Scorpions’ ‘Wind Of Change’ Video Hits One Billion Views On YouTube
The band’s legendary power ballad was originally uploaded to the platform in November of 2009.
Scorpions’ music video for “Wind Of Change” has surpassed one billion views on YouTube. The power ballad was originally uploaded to the platform in November of 2009.
Scorpions’ singer Klaus Meine and his bandmates wrote “Wind Of Change” after performing at 1989’s Moscow Music Peace Festival 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 Russian fans cheering them on in 1988 — when they became the first hard rock band to play in Russia — and in 1989, at the aforementioned festival, even though they were a German band.
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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 Loudwire Nights host Toni Gonzalez, Klaus explained the thought process behind changing the song’s lyrics. “Before we came [to Las Vegas to begin the residency], I was thinking about how it feels to play “Wind Of Change” the way we used to play for so many years. I thought, with this terrible war in Ukraine raging on, it’s not the time to romanticize Russia. I wanted to make a statement in order to support Ukraine, and so the song starts now with, ‘Now listen to my heart / It says Ukraine, waiting for the wind to 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.
The band 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.
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