Get Your Balls to the Wall

I made it back. Feeling a little shell-shocked, but I think I’ll survive. If this were any other kind of blog, I’d get into the details of my brief sabbatical, but that’s not what we’re here for, right?

I’m going to jump back into the metal section of the vinyl crates and drop some Accept on you. Accept was one of the premiere German metal bands, coming out of Solingen, in northwest Germany, in the early 1970s. Their first major performance was in 1976 at Rock am Rhein, one of the country’s first metal festivals. That appearance lead to a record deal and the release in 1979 of Accept’s eponymously-named debut album.

That album was no sooner in the racks than the drummer and one of the guitarists left the band. Replacements were located and a second album, I’m A Rebel, released in 1980. The big break for Accept finally came in 1981, with the release of Breaker and a slot on Judas Priest’s world tour. The band direction went more toward speed metal with 1982’s Restless and Wild, then took another turn when they released Balls to the Wall two years later.

Balls to the Wall, according to Accept’s official history, was “a concept album that dared to discuss the most delicate and controversial themes previously unheard of in Heavy Metal. Topics included: politics, love, sexuality, church, consciousness, responsibility, and anti-addiction of any kind.”

The lyrics for the Balls to the Wall disk were written by a person known as Deaffy. Deaffy’s identity remained a mystery for several years. Eventually the band admitted Deaffy was actually their manager, Gaby Hauke. Hauke was/is a very private person and wanted the attention on her band, not herself, hence the nom de plume.

Some Balls to the Wall trivia: The title track ranked #38 in VH1’s “40 Greatest Metal Songs” and #28 in “The 40 Most Awesomely Bad Metal Songs.”

I’m cutting off the band history right here, since today’s posts come from Breaker and Balls to the Wall. If you’re interested in learning more, check out the Accept Archive, the site that officially preserves the band’s memory, sights, and sounds.

from Breaker:
Son of a Bitch.mp3
Breaker.mp3

from Balls to the Wall:
London Leatherboys.mp3
Balls to the Wall.mp3

posted by aikin @ 9:59 PM