Accept (band)

Accept is a German heavy metal band from the town of Solingen, originally assembled by former vocalist Udo Dirkschneider, guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and bassist Peter Baltes. Their beginnings can be traced back to the late 1960s. The band played an important role in the development of speed and thrash metal, being part of the German heavy metal scene, which emerged in the early to mid-1980s. Accept achieved commercial success with their fifth studio album Balls to the Wall (1983), which is the band's only album to be certified gold in the United States and Canada, and spawned their well-known hit "Balls to the Wall".

Following their disbandment in 1997 and short-lived reunion in 2005, Accept reunited again in 2009 with former T.T. Quick frontman Mark Tornillo replacing Dirkschneider, and released their three highest charting albums to date, Blood of the Nations (2010), Stalingrad (2012) and Blind Rage (2014), the latter of which was Accept's first album to reach number one on the charts in their home country. Accept is currently working on a new album, which is due for release in the summer of 2017.

Accept's beginnings can be traced back to 1968 when Udo Dirkschneider and Michael Wagener formed a local band called Band X, which eventually changed its name to Accept. For many years, Accept went through numerous line-up changes. This instability essentially kept the band on an amateur level, making sporadic appearances in festival concerts. Accept's professional career began in 1976, with Udo Dirkschneider, Wolf Hoffmann, Gerhard Wahl, Dieter Rubach and Frank Friedrich, when they were invited to play at one of the first rock and roll festivals in Germany — Rock am Rhein. Following the festival the band were offered a recording deal. Their first recording was the self-titled Accept album, which did not achieve much commercial success.