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ACCEPT - The beginning & the end
For many years after its founding, Accept suffered constant changes to its line-up and was essentially kept on an amateur level, making sporadic appearances in festival concerts. Their professional career began in 1976, when they were invited to play at one of the first rock 'n roll festivals from Germany — Rock am Rhein. After the festival took place, the band received a recording deal and entered a professional studio for the first time, in order to record the self-titled Accept, an album which despite the band's efforts did not achieve much success.
The first stable line-up of Accept was composed by 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. 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. 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.
FAST AS A SHARK
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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. All of the guitars for this album were recorded by Wolf Hoffmann. 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. An extensive tour followed, and guitarist Herman Frank (ex-Sinner) was hired so that the songs could be performed on stage.
METAL HEART (live in Japan)
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Their next release, Balls to the Wall, 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 kind of human relationships. For example, "Balls to the wall" refers to slaves revolting against oppressing masters. "Fight it back" is about the social misfit, fighting against conformity. The lyrics for the songs were credited to Accept + a certain "Deaffy", which was later revealed to be their manager Gaby Hauke under a pseudonym. She proceeded to compose the lyrics of all of their songs from that album on, without ever officially claiming authorship of the songs.
During a show on 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 which would only end in 1984 — on the historical Monsters of Rock festival — followed.
Metal Heart came next, in 1985, soon followed by the live album Kaizoku Ban. Russian Roulette continued the series of albums, being produced by Scorpions producer Dieter Dierks and released in 1986.
However, as time passed, differences began to surface. Peter Baltes, Wolf Hoffmann and Gaby Hauke expressed a growing interest in the USA, and spent more time in overseas countries than in Germany, which meant they were constantly away from the rest of the band. The distance between them grew, and it was eventually decided that Accept would enter in an hiatus and that Udo Dirkschneider should, in the meantime, pursue a solo career. The other members of the band worked together with Udo on the technical side of his first solo album, entitled Animal House, and it was released under the name of U.D.O. in Europe and America.
After a period of inactivity, Peter, Wolf and Stefan set to work once more as a band with the help of vocalist David Reece; Udo's solo career was working out well and guitarist Jörg Fischer had once more left Accept. After a few demos, the band felt secure enough with this new line-up and released Eat the Heat, the first Accept album without Udo.
A short warm up tour in the USA was followed by a European tour with the support of rhythm guitarist Jim Stacey followed the release of the album. The tour, however, came to a sudden halt when Stefan Kaufmann sustained a serious injury to his back. He was replaced by drummer Ken Mary for the remainder of the tour. By the tour's end, Hoffman, Baltes and Hauke had decided that Reece was an unstable personality and Kaufman was going to need a long break from the drums. They decided it was time to quit. By 1989, the band had ceased its activities.
A live compilation entitled Staying a Life was released in 1990, and fans from around the globe demanded a reunion. During a visit to Germany, Udo met with the musicians from Accept and, after some discussion, it was decided that they would relaunch the classic line-up of the band.
Objection Overruled was released in 1993. The band's reunion was a qualified success in Europe and the USA, where the band was working though Pavement Records. 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.
The musicians, however, began to feel tired. The teenagers from the town of Solingen had grown up and were beginning to feel the toll of a life of constant touring. A sense of finality was in the air when the band entered studios to record Predator from 1995, this time with Michael Cartellone (from Damn Yankees) on the drums.
Accept's final tour for a decade went through America, Europe and Asia, with their last concert coming in Tokyo, Japan, one of the world capitals of heavy metal.
The band were inactive for close to a decade, then at the beginning of 2005 announced a short commemorative tour with Accept's classic line-up. The final show was held on August 27, 2005, in Kavarna, Bulgaria - at the Monsters of Rock festival.
Their song "Balls to the Wall" was chosen number 38 in VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs and number 29 in VH1's 40 Most Awesomely Bad Metal Songs
