SCORPIONS' KLAUS MEINE On 'Wind Of Change': 'The Song Is' Still 'Very Relevant, Especially With The Young Audience'

German hard rock legends SCORPIONS have uploaded a new "track-by-track" video in which singer Klaus Meine opens up about what the band's power ballad "Wind Of Change" has meant over the years — from its first notes to its enduring legacy.

Klaus said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, it was the end of the '80s when we played for the very first time in Leningrad [now Saint Petersburg] in the USSR, and it was amazing after all the success we enjoyed throughout the '80s, especially in the United States. But it was always part of our dream to go east. And since we never played in the former DDR [Deutsche Demokratische Republik, German Democratic Republic, commonly known as East Germany], we never had a chance to play there, we never had a chance to go behind the wall. So this was in the spring — I think it was April '88 when we played 10 shows in Leningrad. And it was amazing, because we said, 'Our parents came with tanks. Here's a new generation. We come with guitars. We bring love, we bring music. We don't shoot each other. We wanna sing together.' And it was a very inspiring moment. And only one year later we finally played Moscow at the Moscow Music Peace Festival, and it was obvious. There was a man in the Kremlin, Mikhail Gorbachev. There was a big change in the air, and when we played at the Moscow Music Peace Festival, we stormed out like crazy playing 'Blackout' and all those songs. The Russian audience, the fans were singing along. The security, which were mostly soldiers from the Red Army, they were throwing their caps in the air. They were going totally crazy and they enjoyed the music like the fans. They were supposed to be there being security, but they turned around, they wanted to see the show, they didn't wanna miss a thing. And it was so inspiring. It was like the whole world was changing in front of our eyes. And when I came back home, I think I reflected [on] this moment in time and I reflected [on] the changes I saw between '88 in Leningrad and one year later when we played in Moscow. And it was really like it was a new moment, a new time, a new future, a more peaceful future was in the air. And this was all what the song was all about. And it became something like a peace anthem. And after all these years, after 30 years and even more, this song has a billion clicks on YouTube. And it seems like, especially in those very difficult times we are now, the song is very relevant, especially with the young audience, with the young kids who sing this song in every show with so much emotions coming out. And people are crying. And it really shows that after all in very difficult times, this song is still a very strong peace message, and we hope the window for a peaceful world will be open soon again, and the wind hopefully will change one more time."

Meine and his bandmates wrote "Wind Of Change" after performing at the aforementioned Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989 in Moscow, where they shared the stage with other hard rock acts like BON JOVI and MÖTLEY CRÜE. The song was inspired by the sight of thousands of Russians cheering them on in 1988 — when they became the first hard rock band to play in Russia — and in 1989 in Moscow, even though they were a German band.

In March 2022, at the opening concert of SCORPIONS' "Sin City Nights" residency at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino In Las Vegas, Nevada, Meine told the crowd before launching into "Wind Of Change": "This song is calling for peace, and tonight, I think, we shall sing it even louder. We dedicate this to the brave people in the Ukraine."

In an interview with Scorpions Brazil, Klaus explained the thought process behind changing the song's lyrics to acknowledge Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

"I thought it's not the time to romanticize Russia with lyrics like 'I follow the Moskva down to Gorky Park'," he said. "When I wrote that song, 'Wind Of Change' was something like a peace promise, going together into a peaceful future. And so many years later now, this peace promise was broken up last year. So I had the feeling I wanted to show our solidarity with Ukraine. That's why I changed a few lines."

Back in 2015, SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker stated about the inspiration for the original version of "Wind Of Change" "We wanted to show the people in Russia that here is a new generation of Germans growing up. They're not coming with tanks and guns and making war — they're coming with guitars and rock 'n' roll and bringing love!"

"There were so many emotional moments in Moscow," Meine added. "I guess it could have been BON JOVI or MÖTLEY CRÜE, any of these guys who had gone home inspired by what they saw, but for them it was like, 'Hey! We rocked the Soviet Union, dudes!' For us, maybe it was different. We saw so many changes from Leningrad in '88 to Moscow in '89. That was the inspiration for 'Wind Of Change'."

SCORPIONS' latest album, "Rock Believer", was released in February 2022. The album was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

SCORPIONS originally intended to record the new album in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman, whose previous credits include SLIPKNOT and METALLICA. However, because of the pandemic, some of the initial work was done with Greg remotely, after which SCORPIONS opted to helm the recordings themselves with the help of their engineer Hans-Martin Buff.