Running Wild is a German heavy metal band formed in Hamburg in 1976. They were part of the German metal scene to emerge in the early to mid-1980s, and are also considered to be one of the country's so-called "big four" of power metal, along with Grave Digger, Helloween and Rage. Over the course of their career, they have released 17 studio albums, three live albums, five compilation albums, and six singles/EPs. Although their earlier releases contained Satanic themes and imagery, from the third album on, the band's primary subject matter centered around pirates, sailing and other historical events. In 1987, the band released the album Under Jolly Roger, which was a switch to pirate-based and historical themes, creating and influencing the later named pirate metal subgenre of heavy metal in the 2000s in the process. While the historical lyrics were very superficial at first, the lyrics for later albums were intensively researched, by frontman Rolf Kasparek in particular. After this album, from 1988 to 1992 (for the albums Port Royal, Death or Glory, Blazon Stone and Pile of Skulls), Running Wild mainly wrote historically based lyrics. In addition to lyrics about pirates, the band also addressed subjects like the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Waterloo, or the colonization of the New World by the Conquistadors. In April 2009, Kasparek announced that Running Wild had split up. Their intended last show was at Wacken Open Air in July that year. It was recorded for CD and DVD release and appeared as The Final Jolly Roger in 2011. The split would prove temporary as they reunited in 2012. Running Wild played live for the Wacken Open Air festival in 2015. As of 2021, the band had released 17 studio albums, with their most recent being Blood on Blood. History Early years and first albums The band formed in 1976 under the name Granite Heart, but they would change their name in 1979 to Running Wild after the Judas Priest song of the same name. The band recorded their first demo in 1981 and featured the songs "Hallow the Hell", "War Child" and "King of the Midnight Fire". The first two of these tracks appeared on the compilation album "Debüt №1" on the Raubbau Label. In June 1984, the band started work on their debut album Gates to Purgatory, which was released by Noise Records, featuring satanic lyrics. The album