„Wind of Change“ — A Hit by the Scorpions or a Psy-Op by the CIA?

In his podcast, American journalist Patrick Radden Keefe follows the trail of a wild conspiracy theory: Could one of rock’s most iconic ballads actually be a covert product of U.S. intelligence?

There’s a lot to say about „Wind of Change“ by the Scorpions. The rock ballad by the band from Hanover is the most successful single ever produced in Germany, earning gold and platinum awards around the globe.

„Wind of Change“: 15 Million Copies Sold

Scorpions frontman Klaus Meine, who wrote the anthem of reunification in September 1989, estimates global sales at 15 million copies. That puts „Wind of Change“ well ahead of „Am Fenster“ by City — the most successful song ever to come out of East Germany, with 10 million singles sold.

But did Klaus Meine really write „Wind of Change“ himself? Or was the song, released in February 1991, actually penned by the U.S. intelligence agency CIA?

The idea behind this seemingly far-fetched conspiracy theory: The CIA allegedly used the track as a psychological tool to influence Eastern European societies. The goal? To widen the cracks in the Iron Curtain — one power ballad at a time.

• The Gorky Park in Moscow. (Image: jeremy888/Shutterstock)

The whistling, humming, and singing of the song — the very sound of freedom — was meant to help bring down the Soviet Union, and indeed the entire Eastern Bloc. And looking back, it almost seems like it worked.

So ... is it true? Did the CIA write Wind of Change?

This is the story that renowned U.S. investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe set out to explore. According to Die Zeit, Keefe first heard the rumor back in 2011 from a friend — who claimed to have gotten it from a CIA operative, who in turn had heard it from another CIA operative.

According to the rumor, the song wasn’t written in Hanover — as Klaus Meine has long claimed — after a stroll through Moscow’s Gorky Park. Instead, it was supposedly composed in the United States, by unknown songwriters, as part of a so-called CIA PSY-OP — a covert psychological warfare operation.

Keefe has committed himself to exploring the possibility — however unlikely — that the CIA might have written „Wind of Change“. In his podcast, he takes listeners on an audio journey through the Cold War and the shadowy world of espionage operations that accompanied it.

Many of the stories in the podcast don’t even involve the Scorpions — they're meant to illustrate just how wild and wide-ranging the world of espionage can be. So wild, in fact, that the idea of the CIA writing a rock anthem to help bring down the Iron Curtain suddenly doesn’t seem entirely out of the question.

„The mere fact that people believe it shows how powerful music can be — that music clearly has the ability to spark change.“ (Klaus Meine)

Klaus Meine, for his part, can only laugh heartily at the idea. Neither he nor anyone else in the band, he insists, ever had anything to do with the CIA. But then again — is that just him laughing the truth away?

Best of all: listen to the podcast yourself and draw your own conclusions. And even if none of it turns out to be true, Keefe’s search for the truth is at the very least one thing — wildly entertaining.

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