Wind of Change - Podcast Rankings and reviews

I recommend the "Winds of Change" podcast for those interested in music, history, and politics. The show investigates the rumor that the CIA wrote the hit song "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions. Host Patrick Radden Keefe skillfully weaves together interviews with former CIA operatives, music industry insiders, and members of the Scorpions to create a captivating story.

The podcast is engaging and thought-provoking, with each episode building on the last to offer new insights into the human experience, Cold War politics, and the music industry. "Winds of Change" is a must-listen for mystery lovers and fans of great storytelling.

As an American listener, I was not familiar with the West German group Scorpions and their most famous song, credited by many to have hastened the end of the Iron Curtain and given millions of young people a taste of freedom. Was it the pure power of the song, or did the CIA have a hand in it? Amazing podcast with deep interviews with a cast of characters out of a spy novel.

Cold War intrigue, cheesy metal bands and a story you won’t believe… this podcast is everything I love about the medium; thank you!

Thoughtful, investigative, surprising, and thought-provoking. It could have had tighter editing ( occasionally it veered into distracting detours, like that lengthy description of the rancher town in California) but overall this podcast is close to perfect.

Michael and Patrick, who drive this podcast, opt to take an unscrupulous “all or nothing” approach to the claim motivating the investigation. They dodge around the simplest answers, discounting degrees of separation and “telephone game” in a way that suggests the podcast’s producers are breathing down their backs. After all, if they don’t, how will the producers fill the runtime and connect to all the cool research into espionage? This is a riveting podcast saved by the sweetness of Eastern-Bloc metal-heads and the wit of CIA spooks and their collaborators. Episode two’s opening alone is a tearjerker. It is dragged down by by the men trying to bridge the two. Editing may be at fault for making Patrick seem so bad; all of his threads turn into dead ends, hearsay, or half-remembered notions. In showcasing them, the podcast highlights the moment he taints his witnesses. He’s not some amateur, so his time is valuable; they needed some return-of-investment for this series of nothing-burgers. Michael, on the other hand, comes across as a blusterer, a big talker so used to being at the right place at the right time that he’s unqualified to judge coincidence. He drags his easily-influenced reporter-friend into a rabbit-hole cultivated by his baseless self-assurance. I just hope people don’t take this as a journalistic bellweather. This isn’t what good investigation looks like. Good investigation involves doubt and skepticism, but this podcast uses it at every wrong juncture. It lives on casting aspersions on the notion that West-German rockers, no matter how flamboyant, would actually write about something that deeply affects them. Performers are people too!