I want to tell you the story of a song. It might just be the most influential song of the 20th century.

The story starts in Moscow, at Lennon Stadium in the summer of 1989.

For decades, rock and roll had been all but banned in the Soviet Union because the Kremlin saw it as a threat to communist control.

But now, the biggest heavy metal bands on the planet had come to Moscow for an unprecedented concert.

Motley Crew was here in Skid Row, Ozzy Osborn, John Von Jovy and these guys.

This is Matae Ziaos. This is Oshenko. This is Klaus Mayno. This is Klaus Mayno.

A band from West Germany called the Scorpions.

Moscow!

We rock you like a hurricane!

According to Rock Legend, the lead singer of the Scorpions, Klaus Mayno, was so inspired by his experience in Moscow

and after the concert, he wrote a new song. It was a power ball called Wind of Change.

The Berlin Wall can no longer contain the East German people.

Right around the time the song came out, the Berlin Wall was the only one who could not be the winner.

It became the soundtrack to a revolution that was sweeping Europe.

The Berlin Wall can no longer contain the East German people.

From the time the song came out, the Berlin Wall fell.

The Soviet president has been removed from power and there are tanks now in the streets of Moscow.

Two years after that, the Soviet Union collapsed.

So you could feel that is the wind of change in the...

Wind of Change was an anthem of progress and freedom and hope.

And it went to number one on the charts all across Europe.

My name is Patrick Radenkeef. I'm an investigative journalist at the New Yorker magazine.

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