Wind Of Change: Spotify’s original podcast is a storytelling masterclass
The project, led by journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, is a compelling narrative filled with research and absurdity.
Forget the storytelling course you’re planning to take while we’re all trying to get the most of life at home. There is some true state of the art productions that can teach us how great stories are built and told. Wind Of Change, Spotify’s original podcast, along with Pineapple Street Studios and Crooked Media, is one of them.
Spies. Secrets. Soviets. And tight leather pants. This is the “slogan” for the show, hosted by New Yorker journalist Patrick Radden Keefe. Throughout eight episodes, he investigates one of the most absurd (and therefore exciting) stories you will hear about music history. The short version is:
There’s this rumor that “Wind of Change”, the famous power ballad from german hard rock band Scorpions, was actually written by the CIA to encourage change among people throughout the Soviet Union during the last moments of the Cold War.
I should add a disclaimer: the great thing about this podcast is that there’s no toxic obsession around this theory. Instead, the project is a perfect example of how we can soundly engage in a story that may be bogus, but still worth listening to.
If this intro wasn’t enough for you to get your headphones right now and get into this rabbit hole, I guarantee that what we learn during the show, about how the secret service works and the historical facts that prove that music can have a big impact political events, will be worth your time.
Two friends obsessed with secrets
The podcast begins with a phone call. We hear Patrick’s friend, Michael, who originally told him the story about the Scorpion’s song, talking on the phone to someone who is never properly identified — they give him a codename, “Oliver”.
Patrick is sitting right next to Michael but he can’t make a sound because the person on the other end of the line can’t suspect that he’s there, eavesdropping on 50% of the conversation, since we don’t hear what Oliver is actually saying.
We notice the silence in the lower Manhattan apartment they’re recording the first episode at. Michael has a brief (I mean, really brief) conversation with his potential source, who rejects any chance of helping them.
This is a very symbolic way to start this podcast because we will later find out that this journey often leads to dead ends and reluctant sources who refuse to give them information, which makes the victories and discoveries even sweeter when they finally happen.
From this point on, the podcast reveals to be a huge opportunity to learn about how to build a deep and complex narrative structure.
A compelling narrative filled with research and absurdity
Patrick knows that the story can sound absurdm or even ridiculous. He talks all the time about how crazy would be for the CIA to team up with a rock band to release a hit (officially written by Scorpions’ lead singer Klaus Meine during the band’s visit to the USSR in 1989) to drive change during the Cold War. So he acknowledges the weirdness of it all, but that’s exactly what keeps him going.
The mysterious and comic aspect of the podcast makes it very unique. You want to find out more, and begin asking yourself “Is that even possible? No way. Wait, but this is curious. But, really, what a ridiculous rumor. No, wait…”
If you find yourself through this same cycle, you’ll probably hear all the episodes in a single weekend, because the story develops with so much context. There’s also a mixture of excitement and caution int the air, and an alternation between breakthroughs and setbacks as the story unfolds.
The episodes carefully blend Patrick’s narration with documentaries’ audio snippets, bits of songs, and old interviews with late artists such as Nina Simone.
There are especially a whole series of audio excerpts from a documentary shot during the Moscow Music Peace Festival, in 1989, that flew rock bands — such as Ozzy Osbourne, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Cinderella, and of course, Scorpions — to USSR to play in a stadium. (Make sure you watch the documentary later on YouTube. It’s really something.)
A cast of unusual characters with untold stories
The interviews led by Patrick are essential to the quality and complexity of the podcast. The narrator carefully introduces each new character, making sure we know why they’re important for the story, and the script is similar to an investigative journalism piece, with tantalizing revelations.
When Patrick is interviewing someone, he pauses the conversation to comment about it and give you new information, to ensure you understand why he chose to include that interview in the final cut. The producers also make sure they include the sounds that will help us feel like we’re part of this journey, like footsteps and cars passing by.
The final interview, with Klaus Meine, is the ultimate example of this. We hear muffled chatter before it begins, and Patrick shares how anxious he is. It’s time to confront Meine about the origin of the song, but he’s just great, considerate, and polite. They both talk for almost an hour and get along. So, regardless of what he learns about this rumor, it’s fascinating to follow Patrick to this point.
According to him, in this interview for Deadline, he and Michael have speculated about the veracity of this rumor for 10 years, and Wind Of Change was a one-year project. He talked with more than 90 people, most of them rockers and former spies, in four countries. So this was, indeed, an ambitious project for podcast standards.
The result makes it clear why all the people involved in this production decided to bet on it. It’s fascinating to hear a well-structured investigation story, of such a historical time, with a “strange mashup of different worlds that don’t normally come together”, according to Keefe himself in this other interview for Esquire.
Mysteries aside, what really stuck with me was the sense of wonder we get from this audio narrative and the mastery behind the production. Immediately listening to archival tapes the moment Patrick mentions their relevance to the story, feeling that we’re part of his journey, trying to figure out if the sources are actually telling the truth by hearing them.
If it were a film, maybe the sources would be less willing to talk. If it were a written piece, we wouldn’t feel so close to the story. The fact is: Patrick is an amazing storyteller, who knows more than anyone that this project tells us more about the nature of conspiracy theories and the passion for stories than the truth itself.
