Accept is a German heavy metal band from the town of Solingen, originally assembled in the early 1970s by vocalist Udo Dirkschneider. They played an important role in the development of speed metal,[1] being part of the German heavy metal scene to emerge in the early to mid 1980s. The band's 1983 album, Balls to the Wall, subsequently became their most successful release, featuring its well-known hit with the same title. Following their disbandment in 1997 and brief resurrection in 2005, they reunited in 2009 with former T.T. Quick frontman Mark Tornillo replacing Dirkschneider,[2] and consequently releasing their highest charting album to date, Blood of the Nations.[3] According to guitarist Wolf Hoffmann, there is talk of more music in the future.[4] They have sold over 27 million albums worldwide.[5]
Biography
Early years (1968–1982)
The band who eventually became Accept was originally founded in 1968 by Udo Dirkschneider and Michael Wagener under the name Band X. For many years, Accept went through numerous changes to its line-up. This instability essentially kept the band on an amateur level, making sporadic appearances in festival concerts. Accept's professional career began in 1976, when they were invited to play at one of the first rock and roll festivals from Germany — Rock am Rhein. Following the festival, the band received a recording deal. Their first recording was the self-titled Accept album, which did not achieve much commercial success.
The first stable line-up of Accept was composed of vocalist Udo Dirkschneider, guitarists Wolf Hoffmann and Gerhard Wahl, bassist Peter Baltes and drummer Frank Friedrich. Friedrich and Wahl quit the band after the release of Accept, since they did not intend to pursue a professional career in music[citation needed]. They were replaced by Stefan Kaufmann and Jörg Fischer, and with this line-up the band proceeded to record I'm a Rebel in 1980. The title track originally was written for AC/DC but never released by them. This was the album which brought media attention to the band, which was subsequently invited to make its first televised show.
Three important events took place in 1981. First, the album Breaker was released. Second, a contract with manager Gaby Hauke was signed, an agreement which lasted for the whole of the band's career. Third, Accept joined Judas Priest's world tour and obtained a fair amount of success, making the band known outside of Europe.
The next album — Restless and Wild — was released in 1982, but did not have the presence of Jörg Fischer, who quit the band a short time before the recording took place. Jan Koemmet was hired as Accept's new guitarist, but departed from the band before the recording of the album.[6][7] Restless and Wild saw an evolution in the band's sound, which incorporated several characteristics of the genre which would later be called speed metal. Gaby Hauke is credited as "Deaffy" on two of the tracks.
Mainstream success (1983–1987)
Accept became successful with their next release, Balls to the Wall (1983), now with Herman Frank (ex-Sinner), which would prove to be something different from what they had previously recorded. The album was of a conceptual nature, and included songs which spoke about themes such as politics, sexuality and different kinds of human relationships. For example the title track "Balls to the Wall" refers to slaves revolting against oppressing masters. "Fight It Back" is about the social misfit, fighting against conformity. All songs were credited to Accept + "Deaffy". Deaffy was later revealed to be their manager Gaby Hauke's pseudonym for her contribution to the band's lyrics. She proceeded to compose the lyrics of most of their songs until their 1996 album Predator. She did not officially claim authorship of the songs until the band had broken up for the second time. On their 2010 comeback, Blood of the Nations, the lyrics are written by new vocalist Tornillo.
During a show in their hometown in the year of 1983, the band ran into Jörg Fischer by chance. On Hauke's insistence, Fischer was made part of the band once more. A world tour followed which would take them through all of 1984 — with the historic Monsters of Rock festival as a mid-year highlight.
Metal Heart was released in 1985. Produced by Scorpions producer Dieter Dierks, it presented the creative career peak for the band. Accept went on to tour around the globe in front of packed houses, soon documented by the live album Kaizoku-Ban. Russian Roulette continued the series of albums, released in 1986. In 1987, in spite of their tremendous success, Accept and Udo decided together that Udo would embark on a solo career to pursue his own happiness. Supporting this decision, the songwriting team of Accept wrote an entire album for him. Accept and their management were eager to help him launch this solo career. It was released in 1987 with the title "Animal House" under the band moniker U.D.O. which Udo Dirkschneider continues to tour with to date.
David Reece period and first hiatus (1988–1991)
During the work on "Animal House", Accept had already started to search for and audition a new vocalist. The band tried out a few singers, including Rob Armitage, whom they even posed with in a few photos for a few music and metal magazines, and recorded several demos with. They soon found their new frontman, American David Reece and so Peter, Wolf and Stefan set to work once more on new music. Udo's solo career was having a good start, and guitarist Jörg Fischer once again decided to leave Accept. Accept and their record company felt excited and confident with this new line-up and came out with the worldwide release, Eat the Heat.
The career of Accept came to a sudden halt when Stefan Kaufmann sustained a serious injury to his back in the middle of a tour. He was briefly replaced by drummer Ken Mary for the remainder of the short US tour. By the tour's end, Hoffmann, Baltes and Hauke decided that without Stefan and with differences surfacing between the band and Reece, it was time to reassess their next steps. Stefan, always a vital part of Accept, needed a long recovery time. So, by the end of 1989, the band had ceased its activities.
Reunion with Dirkschneider (1992–1996)
A live album entitled Staying a Life recorded in 1985 was released in 1990 as a souvenir from their career.
During a visit to Germany a few years later, the musicians from Accept and Dirkschneider met and spontaneously decided to relaunch the band with the core members Hoffmann, Kaufmann, Dirkschneider and Baltes.
Objection Overruled was released worldwide in 1993. The band's reunion was a qualified success in Europe and the USA. A world tour followed. Another album, entitled Death Row, was released in 1994, but Kaufmann became unable to play once more due to his recurring back injury. The band invited Stefan Schwarzmann as a temporary replacement and commenced plans for their next tour.
A sense of finality was in the air when the band entered studios to record Predator from 1996, this time with Michael Cartellone (from Damn Yankees) on the drums. Predator was recorded in Nashville, TN with Udo's long time (school)friend and producer Michael Wagener at the helm. in spite of genuine efforts by everyone, the chemistry between Accept and Udo was again strained. Accept's final tour, supporting Predator, went through America, Europe and Asia, with their last concert in Tokyo, Japan, one of the world capitals of heavy metal.
Second hiatus and brief resurrection (1997–2005)
The future of Accept was uncertain between 1997 and 2005, as all members continue working on their own projects. However, in 2005, Accept received an invitation from European promoters to embark on a short summer European Festival tour with Accept's classic line-up (Hoffmann, Baltes, Dirkschneider, Frank und Schwarzmann). Everyone agreed to do these festivals which turned out to be a stunning success. The last show was held on August 27, 2005, in Kavarna, Bulgaria - at the Kaliakra rock fest, and no further activities were in the cards as Udo had already released his new album "Mission No. X" and was obligated to continue with his own band U.D.O.
Asked in May 2007 if Accept were planning on writing and recording new material in the near future, Dirkschneider replied:
| “ | That would be a problem. You know, it's easy to play the old songs, because they already exist. Especially for me it was easier, because I still do those classics with U.D.O., but for some of the guys it was a bit harder. But everybody did a great job on stage. I understand that people want a new Accept album, but composing songs together would have been a disaster. That way we would destroy more than we would create. We have a good relationship now and it's best to keep it that way. | ” |
— Udo Dirkschneider, Lords of Metal[8] |
On May 14, 2009, Udo Dirkschneider officially announced that he would not be participating in the rumored Accept reunion.[9]
Return with Mark Tornillo (2009–present)
At the end of May 2009, a possible Accept reformation surfaced when bassist Peter Baltes revealed that he spent a weekend at his house in Pennsylvania and "shredding away" with the band's guitarist Wolf Hoffmann. "Something amazing is in the works," Baltes explained. "As soon as I can, I'll let everybody know. Let's make the 'Metal Heart' beat again." A coincidental meeting between Accept and former TT Quick singer Mark Tornillo at this informal jam session proved to be a life changing event for the band. Shortly after, Mark Tornillo would become the new voice of Accept.[2]
News of Accept's return and Mark's arrival spread around the world like wild fire. Blown away by Mark's voice, enthusiasm and energy, Accept decided that a new album had to be written and recorded. Andy Sneap (of Megadeth, BLAZE, Exodus, Testament, Arch Enemy and Onslaught fame) a life-long Accept fan, was chosen as producer. Titled Blood of the Nations, it is the first original album in fourteen years (since 1996's Predator).[10]
The new line-up made their live debut on May 8, 2010 at the sold-out Gramercy Theatre in New York City. Performing for an audience of hundreds of fans, it was their first American concert in fifteen years. They played classic Accept songs and debuted new material.[11]
On May 21, 2010 their video for "Teutonic Terror" hit #5 on the worldwide video charts in all genres on MySpace, topping such artists as Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Christina Aguilera. The video also topped the MySpace Global Metal Charts at #1.[citation needed]
On June 13, 2010 Accept opened for AC/DC at a concert in Stuttgart, Germany, and on June 25, 2010 they were headliners in the Sonisphere festival in Romania and Turkey, playing for 2 hours, including their classics "Balls to the Wall", "Metal Heart" and "Princess of the Dawn". Accept also played tracks off their new album. Blood of the Nations was released in Europe on August 20, 2010 and made a sensational chart debut at Number 4 in the official German Media Control Charts. It marks the band’s highest chart debut in their entire career.
Blood of the Nations was released September 4 in Japan, and September 18, 2010 in the United States. Throughout the summer, Accept spent 80 days traveling over 65,000 km and played in front of over 450,000 fans. In late October, the band will appear at the prestigious Japanese Festival LOUDPARK outside of Tokyo before 40,000 fans along such artists as Ozzy Osbourne, Motörhead and Stone Sour.
Shortly after the release of Blood of the Nations, guitarist Wolf Hoffmann told Metal Asylum that Accept plans to release more music in the future. He explained, "We are already thinking about and writing for the next record. We've all missed doing Accept and we realized we missed doing this. Of course we are not 20 years old anymore and not ready to do just anything to be successful, we're not that desperate. [laughs] We are looking to do what makes sense and that's fun."[4]
Popular culture
- The German 1982 movie "Nacht der Wölfe" included an excerpt of "Starlight" as well as a glimpse of the album cover for Breaker as the female lead puts the record on. "Run if You can" is also featured in the film, and both songs appeared on the soundtrack album.
- Their song "Balls to the Wall" was chosen number 38 in VH1's 40 'Greatest Metal Songs.'
- Their song "Fast as a Shark" is featured in the Italian 1985 film Dèmoni.
- "Balls to the Wall" is featured in the PS2 game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and PSP/PS2 game Grand Theft Auto:Vice City Stories.
- Their song "Balls to the Wall" is featured in 2008's film The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke as Randy "The Ram" Robinson.
- Their song "Fast as a Shark" is featured in the action/adventure video game Brütal Legend.
- "Balls to the Wall" is featured in the yet unreleased film of the same name directed by Penelope Spheeris
- "Balls to the Wall" was featured on Beavis and Butthead.
- In the second season of the show Justified, the character Coover is frequently seen with an Accept shirt on.[12]
DiscographyFor more details on this topic, see Accept discography.
[edit] Lineups
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