History Music / RunningWild

* BadassBaritone: Defines Rock ‘n’ Rolf’s gruff and snarly vocal style, a rather uncommon sound in PowerMetal. Songs like “Diabolic Force” still prove he can rip into a pretty high falsetto though.

* RevolvingDoorBand: Aside from Rock 'n' Rolf Kasparek, the only constant member, the band has rotated through 10 different drummers, 9 bassists, and 7 backing guitarists. No two albums have shared the same full lineup aside from ''Branded and Exiled'' and ''Under Jolly Roger''.

** ''Port Royal'': Album intro (a newbie arrives on the eponymous Port Royal) and the trial on "Calico Jack".
** ''Death or Glory'': A doctor diagnosing the title character of "Renegade".
** ''Black Hand Inn'': Opening track "The Curse" (a character is send to be burned at the stake) and ending track "Genesis", which is about its own bizarre creation and end-of-the-world myth.

* AncientAstronauts: "Genesis (The Making and Fall of Man)" from ''Black Hand Inn'' is a retelling of the supposed alien origins of humanity as put forth by fringe author Zecharia Sitchin.
** Rolf has clarified that he doesn't actually believe any of Sitchin's work to be true, but that [[RuleOfCool it made for a "really cool story" to put to music]].

* BadassCreed: The choruses on songs "Prisoner of Our Time", "Branded and Exiled", "Chains and Leather", "Under Jolly Roger" "Raise Your Fist" and "Unation" are based around this.

* WarIsHell: A number of songs deal with this theme, including "Literature/WarAndPeace", "The War", and "[[UsefulNotes/{{Napoleon}} The Battle of Waterloo]]".

* WarIsHell: A number of songs deal with this theme, including "Literature/WarAndPeace", "The War", and "[[UsefulNotes/Napoleon The Battle of Waterloo]]".

* WarIsHell: A number of songs deal with this theme, including "Literature/WarAndPeace", "The War", and "UsefulNotes/TheBattleOfWaterloo".

Running Wild is a [[SpeedMetal Speed]][=/=][[HeavyMetal Heavy]][=/=]PowerMetal band from Germany and are considered to be the inventors of Pirate Metal. Originally formed in 1976 as Granite Hearts, they soon changed their name to Running Wild as an homage the Music/JudasPriest song of the same title. The band's early work featured lyrics and imagery centered around satanism and DarkFantasy, but with the release of the band's third album, ''Under Jolly Roger'', frontman "Rock 'n'" Rolf Kasparek decided to creatively change course with the band's theme, and so {{Pirate}}s would define Running Wild from then on.

* BookEnds: The ''Victory'' album begins and ends with a gong sound, which is played in reverse in the first track and normally in the last one.

* ConceptAlbum: The album ''Black Hand Inn'' partially focuses on the story of a man named John Xenir, a pirate (what else?) with precognitive magical powers who fights against the CorruptChurch. The album also has a more broad theme of [[ConspiracyKitchenSink different conspiracy theories throughout history]] and the battle between good and evil other albums focus on.

* DragonRider: "Dragonmen" from ''Black Hand Inn'' is about holy dragonmen who ride the nightskies, ridding the world from evil.

* HeavyMithril: Was a significant part of their songs from the ''Gates to Purgatory'' and ''Branded and Exiled'' era. Even after pirates became their primary theme, the band often still delves into the realm of fantasy, like with ''Black Hand Inn'''s precognitive UndeadPirate protagonist named John Xenir, the benevolent dragon-riding tyrant-slayers of "Dragonmen" from the same album (and ''The Rivalry'' in "Return of the Dragon"), or the ancient battle between good and evil running across a number of their later albums.

* {{Mascot}}: Captain Adrian, who is an [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot undead werewolf pirate who is also Satan]].
* TheMenInBlack: "Men in Black", from ''Masquerade'', portrays them in villainous light.

* NobleSavage: "Uaschitschun" from ''Port Royal'' is written from the perspective of a Native American who laments the death and destruction the white settlers have brought to the natural environment.

* NonAppearingTitle: ''Gates to Purgatory'' has no title track. According to Rolf, the song "Purgatory" heard on the ''Ready for Boarding'' live album was originally written as the title track but was cut due to a distribution agreement.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: In "Return of the Dragon" (from ''The Rivalry''), the dragons are portrayed as benevolent beings, and [[TheDragonslayer the dragon slayers]] and serpents as evil.

* {{Pirate}}: Running Wild’s quintessential image. Every single album features at least one song focused on pirates or seafaring.

* ProtestSong: The band has quite a few of these, with ''Black Hand Inn''‘s “Fight the Fire of Hate” (an anti-fascist anthem) and ''Under Jolly Roger''’s “Merciless Game” (about class inequality) being some prime examples.

* ReligionRantSong: A theme the band often touches on in the Type II and Type III varieties. Most prominent in their early pre-pirate releases, but later songs like "Wild Animal" echo the defiance:

** ''Masquerade'': [[{{Satan}} Redcoat]] recruiting his agents of evil in "The Contract" and giving the ReasonYouSuckSpeech at the end of "Underworld".

* TropeCodifier: For the 80s, 90s, and even a good portion of the 2000s, Running Wild was pretty much ''the'' pirate metal band that codified a lot of themes, conventions, lyrics, and sounds that would influence later musical acts like ''Music/{{Alestorm}}'' and countless other pirate metal acts.

* WarIsHell: "Literature/WarAndPeace" and "The War" deal with this theme.

* FilkSong:
** "Literature/TreasureIsland", "Literature/TheLastOfTheMohicans", and "Literature/WarAndPeace" are based on their respective books.
** "Genesis (The Making and Fall of Man)" is also based on [[AncientAstronauts ancient alien]] theorist Zecharia Sitchin's 1976 book, ''The 12th Planet''.
** “Mordor” from ''Branded and Exiled'' is about, well, [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Mordor.]]

** Strangely ZigZagged with the 2017 remasters of the classic albums; while most of them were squashed down to [=DR9-DR7=] from the far more sensible [=DR14-DR10=] of the originals, the remaster of ''Masquerade'' actually improves the dynamic range to [=DR10=] from the [=DR8=] the original master was at.

* LoudnessWar: ''Rogues En Vogue'', unfortunately being released well into the peak of the Loudness War, clocks in at a dynamic range of [=DR6=] with constant clipping and an absurd level of brickwalling on the final master. ''Shadowmaker''' is equally bad in terms of the dynamic range level, but thankfully it's at least clip-free.

* LoudnessWar: ''Rogues En Vogue'', unfortunately being released well into the peak of the Loudness War, clocks in at a dynamic range of [=DR6=] with the absurd level of brickwalling on the final master.

* LoudnessWar: ''Rogues En Vogue'', unfortunately being released well into the peak of the Loudness War, clocks in at a dynamic range of DR6 with the absurd level of brickwalling on the final master.
** Strangely ZigZagged with the 2017 remasters of the classic albums; while most of them were squashed down to DR9-DR7 from the far more sensible DR13-DR10 of the originals, the remaster of ''Masquerade'' actually improves the dynamic range to DR10 from the DR8 the original master was at.

* LoudnessWar: ''Rogues En Vogue'', being released in 2005 (well into the peak of the Loudness War), naturally became a casualty à la [[Music/{{Metallica}} Death Magnetic]] with constant clipping and absurdly loud compression on the final master.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Most of their material is around 7-8, but ever since ''Victory'', many songs have strayed closer to Level 6.