'Wind of Change' explores the urban legend that the CIA wrote Scorpions' 1991 hit.
If the question is, "Is there a podcast about _____", you can comfortably answer in the affirmative almost every time.
Case in point, 'Wind of Change' - a new podcast series that explores the very real urban legend that '90s power ballad 'Wind of Change', recorded by Scorpions, was actually a CIA psy-ops warfare exercise to bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
No, really. People in the '90s actually thought this was a thing.
Anyway, the podcast series - hosted by New Yorker writer Patrick Radden Keefe - investigates the urban legend to its fullest extent, including interviews with former members of the CIA, Russian citizens who lived through the collapse of the Iron Curtain, even culminating with an interview with Klaus Meine, the frontman of Scorpions and the person most likely to know.
The result? Well, we're not giving it away, but one thing that is absolutely true - the CIA definitely helped in the creation of pop culture that changed how those behind the Iron Curtain viewed Western civilisation. Did it extend to 'Wind of Change' and them writing it with the express intent of it becoming a hit in the Soviet Union?
The eight-part series is available now with all episodes online, and for nothing else, it's worth a listen because 'Wind of Change' is an absolute all-timer of a track.
Here it is, just to give you some context.