Song peaked at No. 4 in 1990
The Scorpions have whistled past a billion views on their iconic video “Winds of Change.” The German rockers have officially joined the YouTube Billion Views Club this week, 14 years after the video was initially uploaded to the popular platform.
“One billion views on ‘Wind of Change’ video!!!” the band shares on Twitter. “What a milestone. Thank you to all the Rock Believers for watching.”
The video for their 1990 hit power ballad features black and white imagery and is credited by some for ending the Cold War between the US and former Soviet Union, according to Billboard.
“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 opening lyrics read.
The nearly five minute video features singer Klaus Meine and company singing with an audience holding up lighters. Performance clips are interspersed with video of tanks, economic disasters, China protests and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The song itself peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became the best-selling single by a German artist. Meine wrote the song during a 1989 visit to Moscow. The Scorps became the second western rock band to play Russia when they visited Leningrad on their Savage Amusement Tour for a 10 night stand at the Sport-and-Concert Complex.
In December, the band achieved a milestone of reaching more than four million subscribers to its YouTube channel.
Last February, the band released its 19th studio album Rock Believer via Vertigo Records featuring the songs “Rock Believer,” “Peacemaker” and “Shining of your Soul.”
They return to the road in April in South America and Europe with dates currently scheduled through July.
