A Dream Of Peace: The Scorpions Announce 'Wind Of Change: The Iconic Song' Box Set For Black Friday

[Cover image credit to Ian Laidlaw]

The Scorpions are celebrating 30 years of the seminal song "Wind of Change" by releasing the retail version of the box set Wind of Change: The Iconic Song on Black Friday this year.

The box set “Wind of Change: The Iconic Song” is dedicated to the power ballad written by Klaus Meine, which became the soundtrack for the end of the Cold War. According to the band, the song was inspired by the experience of playing at the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989, and it embodies the "feelings of hope, optimism, and the prospect of a better future".
 
Klaus Meine says about the song, reflecting on it in 2020:

"When we came on stage in the Lenin Stadium and started the show with "Blackout" all the Red Army soldiers, who function as security, threw their hats and jackets in the air, turned to us, and became part of the crowd. The world was changing right in front of our eyes...It was unbelievable!”
 
In an included 84 page book, Dr. Edgar Klüsener, former Editor-in-Chief of Metal Hammer and close confidant of the band, dives into the story behind the song. Having interviewed Klaus Meine exclusively for this purpose in June 2020, he writes about the genesis and impact of the song. Additionally, the book contains several pages of photographs from the band‘s photographer Didi Zill and from Klaus Meine‘s private archive, as well as the handwritten lyrics for "Wind of Change" by Klaus Meine.
 
In addition to the book, the box set includes a vocal and piano arrangement of “Wind of Change” as well as a CD and 12” LP with 5 versions of the song: the original “Crazy World”-album version, the Berlin Philharmonic version, the Russian and Spanish versions, and an unreleased demo version by Klaus Meine.

 
Klaus Meine concludes:

"In times of COVID-19 and all the wild conspiracy theories in these extremely trying times, “Wind of Change” is like a hug, a good friend from a time when the hope for a peaceful world seemed to be fulfilled. The dream of peace lives on in this song.”