SONG: Wind of Change by Scorpions

Genre:balad rock, included in the album Crazy World (1990)

YEAR: 1990

Level: FCE

GROUP HISTORY

1.- Complete the table below

SCORPIONS
WHAT I KNOW WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW

2.- Read the whole text below and

2.1.- Look up the underlined words in the dictionary. Is there any other word you would like to
add to your vocabulary journal? Feel free to look its meaning up and record it in your journal.

2.2.- Concentrate on all the words and expressions related to MUSIC / CONCERTS / SHOW
BUSINESS and write them under the corresponding arrow

ADJECTIVES VERBS -
PHRASAL VERBS JOBS

EG: outstanding EG: singer

EG: sparked off

ADVERBS RELATED NOUNS

EXPRESSIONS –
COLLOCATIONS

EG: impressively
EG: venues
EG: worldwide tours
benefit concert
Like many youngsters born in post-war Germany, Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker were influenced by the music and
other life-enhancing delights imported into their homeland by American GI‟s – Elvis Presley, chewing gum, blue jeans and
leather jackets, but most of all rock „n‟ roll. From an early age, both of them had an irresistible urge to grab a guitar and
step into the limelight. In the early 1960s the Beatles sparked off the beat revolution. By the mid-1960s Klaus Meine
and Rudolf Schenker, both of whom were blessed with understanding parents, had also taken to the stage with their
beat groups. In 1965 Rudolf Schenker started up the SCORPIONS in Hanover. Rudolf‟s younger brother Michael
Schenker was, like Matthias Jabs, smitten by beat music and the burgeoning rock culture.

At New Year 1970, the younger Schenker brother Michael, who despite his youth had already established himself as an
outstanding guitarist, left the Hanover-based group Copernicus, along with singer and composer Klaus Meine, to join
Rudolf Schenker‟s SCORPIONS. Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine teamed up to form the accomplished Schenker/Meine
songwriting duo, so laying the foundations for a spectacular success story.

2.3.- Use the word given in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits
in the same line.

In 1972, the SCORPIONS ----------------- their remarkable debut album, RELEASE

Lonesome Crow in Hamburg. The vocal and --------------------- ingredients INSTRUMENT
which over the years were to develop into the typical, ------------------------ MISTAKE
SCORPIONS sound, were already recognisable: uncompromising,
guitar-orientated hard rock, on the lines of what Jimmy Hendrix,
Cream and Led Zeppelin generated in the mid-1960s. The distinctive
SCORPIONS style came from the --------------------------- of two electric guitars, COMBINE
a fusion of fabulously forceful power riffs with dazzlingly exuberant guitar
solos. Added to which was the ---------------------- recognisable voice of singer INSTANT
and front man Klaus Meine with his highly expressive and polished
delivery. In one respect, the SCORPIONS were unique on the German
rock scene of the period. Because, right from the start, the band was
aiming for the very top of the ----------------------- hard rock business, Klaus NATIONAL
Meine wrote all his lyrics in English. The first album Lonesome Crow
set the band on the path to international success. ---------------------their THROUGH
history Rudolf Schenker has been the unshakeable driving force behind
the SCORPIONS. He adopted his father‟s philosophy of life – nothing is
impossible as long as you believe in it. Right from the foundation of the
SCORPIONS, he had only one declared ------------------: "one day the AMBITIOUS
SCORPIONS will be one of the best heavy rock bands in the world!"
It was an idea to which all the band members were ----------------------. COMMIT
The SCORPIONS were constantly on the lookout for fresh challenges.
Every change in the line-up was seen as an opportunity to move closer
still to success and the achievement of absolute ------------------------- . PROFESSION

In the 1970s, the SCORPIONS undertook tours of Western Europe, playing countless venues and conquering one country
after another. They would appear wherever there was somewhere to plug in their instruments. Beginning with their third
LP In Trance, (1975), they began their working relationship with well-known international producer Dieter Dierks. They
were firmly launched on their hard rock career. In Trance was the best-selling RCA album in Japan, where a regular
SCORPION mania broke out. In 1975 the SCORPIONS toured Europe, sharing top billing with KISS.

In Germany that same year, they were voted best live group. During their first UK tour in 1975, the SCORPIONS
entered what might be called "the lion‟s den", playing at Liverpool‟s legendary Cavern Club. In the birthplace of hard
rock, they succeeded in gaining the acceptance of the most dyed-in-the-wool British fans. Gigs at the renowned London
venue, the Marquee, were further highpoints of the mid-1970s. The SCORPIONS achieved their ambition to be the top
German hard rock band, when their fourth album Virgin Killer (1976) won the "LP of the Year" award in Germany. In
Japan, Virgin Killer gained them their first Gold Disc. Their follow-up album Taken by Force (1977) was also awarded a
Japanese Gold Disc. In 1978 the SCORPIONS toured Japan, the world‟s second largest music market, where they got a
foretaste of what it was like to be superstars. When they arrived at Tokyo airport, the five heavy metal men were
mobbed by adoring fans.
2.4.- Think of the word which best fits each space. Use only one word in each
space.

In 1978 ------ advertisement appeared in the Melody Maker: the SCORPIONS were looking ----- a new lead guitarist. In
London, they auditioned 140 hopefuls, before deciding ----- Hanover-born Matthias Jabs. Thrown in at the deep end,
Matthias Jabs immediately joined ------ band in recording Lovedrive (1979) ------ was then in production. The album was
to be the group‟s biggest triumph so far, and is ------ one the SCORPIONS‟ best-ever albums. The sleeve received a
prize for the best artwork ----------the year. In Matthias Jabs, the SCORPIONS had finally found the lead guitarist ----
-------creativity, virtuosity and enthusiasm continue to make a decisive contribution -------- the band‟s success. With
him, the band achieved an even ---------- solid sound. Like the missing piece in the jigsaw, his guitar style fitted to
perfection into the group dynamic, creating the unique SCORPIONS sound. Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias
Jabs still form the musical backbone of the band. Already hailed as a super group ------------ the 1978 tour of Japan, in
1979 the band set out to conquer the vast US market. Their weapons: a professional attitude paired ------ a steely
determination to succeed and a philosophy of friendship, both within the band and towards ------------ fans, as -----------
as great musicality. As a rock band working on the international scene, the SCORPIONS had long since created their own
musical identity. In the 1980s, they built ------ a considerable following in the States. Van Halen launched their musical
career in the mid-1970s with cover versions of SCORPIONS songs: Speedy‟s Coming (from Fly to the Rainbow) and Catch
Your Train (from Virgin Killer).USA was the biggest market of all for hard and heavy rock.

In 1979 the SCORPIONS embarked on their first major tour -------- USA rock arenas as opening act with Aerosmith,
Ted Nugent and AC/DC. On this first American tour, the SCORPIONS quickly learned the rules of the game in the
international rock business.

Their seventh album Lovedrive -------- released in the USA in 1979, and was the first SCORPIONS production to receive
a Gold Disc there. Animal Magnetism followed in 1980. With the two albums, the band finally made their North American
breakthrough. --------- their second US tour the SCORPIONS were top of the bill. The era of SCORPIONS monster
tours -------- begun. After more successful world tours, in 1981, --------- recording Blackout, Klaus Meine lost his voice.
Not wishing to stand in the way of the band‟s success, Klaus Meine wanted to pull out.

But the unshakeable friendship between Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine and the close and supportive relationship
within the band allowed the seemingly impossible to happen. After lengthy vocal retraining --------- two operations on his
vocal chords, Klaus Meine overcame the trauma. And that was not all: in 1982, he re-emerged with a ------------ increased
vocal range. One critic wrote: "They have given Klaus Meine metal vocal chords." The band‟s decision to stand --------
their lead singer through this troubled time later proved to be the most crucial the SCORPIONS ever took in the their
entire career. It was Klaus Meine ----------- in 1989 composed their smash hit Wind of Change. In 1982, on their second
US tour as headliners with Iron Maiden as support act, the SCORPIONS promoted their groundbreaking album Blackout,
One hit followed another, and in the 1980s the SCORPIONS captured the hearts of hard rock fans around the world.

In 1984 the SCORPIONS became the first German hard rock band to play three successive gigs in front of 60,000 fans
at New York‟s Madison Square Garden. The SCORPIONS had finally scaled the Mount Olympus of rock. With three
albums featuring simultaneously in the US charts: Animal Magnetism (1980), Blackout, (1982) and Love at First Sting
(1984), the SCORPIONS spent two years on the road playing as headliner or co-headliner at all the big rock festivals
that sprang up around the world after Woodstock. The SCORPIONS toured the globe, with a fleet of articulated lorries,
Nightliner buses, helicopters, private jets and the inevitable limos. This was the golden age of heavy rock. With gigantic
stage and light shows and dramatic firework effects, the SCORPIONS unleashed a pyrotechnic display of sound and
light. Their relentless energy sent the fans wild. To US audiences, the SCORPIONS, with their polished, hard-edged
"melodic rock" and Klaus Meine‟s dramatic power singing with its dizzying top notes, came to epitomise the best in heavy
rock. Groups like Bon Jovi, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, later to become mega bands, were support acts on
the SCORPIONS‟ worldwide tours, learning what it meant for a band to hold its own in the rock arena in front of an
audience of millions. Love at First Sting became one of the most successful albums in rock history. It includes the
SCORPIONS‟ most electrifying numbers Rock You Like a Hurricane, Bad Boys Running Wild, and the masterpiece Still
Loving You. The critics struggled for superlatives. Rolling Stone called the SCOPRIONS "the heroes of heavy metal". The
SCORPIONS were admitted to the exclusive club of the world‟s 30 greatest rock groups. Their ballad Still Loving You
became an international rock anthem. and became the SCORPIONS‟ musical trademark around the globe.

The SCORPIONS‟ most memorable appearances as headliners were at the 1983 US Festival in California‟s San Bernadino
Valley in front of an audience of 325,000 and at the first Rock in Rio in 1985 where they were cheered by 350,000
enthusisatic South American SCORPIONS fans. The 1985 double album World Wide Live, a counterpart to the 1978
Tokyo Tapes, impressively documented the band‟s more recent international triumphs. In 1986, the SCORPIONS topped
the bill at the legendary Monsters of Rock Festival and played in the Hungarian capital Budapest, their first-ever
appearance in an Eastern Block country. By now the SCORPIONS were a household name, with hard rock hits featuring in
the charts around the world. In the 1980s, the SCORPIONS created a kind of modern hard rock that is just as popular
today. Their authentic power rock ballads, such as Still Loving You, Holiday and later Wind of Change, Send Me an Angel,
When You Came Into My Life and You and I, along with acoustic based songs such as Always Somewhere and When the
Smoke is Going Down have managed to win over even the most unyielding haters of hard rock Savage Amusement, the last
album co-produced with Dieter Dierks, was released in 1988. It reached N° 3 in the US chart and N° 1 in Europe. Even
after years of touring the USA and the rest of the world, the SCORPIONS did not rest on their laurels and continued to
seek out fresh challenges. As a prelude to their 1988 Savage Amusement world tour, they penetrated the Iron Curtain
to give 10 sell-out concerts in Leningrad for 350,000 Soviet fans. They were the first international hard rock band to
play in the former USSR, cradle of Communism. Hard rock, heavy metal and especially the SCORPIONS‟ ballad Still
Loving You had already found their way through the Iron Curtain. The SCORPIONS are still given a rapturous reception
in Russia today. A year later, in August 1989, 20 years after Woodstock, the Soviet authorities, encouraged by the
success of the SCORPIONS‟ 1988 Leningrad concert, gave permission for the legendary Moscow Music Peace Festival.
Here, the SCORPIONS shared the stage with other international hard rock acts, including Bon Jovi, Motley Crüe, Skid
Row, Cinderella and Ozzy Osbourne and the Russian band Gorky Park playing to 260,000 Soviet rock fans in Moscow‟s
Lenin Stadium. In September 1989 Klaus Meine drew on his impressions of the Moscow Music Peace Festival, to create
the SCORPIONS‟ smash hit Wind of Change. Then, in November 1989, came a completely unexpected event. The fall of
the Berlin Wall. Throughout the world, Wind of Change became the hymn to glasnost and perestroika, providing the
soundtrack to the opening of the Iron Curtain, the fall of Communism and the end of the Cold War. One year later, in
1990, the SCORPIONS played in Potsdamer Platz where a section of the Wall once stood, in Roger Waters‟s spectacular
production, The Wall. The SCORPIONS recorded a Russian version of Wind of Change. They also gained a distinguished
fan. In 1991, the members of the German band were invited to the Kremlin to meet Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet
head of state and party leader. It was a unique event in the history of the USSR and rock music.

For the SCORPIONS too, the wind of change continued to blow. Before the production and release of their worldwide
mega seller the Wind of Change CD, Crazy World (1990), their long relationship with Dieter Dierks, the Cologne-based
producer of so many successful recordings, came to an end. The very first album to be produced by the SCORPIONS
themselves, Crazy World, made in Los Angeles, co-produced by Keith Olsen and featuring the smash hit Wind of Change,
immediately became the most successful CD to date. Not only was Crazy World the most successful album, Wind of
Change was the worldwide top single of 1991, occupying the N° 1 slot in 11 countries. In 1992, they received the World
Music Award as the most successful German rock act. Crazy World is impressive testimony to the songwriting talents of
the SCORPIONS‟ masterminds: Matthias Jabs‟s contribution is the dynamic title track Tease Me, Please Me, while
Rudolf Schenker once again proves his ability to hit the spot with his classic SCORPIONS ballad, Send Me an Angel, and
Klaus Meine displays his brilliance as a composer in Wind of Change. At the end of the 1992 Crazy World tour, the
SCORPIONS and their long-time bass player Francis Buchholz parted company. The 1993 CD Face the Heat (co-
producer: Bruce Fairbairn), featured the band‟s new bass man, conservatoire graduate Ralph Rieckermann. In 1994 the
SCORPIONS again received a World Music Award. Yet another high point of their career came when, at the invitation of
the family of the "King of Rock „n‟ Roll", Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, and the "King of Pop", Michael Jackson, they
performed their cover version of His Latest Flame at the 1994 Elvis Presley Memorial Concert in Memphis, Tennessee. In
the same year the SCORPIONS committed themselves to helping United Nations efforts on behalf of refugees from the
civil war in Rwanda. In only one week the band produced and released their benefit single White Dove. At the end of
1995, just before completing the Pure Instinct CD, released in 1996, the SCORPIONS‟ veteran drummer and long-time
companion Herman "The German" Rarebell left the band.

In 1995 the SCORPIONS engaged former AC/DC manager Stewart Young, and it fell to him to call James Kottak on the
phone and hire him as drummer for the upcoming 1996/97 Pure Instinct Live Tour. James Kottak became the first
American to play in the German rock band. With the two new members, bass player Ralph Rieckermann and drummer
James Kottak, the SCORPIONS had introduced a new generation of musicians into the group. On the Pure Instinct world
tour, the SCORPIONS proved that they were still among the global players on the international rock scene. Not only did
they play in Europe, the USA and South America. In countries like Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, they continued
to notch up well above average record sales and collect gold and platinum discs. In November 1996, the SCORPIONS
were the first international hard rock band to play to fans in Beirut after the end of the civil war in Lebanon. The cover
of Eye to Eye (1999) marked a change of image for the SCORPIONS. Only the founder members of the band, Rudolf
Schenker, Klaus Meine and Matthias Jabs feature on the front cover. The album itself is a statement of the
SCORPIONS‟ awesome talents as songwriters and instrumentalists. Songs like Mysterious, Mind Like a Tree, Eye to Eye,
Yellow Butterfly and A Moment in a Million Years show the band at the pinnacle of their creativity. With Du Bist So
Schmutzig (You‟re So Dirty), the SCORPIONS are heard for the first time singing a German lyric. As part of their 1999
Eye to Eye world tour, at the invitation of Michael Jackson, they played at the Michael Jackson and Friends benefit
concert in Munich. True to their motto "Don‟t stop at the top" the SCORPIONS are starting the new millennium with a
new musical challenge: a crossover project with the internationally renowned classical orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic,
once conducted by the great Herbert von Karajan.
After the release of the Eye to Eye CD in 1999 and the subsequent world tour, the SCORPIONS got down to serious
business in the autumn of the same year. The SCORPIONS gave a foretaste of what is to come when, at the invitation of
the German government, they played in front of Berlin‟s Brandenburg Gate on 11 November 1999, the 10th anniversary of
German reunification. Joining them in their performance of Wind of Change were 166 cellists. The work was conducted
by the distinguished cello virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich.

In January 2000, the SCORPIONS and Christian Kolonovits began studio recordings in Vienna. The Berlin Philharmonic
recorded the orchestral parts in April 2000. The complete work was mixed during April and May 2000. The crossover CD
Moment of Glory, featuring the SCORPIONS with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, was released on 19 June 2000. The
first live performance took place at EXPO in Hanover on 22 June 2000. The album also includes the official EXPO
anthem Moment of Glory.. With their uncompromising rock album the SCORPIONS have unequivocally sounded their
return in 2004 to the worldwide hard‟n‟heavy arena. UNBREAKABLE is a concept album in a very special sense. It
symbolises the indestructibility of the basic musical coordinates of the SCORPIONS. The unique power triad of
outstanding musical figures: singer-songwriter Klaus Meine, guitarist and composer Rudolf Schenker and lead guitarist
and composer Matthias Jabs. UNBREAKABLE, the twentieth SCORPIONS album, is the quintessence of thirty-five years
of SCORPIONS history. And at the same time it marks the re-commitment of Germany‟s internationally most successful
hard rock export to their essential strengths. “First and foremost we are a rock band,” says Klaus Meine, leaving no room
for doubt. “Our fans expect to really feel the lethal sting of the SCORPIONS. So with UNBREAKABLE we‟ve recorded a
typical SCORPIONS album. Rudolf Schenker sees UNBREAKABLE as building a bridge between the SCORPIONS and
their fans. “It‟s an album that brings the old and the new generation of SCORPIONS fans together.

Matthias Jabs sums it up: “With the new album we‟ve returned to what the SCORPIONS are really all about. Hand-made
rock music. Pick up the instruments, plug them in, play,” is how he describes the highly successful three months spent
working in the studio. “The band together in one room for the basic tracks - back to the roots but in the contemporary
rock sound of 2004. “UNBREAKABLE is the best record ever from Germany‟s No. 1 rock machine.” With UNBREAKABLE
2004 Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs are going onto the musical offensive with a typical SCORPIONS
coup: Pawel Maciwoda is the new bass player of Germany‟s globally most successful rock act. This new band member is
another signal that there‟s no going back for the SCORPIONS.

UNBREAKABLE symbolises the musical and personal identity that has characterised the SCORPIONS for over thirty-
five years and accounted for their lasting worldwide success. “We‟ve often been through hell, to experience heaven.
We‟ve always had faith in ourselves and have never accepted limitations for ourselves,” is how Rudolf Schenker sums it
up. “Doing a world tour and seeing how people respond to the music and are carried away by it,” is for Rudolf Schenker
simply “the best there is.” An “adventure” that he “wouldn‟t miss for the world.” For SCORPIONS vocalist Klaus Meine
it‟s “a fascinating experience, again and again, to contribute towards a peaceful world through the global language of
music. To show that music is a language that crosses frontiers and overcomes differences.” The outstanding date in this
respect was the concert the SCORPIONS – from Germany – gave in 2002 in Volgograd. For these musicians, born in post-
war Germany between 1948 and 1955, it was a deeply felt contribution towards atonement. What‟s important for
Matthias Jabs is to make “music that‟s enduring” and that embodies the identity of the SCORPIONS. Over time and up
there in front of the fans. Music that satisfies the band‟s own musical needs and those of their audiences. Music, above
all, that stands the test of a live concert – in the full exposure of the spotlights, “where you can‟t hide anything.” In
2004 Klaus Meine gives this summary of the impressive history of the SCORPIONS: “There‟ll never be any substitute
for live concerts with real music and real feelings.” It‟s a statement from the heart that also looks forward into the
future. And UNBREAKABLE is the musical statement of now from Germany‟s only global band.

Source: http://www.the-scorpions.com/english/

3.- a) After reading the article, could you get the information you included in exercise 1 “What I
would like to know”?

b) What piece/s of information did you find most interesting?

4.- What do you relate these terms to?

MOSKVA GORKY PARK BALALAIKA

5.- Look the words up in the British Encyclopedia and report on their meaning
6.- Read the lyrics of the song WIND OF CHANGE by Scorpions and

a) explain the following lines

1. An August summer night

Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

2. The world is closing in

Did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers

3. Walking down the street

Distant memories
Are buried in the past forever

b) relate the lyrics to an event / events in the world’s contemporary history

WIND OF CHANGE

I follow the Moskva

Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

The world is closing in

Did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers
The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment

On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change

Walking down the street

Distant memories
Are buried in the past forever
I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment

On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change

The wind of change

Blows straight into the face of time
Like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say
 Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change

Music: Klaus Meine

Lyrics: Klaus Meine

7.- a) Do you know any of the bands mentioned in the article?

b) How important are changes in life? What kind of changes can happen in a person’s life?

c) Can you mention any changes in your life?

d) If you had to prepare a video on this song, how would it be? What would you include in
it?

8.- Watch the video of the song. How similar / different is it to your ideas?

9.- WRITING. Choose one

a) Write a letter to your friend explaining him/her any change/s that have occured in your
life.
Write about 120-180 words in an appropiate style. Do not write any addresses.

b) You read an article in your local newspaper cricizing the German band Scorpions. You
do not agree with it. Write a letter to the editor stating your point of view. Write about 120-
180 words in an appropiate style.