Wind of Change

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

KIEV, 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 Kiev. Plus: what does the CIA say when you come right out and ask about the agency’s connection to the band? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 his biggest hit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 we had to share them with you. Both episodes are only available exclusively on Spotify. The first one is available right now. It’s called "The Love Song of Joanna Stingray." And next Monday, July 13, we’ll drop another episode, called "Rocking Venezuela." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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, and the tans … a shocking event about to change the course of the brand and its booming business forever.  This is a sneak peek of Episode 1 of Welcome to Your Fantasy. To hear full episodes, every week, follow and listen for free at spoti.fi/WelcomeToYourFantasy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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