Scorpions - Wind Of Change
Added 2025-03-02 16:00:09 +0000 UTC“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905
Comments
NittPicc and anyone else reading this, I think part of what makes this video and song so powerful is basked in history. Not only was this song inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall, but for anyone not knowing, Germany and the Soviet Union engaged in perhaps the bloodiest battles of WWII. There was great hope that with the fall of the Berlin Wall and communism, that all of that horror was gone forever. Sadly, things are getting ugly again. I myself was in the Marines working for Intelligence when the Wall fell. It was an incredible feeling and a beautiful thing to see.
Charles Coleman
2025-03-03 00:54:14 +0000 UTCSemper Devil Dog! 82-90 in the Marines as well. Intell.
Charles Coleman
2025-03-03 00:48:12 +0000 UTCI'm not going to get emotional, right! Can't help it!
Wayne B
2025-03-02 20:52:12 +0000 UTCMy dad served in WWll in the Marines. My father in law served in the Korean War, and I served during the ending of the Vietnam conflict in the Marines, so I have been keenly interested in history since I was a kid. I always enjoy learning more about all things history to this day, can never learn it all. I'm glad this song opened a lot of eyes! Like your opening statement says, we are doomed to repeat history if we don't learn about it, and let's face it, there is a lot we don't want to repeat!.
Wayne B
2025-03-02 20:50:01 +0000 UTCIf world is going to end tommorow - don´t panic and have a towel with you :) World will not end in many many years. Maybe human kind wil die out, but planet will be here for billions years. Probably until Sun will turn into red giant It will etiher grow so big that Earth will be inside the the sun or "little smaller" but this piece of rock will be gone one day in billion year.
frantaf
2025-03-02 20:43:19 +0000 UTCI was working at a bowling ally in the 90's and The Scorpions came in to bowl before their gig in Denver Co. and I was caught by surprise that they didn't speak English, but communicated thru an interpreter. The songs are sang in English, and would have never known about them not at least being fluent in English other wise. Love The Scorpions, to this day, especially this song! "Rock you like a hurricane" is up there for me too!
Wayne B
2025-03-02 20:34:49 +0000 UTCThe world will not end, of course. Just wait five, maybe ten years, and there will be another Renaissance, and we'll be singing this Scorpions song again... Or BAND-MAID will compose a similar one for us, speaking of PEACE&LOVE and us being close like brothers.
Vladimir Chupin
2025-03-02 20:20:00 +0000 UTCI would say, the best piece of music about it all is Pink Floyd's "The Wall." It was released 10 years before the Berlin Wall has fallen, so, you can take it as a prophesy. You can see in this MV Adriano Celentano, an Italian singer-songwriter, actor, showman, and filmmaker, walking with balalaika on his shoulder. He was enormously popular in Russia at the time. Scorpions were too, of course. Every Russian knew who The Scorpions are...
Vladimir Chupin
2025-03-02 20:05:58 +0000 UTCWoC is the first song from my childhood that I can really remember. And some of the images in the video probably have a lot to do with that, because I was born on the east side of Berlin in the early 80s, and I was one of the first to leave for the west with my parents after the wall came down. There are only scraps or moments that I do remember, but it was for sure wild and chaotic. Moreover, I don't only associate positive memories from the following years with this song, because as an East German you weren't necessarily welcomed everywhere with open arms in the West. And certainly not among stupid children. :) So yes, that's the song I can remember first connected to a lot of memories, and it's probably also the reason why I like rock music so much today, but it's also a little bittersweet whenever I hear it. You're not alone in feeling exhausted by the news. I've been feeling the same for many years now, and I decide very precisely when and how much I'm going to take in, in addition to what I inevitably get anyway. :)
Phaeron
2025-03-02 19:59:08 +0000 UTCSomething similar happened during the Korean War when in defiance of president Truman, MacArthur crossed the 38th parallel ... it was the end of MacArthur's illustrious and successful military career. He wanted to invade China. We can only imagine what the world would be like if he were allowed to continue.
PANIC
2025-03-02 19:30:36 +0000 UTCAs an aside ... and it could never be recommended for reaction due to popularity ... the only other rock song with historical significance that I know of is "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour, ironically released around the same time (1988). Like Wind of Change, it could have easily been written today. I do know of history teachers who have used Cult of Personality to teach in class. The opening was from Malcom X's speech "Message to the Grass Roots". The title was penned by Nikita Khrushchev in response to Joseph Stalin "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences". Other historical figures seen and heard in the video include JFK, FDR, MLK, Benito Mussolini, and Mahatma Gandhi. According to Vernon Reid, "a famous German" was originally also in the lyrics but was pulled due to fear that referring to him would be misconstrued and too controversial. Also I expected NittPicc to mention the Russian Balalaika as heard in the Wind of Change lyrics ... but due to the other words in context, it is indeed insignificant. The Balalaika is a triangular shaped stringed instrument ... and while Schenker plays mostly flying V style guitars I'd like to think the guitar he used for the solo had some significance. "Let your balalaika sing", "What my guitar wants to say".
PANIC
2025-03-02 18:56:52 +0000 UTCCzechoslovakia history as part of east block is complicated. As Europe was devided by west and east armies we ended on east side, but U.S. army could get farther into contry but weren't allowed to. In 1948 communist party won election and in atempt to get power position in USSR started hunt for democrats. Including persecuton of Aircraft pilots who fight in battle of britain, judicial murder of Milada Horáková and her cowetkers. In 1960 some more liberal laws were made and USSR didn't like it. It ended with "friendly army" invasion in 1968. They stayed here until 90s. Munchen treason in 1938 and invasion in 1968 is reason behind czech don't fully trust allies. 1938 is used as argument against NATO.
frantaf
2025-03-02 18:39:21 +0000 UTCDon't worry ... I cried with you. This song and video have always had that effect on me. As a child I was raised by my mother in the shadow of the Vietnam war ... and as a child I was always in fear of being drafted and having to go and fight. I think that fear is what kept me from a military life in any way. It also instilled in me a deep admiration for anyone brave enough to go and serve. That war ended when I was 9 but left an indelible mark on my childhood. My mother and father were divorced but I did know others who would never see their fathers again ... Of all the scenes of war, the two video passages that stick out to me are - the wall actually coming down ... and "tank man" ... the unknown and unidentified Chinese student who stopped an entire tank column in Tiananmen Square. Even today those photos are heavily censored ... no accounts are given or stories told in China ... people do not speak of it. The incident occurred on June 4th and the outside world refers to it as "June Fourth Massacre", inside China to avoid getting in trouble with the government, people have created names that describe that day so it can at least be discussed like May 35th and Eight Squared (since 82=64) and 8964 (in yymd format). Neither the protestor (rumored to be Wang Weilin but never confirmed) or the operator of the tank were ever identified. As most people who know me, know I spent time in Korea myself as an expat. I met my wife (1991) there and was with her when both of her brothers were serving in the military (compulsory). Due to her brother being an officer I was offered an opportunity to travel to the DMZ ( the demilitarized zone) very rare for a foreigner, to have lunch with one of his officer friends who was still serving. It was surreal and the closest I have ever come to seeing conflict in real life. I asked my wife as we were getting close to the North Korean border "why do the bridges look so strange?" ... appearing to be built out of crossed timber. She told me they are designed and built to only hold a certain amount of weight so that tanks and heavy transports cannot cross. An old land mine had gone off in a rice paddy visible from the camp I visited just the week before. Whether you realize it or not, many parts of our world are still affected by war time relics. Unlike NittPicc I do not believe the world will end in my lifetime ... we have always found some way to endure and carry on. I do hope that NittPicc's father has a chance to see this reaction ... and hope that music can strengthen their bond. I was touched ... thank you for the reaction :) .
PANIC
2025-03-02 17:23:02 +0000 UTC
