD, USSR, 1988: Patrick finds another person who has told an eerily similar story about the Scorpions and the CIA. But he won’t answer emails, so Patrick travels to a GI Joe convention in Dayton, Ohio to try to make contact. Plus, a former CIA clandestine officer suggests there may be other musical acts still collaborating with the agency.

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21 Listeners

1 Comment

Empire of Pain - An Exclusive Sample of Patrick's New Book

Wind of Change

04/19/21 • 20 min

While he was working on Wind of Change, Patrick Radden Keefe was also researching and writing a new book, a sweeping investigative chronicle about the billionaire Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was ruined by OxyContin. This excerpt from the audiobook, narrated by Keefe, tells the little known story of a massive chemical explosion at a plant owned by the Sacklers. Already hailed as one of the most anticipated nonfiction books of 2021, Empire of Pain has just been released and is now available for purchase, as a book or audiobook. More information, and links to buy, here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612861/empire-of-pain-by-patrick-radden-keefe/ Audio excerpted courtesy Penguin Random House Audio from Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe, read by the author and available wherever audiobooks are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

20 Listeners

2 Comments

Wind of Change, coming May 11

Wind of Change

04/25/20 • 3 min

A power ballad helped bring down the Soviet Union. Was it written by the CIA? Journalist Patrick Radden Keefe investigates the secret history of Cold War espionage and heavy metal.

Wind Of Change is an Original Series from Pineapple Street Studios, Crooked Media and Spotify.

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19 Listeners

1 Comment

5. I Follow The Moskva

Wind of Change

06/08/20 • 42 min

MOSCOW, USSR, 1989: Klaus Meine, the lead singer of the Scorpions, has said for 30 years that the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989 inspired him to write “Wind of Change.” Bon Jovi, booze, Ozzy Osbourne, cocaine, fireworks, fist fights, the KGB -- Patrick takes you step by step through the wildest music festival in Russian history. But something about the concert doesn’t add up.

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15 Listeners

1 Comment

An Avocado Revolution | Introducing 544 Days

Wind of Change

10/14/21 • 29 min

Everything was going great for Jason Rezaian. He was The Washington Post’s correspondent in Tehran. He had just gotten married. Then, in July of 2014, Jason and his wife were arrested and thrown in Iran’s notorious Evin prison.

This is the first episode of 544 Days, a new podcast from Gimlet, Crooked Media, and A24. Find the rest of story for free at gimlet.media/544days.

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13 Listeners

6. The Doctor Is In

Wind of Change

06/15/20 • 58 min

CAYMAN ISLANDS, 1982: The Scorpions’ manager Doc McGhee has a secret past: he played a role in one of the largest drug busts in U.S. history, working with a smuggling ring that included CIA asset (and Panamanian dictator) Manuel Noriega. Nearly everyone went to prison. But Doc didn’t serve a day. Patrick heads to Naples, Florida, to find out why Doc threw a rock festival in Moscow instead of going to prison.

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12 Listeners

1 Comment

7. Rorschach

Wind of Change

06/22/20 • 46 min

MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 2019: On a boat ride down the Moskva River, Patrick starts to fear that this entire podcast could itself be CIA propaganda. Or worse, Ksenia, his Russian fixer points out: propaganda by the successors to the KGB.

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11 Listeners

3 Comments

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