Wind of Change
by Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify · 15 episodes
SocietyCultureDocumentary
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.
Latest episodes
-
14 min
Special Preview: "London Falling" by Patrick Radden Keefe
Patrick has a new book coming out April 7, a true story about Zac Brettler, a London teenager who died under mysterious circumstances in 2019. After Zac's death, his parents, Rache…
-
33 min
Introducing Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto
Chapter 1: Bug’s Plan. It’s 2014. Adelanto is a bankrupt city in the California desert known for its massive detention centers and not much else. Then, a stranger comes to town wit…
-
20 min
Bonus #3 - Scorpions Live from New York | Fundraiser For Ukraine
When Patrick Radden Keefe heard that the Scorpions were coming to town last month, he knew he had to go to the show. So he called his friend Michael, his source for the original CI…
-
10 min
Special Preview: "Rogues" by Patrick Radden Keefe
Patrick has a new book that's just out, Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks. It's twelve strange but true stories of skulduggery and intrigue. Listen to an…
-
29 min
An Avocado Revolution | Introducing 544 Days
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 arres…
-
20 min
Empire of Pain - An Exclusive Sample of Patrick's New Book
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, f…
-
8 min
Preview: Welcome to Your Fantasy
It’s 1987, and the Chippendales dancers are packing nightclubs across America with their sold-out male exotic dance shows. As crowds of women scream for the mullets, the spandex, a…
-
2 min
Out Now: Bonus Episodes
Thanks for listening to Wind of Change. We’ve made two additional episodes of the show — a pair of stories that we couldn’t fit into the main season of the podcast, but are so wild…
-
50 min
Hello, Klaus
HANOVER, GERMANY, 2020: There is one last person Patrick needs to ask about “Wind of Change.” At a small hotel in sleepy Hanover, Germany, it is time to confront Klaus Meine about…
-
46 min
Rorschach
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 poin…
-
58 min
The Doctor Is In
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 inc…
-
42 min
I Follow The Moskva
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 Jo…
-
45 min
The KGB Rock Club
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…
-
44 min
America’s Secret Weapon
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: w…
-
46 min
You Call It An Operation, We Call It A Performance
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 do…
-
44 min
My Friend Michael
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…
-
4 min
Wind of Change, coming May 11
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.…