The Most Mysterious Song on The Internet | The Story of "Like The Wind" 

Leave a comment if any of you are interested in me releasing the synthesizer/drum machine version of "Like The Wind" I recorded to use as backing track, I'll post it up on my 2nd channel. Comment below if you're interested. EDIT: Ok after WAYYYY too many months here it is guys, feel free to use this royalty free in your videos just drop a link in the credits: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7NLQNYeL0tQ.html

Somewhere in Germany there are a bunch of sixty year old men with ordinary jobs having no idea that thousands of people on the Internet discuss this song they recorded in their youth. They had a name for their pop group and they named the song, but if they were to google those names they won't find our discussions. I agree that it most likely was an East German band trying to sound like a British or American pop group.

There must be countless songs that just disappeared into history, kind of sad.

Why are these unknown songs always sooo good

Here from a Doom custom map, of all places. I hope that we find who played this song so that they can get their rightful place in music history

Its not just the most mysterious song its also the most copyright free song

As a Russian born in the late 80's, and having grown up on Kino, DDT, etc. - I find your knowledge on this truly refreshing. It has the same light, yet moody style of Depeche Mode / Kino. What an unexpected treat!

I believe that we will never know who truly made this song. I think that it’s likely that everyone involved / band member either doesn’t remember or is dead unfortunately

There were countless of indie bands in ex soviet block countries so there are dozens of similar songs from bands that no longer exist as people grew up, change career, moved on or just died. My pal worked in indie label /record studio in 80s/early 90s and have tons of demo cassettes from noname bands and most of them are real bangers.

Something similar happened on Reddit. A Canadian redditor was looking for the name and artist of a song they had recorded on cassette. The song was Johan Lindell's "On The Roof". The post got so popular that the artist re released the song.

I like how the sound of analogue media has become inherently scary, described as haunting tape hisses and crackles. I grew up with them and nothing about them sounds creepy to me at all, but analogue horror is so popular now.

Sweet. It’s a good song so really it’s a shame that no one claimed it.

I showed this song to my father who grew up in germany very close to the austrian border and he pointed out that the singer could have an austrian accent

As a Russian I can confirm that accent sounds a bit Russian/Slavic, but nothing beyond that. Plus I'm pretty certain all the lyrics are in English, and not in Runglish or whatever. Edit: to clarify, the Slavic hint is pretty small. I'm just not that familiar with other accents. As many have pointed out in the replies, this accent is more likely German.

Omg i know that feeling… i spent 25 years trying to figure out who sung some song on the radio and turned out to be a local band

WOW .. the song fits it’s name.. “Like The Wind” not only in it’s appearance on air, but it’s lyrics and mysterious style. I think it would’ve been a great hit if it didn’t just blow in and out, haunting the airwaves “Like The Wind”, as it’s fateful destiny.

"It's a tough fight, but happiness has to be fought for."

The bit about tape degradation is funny because a lot of radio stations used to play their music slightly faster than the original speed of the recording, so it's quite possible that the slowed down version sounds more like what was intended.

The Austrian musician Ronnie Urini aka Ronnie Rocket claimed to have produced that song in 1983 together with Austrian singer Christian Brandl (died in 1987) and himself on the drums. Urini registered the song at AKM (the Austrian collecting society). Its doubted by some but the singer's accent has something very distinctive Austrian to me. (I'm Austrian myself.) Edit: This is another record of singer Christian Brandl with his Band Chuzpe: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RoUwyNESIGw.html

Feels like something from a dream that somehow made it into reality.

My best guess is that it was an East German band, but not a mainstream band. Perhaps it was a university band who sent a demo to a West German radio station, and the DJ liked it enough to play it on air. If this is the case, the band members would likely be around 60 years old now, and probably oblivious to the fact their song they barely remember making in the 80s is attracting attention of the internet.

I love that even in the age of the internet, mystery still exists. I love this story and post!

Side note, this song being called like the wind is rather fitting we know nothing about it, it’s artist is just like the wind.

This song is like a liminal photo. It feels familiar and you could swear you heard it before, but something’s off about it.

I was stationed in West Berlin from '84 to '86 and this sounds like East German rock that they were playing in the Discotechs at that time. Boy does that bring back memories. Great time.

Wow this is pure hauntology. Has a source in the Balkans been considered? There is an article in the Guardian newspaper that explores that scene ‘It was ridiculous. It was amazing’: the lost pop of 80s Yugoslavia'.

Now that you’ve played it towards the end of your video, I’m very relieved to have it confirmed that we’re NOT talking about Patrick Swayze’s “(She’s) Like the Wind” from “Dirty Dancing.” I feel old enough as it is than to be told by the internet that “no one can figure out the source of this song!” LOL 😅

There are certain songs that took me decades to track down, songs that I had a muddy pre-teen memory of. And then one day, I'd hear it in a movie, generally, and then go to the credits for more information. Just about 4 years ago, I finally got a hold of the original studio version of "Talk Hard" by Stan Ridgway. It appeared in Pump Up The Volume, and it took nearly 3 decades for me to finally obtain it.

I love the "theory" that its from another dimension. It just seens like how that would play out.

Even if this song is like a ghost, song really slaps Btw, imagine that after sending this song to radio station one of the band member says "Hey, did we write our band's name and title?"

IIRC 99 Red Balloons almost ended up this way. A person being interviewed on the station brought in the wrong tape, but everyone kept calling the radio to replay it so it eventually took off

If I have the funds, I may start buying up old German garage band’s records and possibly other tapes from the time. There is a possibility it’s sitting on some record that’s just waiting to be played

What I'm amazed at is NDR does not have records of what was played on that night. You will often find documents in these old companies and businesses related to government in the weirdest places stored LONG term.

"Happiness has to be fought for."

I feel like the title "Like The Wind" is perfect for a song that's been long forgotten.

People have speculated the song is dutch, so "some amorphous language that sounds like a mix of english, german, and russian" might be the funniest description of dutch that I've ever heard lol

You seem to have no idea how many really great bands there are out there who get together, make a demo tape, then disappear without trace each member going their separate way. This is a story that happens every day. Perhaps a member of one such band had a buddy with conncetions to this German radio station, who managed to slip this in among the approved items on the playlist in the hope their musical efforts might get a reaction from the public. It happens. Not everyone who doesn't make it deserves not to make it. Penetrating the media, especially in those days, was tough, however good you were.

Considering it was on a West German station in '84, it's very likely that the DJ slipped in a track from a LOCAL band at the time - a band who may have literally just done something for a few months and recorded a song and there's just nothing of them left anymore. This was a pretty common thing, especially in Europe in the 80's and *especially* during the whole division between East and West Germany at the time. In FACT - a lot of WEST German DJ's would receive songs recorded in secret by EAST German songwriters and bands who couldn't release their stuff in East Germany in the Soviet Bloc - and considering that East Germany would often confiscate and DESTROY those things, it could very well be something like that, which means there's just never going to be any "record" of who this was.

The song has seeped into the ears of countless strangers. One can say, it was Like The Wind.

A few years back my dad did a lot of research into the East German rock bands of the 70s and 80s. The whole subject really is fascinating since a lot of Western music was broadcast from Berlin to deliberately cross the iron curtain and people on the other side picked up a lot of the music and got inspired to make their own. So you can find quite a few of the old Ossierock bands that have really similar sounds to other artists of the time. The sad part is we likely will never know fully about the song depending on the band and their politics. The DDR was brutal on tracking and controlling any messaging for public groups and there were people and whole bands that just got disappeared for daring to speak out against the state at the time. If you want an example of a group that we know about cause they were popular enough to not just erase try looking up anything about "Renft".

I know the feelings. In the early 00s i heard a song by some local band ive never been able to find. I was visiting Arkansas and it was kind of a post grunge Nirvana type song. Really they sounded like a band called Tripping Daisies but thats an obscure callback most people wouldn't know. The theme of the song was about being a teenaged awkward fuck up hated by your parents. The chorus was something like "Another perfect day in hell" and one of the lines in the verse went "I piss in a cup, so know one knows im awake". Its so obscure its not even on the internet lol

Like the wind (unknown) lyrics are English Like the wind You came runnin Seize the consequence of livin There’s no space There’s no tomorrow There’s no sense from Univision Check it in check it out For the sun goes down outside And don’t let it rain in the subways of your mind Like the wind You’re all summer Let a smile be your companion There’s no place There’s no sorrow Hear the young and restless freedom Check it in check it out When the sun goes down outside And don’t let it rain in the subways of your mind Check it in check it out As the sun goes down outside And don’t let it rain in the subways of your mind Check it in check it out When the summer rules Let it in let it out It’s the real you Check it in check it out When the summer rules Let it in let it out It’s the real you Nb: the song seems to be about reunification/

Just think there are no more than 20 people who know the whole truth about this song

You are wildly underestimating the English skills of West Germans in the 80s. And we would know about this collaboration. Like the wind you came flying in...

It's good that we at least have this song. There are countless songs, movies, and books that don't exist on the internet.

I like the idea that we have no idea where it came from. It’s kind of just the internet’s song now.

hey, just discovered your channel. Your videos are very well edited and you do a good job of covering the topic. Subbed. BTW as someone who speaks English and German and has a working knowledge of Russian, to me listening to these vocals is like listening to a familiar song with familiar words except after having a stroke. It is so weird

It was common practice in some radio stations (I don't know if this applies to NDR) to play some songs that were sent to them by completely random, unknown people making their own music, if the DJ found the song interesting. They have been usually played once or twice and nobody ever heard them anymore. Maybe it's one of such tracks. As many people have noticed here in the comments, NDR should have in their archives a list of songs they have played. If the exact date of the recording is known (is it?), they should be able to find what the song is. That's the first thing that comes to mind - contact NDR and ask them about it...

It never ceases to both amaze and worry me that there are people who think that everything humans have ever done is on the Internet (and searchable on Google's platform) and that if it isn't on the Internet, it's faked. Something about humanity really depresses me. When companies can sell their services and people buy the hype. When the Internet is oversold as a repository for all humanity, instead of being seen as it is - A misappropriated knowledge sharing network. Reality doesn't happen on-line. But many are misleading themselves, addicted to the powerful, simple idea of having the world and it's history, in it's entirety, accessible to a box. I suppose the zeitgeist has evolved. Paranoia and fear seem to fill in the cracks we open up by our distrust in others and reality. Not everything is on the Internet, and something's unavailability on-line doesn't negate it's existence.

Very nice piece of historical music trivia. Very good job you did as well. I'm 60 years old now, so I will tell you what happened with DJ's and private/small music stations, especially ones in Europe back then. 1. A lot of music that became hugely popular in the 80's was once "underground" music, because it was so different. But given the rise of Goths and Punk Rockers in the 80's, the music surfaced into mainstream, as they all did. 2. DJ's and private/small music stations, especially ones in Europe, would slip in a test recording from a new "on the scene" band......usally at night, as the big bosses were in bed and asleep. If the play garnered a lot of fanfare and phone calls, then the DJ could pose it to the boss as a new popular piece to play. If it didn't get any attention, then it was what it was and never played again. DJ's would also slip in their friends bands recordings here and there. Either to see if there was a listener response to it, or just to have their friends band played on the radio. More often that not, it was just a one time thing for a friend. 3. Are the DJs from the station still alive? Is the radio station still alive? Has any hisorical research been done on their records and play lists? Has any research been done in regards to the management or staff still being alive and possible to answer questions? If not, why? It is my opinion, after hearing all you stated in your video, this was just a "one time thing" a DJ did for a friend, or played because he was in the band as well. More than likely it never garnered any fanfare, because it sounds so much like all the other music going on at that time. The DJ may have mentioned the band, and like you said, the guy recording on tape just missed it or wasn't paying full attention. If he REALLY wanted the name of the band though, he could have just called the station and asked the DJ. Seeing as he never did, he obviously didn't think anything of it, being a stand out piece of music.......just a mystery of "who done it".

I don't think this is a "beyond the Iron Curtain" song. Many have concluded that a DX7 was used in this song, which was on sale starting on mid-1983. Warsaw Pact countries had very strict centrally planed economies and high trade restrictions, so I think it is unlikely a band from there would be able to have access to a DX7. Another problem is persecution and cultural restrictions: Gorbachev's reforms were gradual and applied only to the USSR. In other Warsaw Pact, those restrictions were maintained until the fall of those regimes (1989-1990). There were however exceptions, were artistic expression was much freer: Yugoslavia (not really part of the Warsaw Pact, but it was a non-aligned Cold War communist regime) and Hungary. Still, I am not sure if a band from those countries would be able to have access to a DX7. Ultimately, my belief is that the band who played this song is either German or from a Scandinavian country.

It sounds like they're saying, "I'm the wind, you can't run".

Ah, yes... the song that kickstarted my career. Good times.

Do you know anything about the mysterious band “Sardine House” and their rumored album “Pack of Lies,” said to be a collaboration of well known musicians who never officially published the album, but recorded it in a private studio, independently pressed it and passed it to others as gifts?

500 years from now. Can you imagine the amount of amazement people will have when they listen to our music like heavy metal?

Damn, we really at the point that if it isn't on the internet, it never existed 🤷🏽‍♀

My dad claims back in the 80s you could pay money to perform a song or play one on the radio and this was common in the 80s when people were trying to impress a girl in high school or something. My dads friend did this once in college to impress his crush and ask her out. Im just using that as an example but my dad said “I’m 70% certain this was just someone playing a song on a radio and this song was never played outside of that, this type of stuff happened quite often in the 80s and it just so happens the person just recorded one of those performances or unpopular bands being paid to be broadcasted on the radio” I think this would make a ton of sense cause if it was on youtube it would likely have been found by now, most lost songs like this and ekt as we know were on a completely different website. So this might be true for this one

I feel like the problem with figuring out this song is that in 1984, New Wave had hit its peak and Synth pop would quickly take its place in mainstream radio music. Every pop band in the world had this kind of sound. The only way I could see this being figured out is if someone contacted a former DBR DJ and asked about the music. Edit: apparently the DJ at the time said he doesn't remember playing it and it could have been a demo, which honestly makes sense because the recording sounds very demo-like

Russian here. Note that I'm not implying anything, just thinking. My friend got into AI voice changers and attempted to speak to me in Russian using one (I guess it was Voicemod for discord) that wasn't, you can say, tuned to be used with rus language, but with English. It sounded quite similar: awfully familiar, but it was actually incomprehensible. Just a memory👀💦 P.S. Came from Doom video. Interesting video, sounds cool

this and “everyone knows that” will always creep me out because I swear I’ve heard them before

I just want this song on Apple Music tbh . I wanna listen to this late at night whilst going on a drive

I think an idea for this songs origin is that it may have been written by an indie band trying to get big. If someone from said possible band had a friend at the station they could have pulled some strings to get the song on the radio that night. As for why nobody would have spoken up till now, maybe all involved have passed away, not been aware of the search, or just do not care enough to give us a bone. It may be a disappointing end to the search that the answer is an unknown German indie band that will forever stay unknown but I think it is a very likely idea.

There a lot of things that concern me these days. I can safely say that I'm not the least bit concerned for any mystery surrounding this.

It is a czech band. Czech republic had a lot of popular imitations of western songs and being neighbours with Germany they had a lot of media trades including piracy, because behind the iron curtain there was no other option.

Been getting into lots of horror stuff / phenomenons, came from that “my house” doom mod video that had this song in it, this genre is legendary

This story reminds me of a Belgian pop band from the 80s called The Machines. They were on the same label as The Beatles, Parlophone, and two of their songs sound just like The Beattles. It is impossible to buy their music in America or find on streaming services. It took me many months before I could find their music for sale on the UK version of Amazon but that's the only place I can find it.

This song is so mysterious not even RU-vid’s copyright system cannot detect it as copyright

My favorite 80s song is 'Somebody That I Used To Know 1988' by Tronicbox. They completely replaced all the music and kept both vocals, turning it into a very pop-synth minor-key 80s rock song.

Happiness must be fought for

I think the internet is making this way more complex than it needs to be. There's many reasons why no one claimed this song. Maybe this was a song that wasn't meant to be released by a "group" that probably just recorded this just for fun and or experience. Maybe they feel no connection to the track and no desires to go public for personal reasons. Maybe it was all made by one person who's not even alive to claim it. Maybe they heard the broadcast and felt a sense of embarrassment because the track didn't sound as good as they thought it would be. Darius did claim he skipped over the DJ's song announcement. Sorry for the long comment. Just throwing some reasonable ideas out here.

I've seen a million videos about this song, but I watched this one for an excuse to hear the song again.

After thinking about this song for years as an ex-musician who played on the eighties, there's not much new you can say about this. Two things. 1. singer's vocal style is quite similar to Till Lindemann. This singer has that same kind of laconic, low-register style. This singer has the same way to pronounce english too. This singer definitely came from DDR, there is that "Rammstein"-thing before Rammstein. It's not in your face, but it is there. Lyrics are about the Berlin wall in my opinion. It a gothic, new wave tune. There British influence too, guitar sound and style is pure U2, The Edge-influence is strong. 2. Production quality is amazingly good here for early eighties demo. It was expensive to sound this good in 1984. This was made in good, expensive studio, recorded by pro engineer. Somebody paid quite a bit to make this, somebody had an ambition. Just listen U2 "War"album example, recording quality of this is right up there. This was propably a physical single at some point. The drummer plays a large kit with like five toms or so. Expensive kit in 1984. These cats play tightly and with good sound. Which leads me to think they are possibly session players. The singer is the odd one here, only one who sounds a bit amateur. He is still quite good new wave singer. There's nothing that sounds as eighties than this. Every note and sound of this oozes the eighties. I see dark, rainy german streets at night. Gothic looking singer walking in the rain slowly, alone. The Berlin wall on the background shadows.

Just a crazy and fun thought: what if the radio station picked up a signal from a parallel reality, in a frequency overlap/reality shift and the language in the song is an actual language spoken on that parallel Earth, a mix of English, Russian and German that developed over time due to historical events taking a different course (like WWII, if it happened there at all) that brought about a blending of those languages. -Just some fun thoughts on it, I love stretching the imagination. -Great Video!

A lot of people make songs few people will ever hear. A lot of bands never go anywhere. Who made the song is a mystery. Why no one knows is not really that mysterious.

It’s a demo that got played on the radio. My sister had a demo that was in heavy rotation airplay in sounthern California. I still have the recording I made from the radio on cassette. It’s called “By By Baby”!

What if the Radio station operator just... slipped his own song onto the waves in the 80's?

It sounds like the start of died in your arms tonight.

Good content man, you deserve more views :)

when it comes to finding lost media, it's a tough journey, but happiness has to be fought for

Amazed you mention Kino. The voice instantly reminded me of Tsoi.

I hope this gets found, the song is an absolute banger

Tape degradation is definitely a clue here. Tape degradation has completely ruined an entire tape of my mom’s childhood. It starts with distortion which evolves into choppy sound and then for the last 2/3 of the tape it’s extremely low pitch and equally slowed down.

LYRICS: Like the wind You came here running Take the consequence of leavin' There's no space There's no tomorrow There's no sent communications Check it in, check it out Or the sun will never shine They're a long way away In the subways of your mind Like the wind You're gonna suffer Let a smile be your companion There's no place And there's no sorrow Hear the young and restless dreaming Check it in, check it out Or the sun will never shine They're a long way away In the subways of your mind Check it in, check it out Or the sun will never shine There's a long dirty way In the subways of your mind Check it in, check it out It's the summer blues Tear it in, tear it out It's the real excuse Check it in, check it out It's the summer blues Tear it in, tear it out It's the real excuse Check it in, check it out It's the summer blues Tear it in, tear it out It's the real excuse Check it in, check it out It's the summer blues Tear it in, tear it out It's the real excuse Compliments of @azariahco, RU-vid

I don’t know about you, but I actually like the fact nobody knows who has made this song. That’s what makes this song so great. A song about hope and beauty, lost to time.

The band you're looking for is called Far Out Magazine. It is a punk group from East Germany. I wasn't a punk rocker when I lived in West Berlin in 1987, but I found the punks pretty fascinating. A lot of West Berlin radio stations played the song, as the punk rocker was from East Berlin and was jailed due to his music. The band had several names to keep themselves hidden. Every time a band member left, they changed their name. Dresden on Fire was another punk name they used as one of the band members was from there. The punk rock group was arrested several times in East Germany as they were very anti-communist. It is someone's belief that the band member himself was tortured or killed in an East German prison by the communist left-leaning government, and anyone caught with their tapes would face up to 10 years in jail, so that's why no one remembers the song. If you ask former East Germans who are in the punk scene, they'll tell you about the story. A lot of them had a Saxon accent; that's why it sounds a bit Russian; it's just a different dialect. Now here's the strange thing: the song is blacklisted in Germany, as the lawyer who defended the punk group banned the song from German radios. I can't figure that one out. The guy's name is Gregor Florian Gysi (German pronunciation:) You see many people were taken by the government of East Germany that didn't fit their system. It is my strongest belief that the guy who wrote the song died in prison and the government is trying to cover it up. Just remember they still have a left-leaning government in Germany, and Gregor Gysi is still a politician.

The mystery surrounding it makes everything more interesting. It's a neverending fantasy.

Seems fairly safe to assume it was a small-time startup band that submitted their song to a radio station and/or maybe won a contest to get some air time. Perhaps we could find out what stations might have done stuff like that in the area. It's a long shot but sometimes businesses keep seemingly pointless information for decades (or a descendant may have boxes of files in their attic or something).

The artist that did the illustrations is incredible.

This story is so frustrating. I’ve been following it for years. I just don’t think this one will be solved. The community got so close but yet they are still so far.

The song is an absolute banger 🤩 I do indeed think it’s from a German band. The way the English is sung/accent is a bit like the way some German DarkPop/Goth bands sound. And I swear I heard this song in my childhood/youth during the 80’s. But could also be a false memory yet it really sounds familiar.

I can explain this... The lyrics are from an English speaking singer but, the lyrics aren't written. So the singer is doing a place holder of sorts, Singing the melody but sort of haphazardly ad libbing words. The fact that the reverb is so heavy gives it kind of a haunting air and confuses the ear a little. What most people don't understand is that for musicians the music part is easy especially in the case of this tune. The lyrics require more time, sometime the musician is unsure what they even want the song to be about. I do this all the time in the studio and even live with unfinished work or a cover song I cant remember the lyrics to. Many musicians do you just have to be quick to catch it. My guess, this song was recorded and never finished in the 80s, the band probably never had any kind of success. Someone simply found the unfinished tape and put it online.

That house. That fucking house

I have a bunch of 80s songs by unknown artists on my YT channel. Being that they are from movies without proper credits, it makes identifying them much harder and a lot like this one.

I've always thought it quite possible that it's a demo tape. Furthermore, the idea that it was all done by one person and recorded in a home studio is not out of the question either. A couple things this theory has in its favor are that it narrows the circle of people who knew about it, and secondly, the artist may have passed away in the decades since its recording. This would explain the mystery of why no one has come forward to claim it as their composition. (I think it's a great song, personally.) Finally, I actually think aspects of the recording sound a little 'homemade', like the way the lyrics come back in after the instrumental interlude (not smooth & seamless), the lack of clarity at points on the vocal track, and the mix of the drum track. Whatever the case, a cool musical mystery I wouldn't have thought possible in our internet era!

Very cool. I can't help but be reminded of the Pete and Pete episode with a mysterious song.

I never thought my song would have this kind of impact!

I found the answer to this mystery. "The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet" (also known as "Like the Wind", "Blind the Wind", "Check It In, Check It Out" or "Take It In, Take It Out") is an unidentified song recording, most likely composed in the 1980s.2 It became infamous because next to nothing is known about it, even song identifiers such as Shazam or the Genius song identifier don't recognize it. The song is sometimes called by other titles derived from its lyrics, including "Like The Wind," "Ride The Wind," "Like No End," or simply "TMS (The Mysterious Song)." The band Sacrifice released only two songs: "Like the Wind" and the even more obscure "Little Man" as B-side.0 The song was part of the Tarkovski film "Offret" original soundtrack, written by Erland Josephson (who sings it).1

I think (not 100% sure) the song was made by a very short-lived local band in Bremen 1984. I may have heard of a band called summer blues at that time (again not sure).

Unlike today the 80s were full of talented musicians rocking garages all over the world by that standard this song is ok at best. I have a closet full of incredible artist you have never heard of.

Someone finds a tape in 1984, plays it on the radio and it's taped from the radio by someone in their home. Sometime in the future, the home tape travels back in time to 1984 to be found and played on the radio.