Pink Floyd to Scorpions: Encountering the Berlin Wall in pop culture

In 1989, one evening as the roars of protests in Germany which the world was witnessing, took a surprising turn. While once people were shot for jumping the Berlin Wall, the gates had now been opened, as a gleeful crowd from East and West Germany stood on the wall and asserted themselves and their right to be one. Dismantling it by hand and hammers, the crowd could be stopped at nothing. [caption id=“attachment_535320” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Elton John. Getty Images.[/caption] The iconic moment when the wall fell was best captured by Angela Merkel when she said on Monday that “dreams do come true.” Germany’s struggle to unite and its success inspired many: from U2 to Pink Floyd to the Scorpions. Here is a quick list of the Berlin Wall inspired music that has rocked our world: Pink Floyd - A Great Day for Freedom

From the band’s 1994 album The Division Bell, A Great Day for Freedom, represents the hope of freedom and disappointments after the wall fell, as the band’s then front-man David Gilmour said in an interview. It inspired the lyrics: On the day the wall came down/they threw the locks onto the ground/with glasses high we raised a cry/freedom had arrived. Scorpions - Wind of Change

While the song celebrated ‘Glasnost’, then-USSR’s decision to improve government transparency, the German classic rock band’s iconic song is best known for the footage of the Berlin wall collapsing at the end, symbolising the moment when history was created. “Let your Balaikas sing, what my guitar want to say” roars the band’s frontman Klaus Meine in his distinctive voice. “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 song goes, as bit by bit, the wall comes undone. Elton John - Nikita

This is a song filled with connections. The song talks about a man in love with an East German guard named Nikita who he cannot speak to because he isn’t allowed into the country. “And if there comes a time/Guns and gates no longer hold you in/And if you’re free to make a choice/Just look towards the west and find a friend,” the British legend sings. What you may not realise is that aside from the West Germany references, the name Nikita is a common Russian name for men and when the song was released in 1985, the British icon was yet to come out of the closet. David Bowie - Heroes

Released in 1977, Heroes, was the second album to form part of David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy. Living and making music in Berlin, Bowie had to move to West Berlin in 1976 following his drug addiction. Breathing in the freedom of allied-controlled West Germany, Bowie wrote about the wall of shame in his title track Heroes, which is now counted among classics. The story of two people in love in a divided world, Bowie sang: “I, I can remember/Standing, by the wall/And the guns shot above our heads’And we kissed/as though nothing could fall/And the shame was on the other side/Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever/Then we could be Heroes/just for one day.” U2 - One

When U2 moved to Berlin on the eve of East and West Germany unification to begin recording their album Achtung Baby, they had hoped the the reunification would inspire them. But in the aftermath, the morose and tense nation inspired little. It was the song called ‘One’ which got the band back in its groove. “One love/One blood/One life/You got to do what you should/One life/With each other/Sisters/Brothers/One life/But we’re not the same/We get to/Carry each other/Carry each other,” the song says towards the end. But the now-popular anthem for AIDS awareness was originally the band’s attempt to allow Berlin Wall and its fall to inspire music. David Hasselhoff’s - Looking for Freedom

On New Years eve 1989, the The Baywatch heartthrob was far from the beach. Standing with the Brandenburg Gate in the background, Hasselhoff sang “Looking for Freedom” as thousands looking at him chanted his words like children mesmerised by a fairy tale. “Later, Hasselhoff says people told him it was more than just a pop song. The song, he says, became their anthem and “our song of hope,” an NPR interview quotes him as saying.