Running Wild are a German heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Hamburg. They were part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene to emerge in the early to mid 1980s, along with bands such as Helloween, Rage, Accept, Sinner, and Grave Digger. The band has carved its niche in the metal world as the first "pirate metal" band, a theme which took off with the release of Under Jolly Roger in 1987 (thus abandoning the Satanic imagery of their earlier work). In the texts of the band's biographies and album liner notes, some of the words found are some kind of piratical jargon, with some songs even being untranslatable.[citation needed] The band has adopted its freebooter gimmick out of mainman's Rolf Kasparek's commitment to ideals of anarchism and libertarian socialism.

On April 17th, 2009 Rolf announced that Running Wild had split-up. Their last show will be at Wacken Open Air, July 30th, 2009. It will be recorded for CD/DVD release.