I really enjoyed this series. I grew up in Russia in 1980s and 1990s and vaguely remember Scorpions. We used to slow dance to Wind of Change but I certainly don’t associate it with any kind of change that was happening in the Soviet Union at the time. From 1986 following Gorbachev’s reform of glasnost (openness), Russians were not just listening to the Western music openly (previously my parents were listening to Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin but only at home), but a new generation of rock bands appeared on the scene in St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg in particular. Rock clubs opened in these two cities giving a platform for the new brands. The authors of the podcast know that well, they even played two songs by Kino during the series, but without putting much emphasis on that (because of course it would kind of kill the story). There were dozens of rock bands springing up at that time in Russia playing brave new songs, such as Changes! by Kino with the lyrics “Our hearts demand changes, our eyes demand changes”, slightly bolder than the tamed whistle, don’t you think? That song Changes! was featured as a soundtrack to the film ASSA; both the song and the film came out in 1987, three full years before Wind of Change. And this is just one example. Wind of Change was perhaps a nice and peaceful post scriptum or fait accompli to the changes which had happened in the Soviet Union in late 1980s. So while it could be true that the CIA commissioned someone to write Wind of Change and persuaded the leader of Scorpions (I didn’t even know his name was Klaus and you are trying to convince us it was an iconic song in Russia in early 90s...) to perform it, it certainly is ridiculous to suggest that this song had changed hearts and minds of Soviets who had been listening to much bolder songs (in Russian!) for years before...
