Holy hell, this podcast might be perfect

Get ready for eight episodes of German cheese-rock madness.

Back in third form, our music teacher set us a challenge: we were given a week to learn a song, practice it, and then play it in front of our classmates.

The kicker? We had to play it on two different instruments.

I can’t remember why, but my chosen song was Wind of Change, that clunky, schmaltzy, inexplicably huge ballad with the whistled intro from German rockers Scorpions.

I chose to play it on the piano first, and had no problem nailing that simple melody.

But I distinctly remember blowing those opening notes into a flute in front of 20 or so of my 13-year-old peers, all on the brink of puberty, and thinking: This music thing isn’t going to be for me.

I haven’t heard that song, or thought about that embarrassing high school moment, for nearly 30 years.

Right now, it’s all I can think about.

Why?

A podcast. A really, really good podcast, one that should make you stop what you’re doing, queue up every episode immediately and wonder, What the hell is going on?

Welcome to Wind of Change, eight episodes of unimaginable weirdness from New Yorker writer Patrick Radden Keefe. It’s a total wild ride. I don’t want to spoil any of its surprises, but this is the best kind of podcast, one where a journalist gets obsessed about something silly and begins pulling on every thread to get to the truth.

Basically, Keefe heard a rumour about the song Wind of Change 10 years ago, and refused to let it go. Untangling his conspiracy theory involves the CIA, a Russian music festival, an American music producer and alleged drug smuggler, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, Skid Row, and - yep - those leather clad German cheese-rockers Scorpions, a band still going strong today.

I love a good music podcast, but there really aren’t that many of them around. Behind the Big Day Out was a sad listen about the downfall of the world’s best music festival, while Break Stuff dove into the Woodstock festival shocker of 1999. Dissect and Song Exploder are lovingly crafted nerd outs. I recommend them all.

But this is something else, a podcast gleaming with grade-A writing and Serial-level production, with a thrilling story to match. Keefe interviews former spies, ex drug smugglers, and plenty of 80s rock has-beens.

It does a fair amount of globe-trotting too. At one point, Keefe finds himself questioning fans at a Scorpions show in Kiev. At another, he attends a GI Joe convention in Ohio. Remember international travel? It will make you wistful for that.

I’ve told you all you need to know. There’s your weekend sorted. Every single episode is up now on Spotify (make sure it plays the episodes in the correct order, because it kept trying to randomise mine). So go listen!

• Hi! This is my eighth post for Boiler Room, a forum dedicated to covering music, television, movies, video games and other things I like. If you like it too, please let me know in the comments, or share it with your friends and sign up to my mailing list. I’ll only send you cool shit - promise!