"Balls to the Wall" is a song by German heavy metal band

Accept Accept may refer to: * Acceptance, a person's assent to the reality of a situation etc. * Accept (band), a German heavy metal band ** ''Accept'' (Accept album), their debut album from 1979 * ''Accept'' (Chicken Shack album), 1970 * ACCEPT (or ...

. It was released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from their 1983 fifth studio album of the same name. The anthemic title track is the album's best known song, and became Accept's signature song, for which a music video was shot that received American airplay on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Song meaning

Asked about the meaning of the song, guitarist

Wolf Hoffmann Wolf Hoffmann (born 10 December 1959) is a German musician, primarily known as the guitarist and last remaining original member of heavy metal band Accept since 1976. His work in Accept influenced the development of speed metal genre. He is als ...

replied: :"We've always been interested in politics and in human rights and things like that, so a lot of the lyrics that we had in those days, and to the end actually, were dealing with human rights, for instance, and that's really what 'Balls To The Wall' is all about. 'One day the tortured will stand up and kick some ass!'"

Music video

Filmed in January 1984 in London, the song's music video consists of clips of the band performing the song onstage intercut with scenes of a

wrecking ball A wrecking ball is a heavy steel ball, usually hung from a crane, that is used for demolishing large buildings. It was most commonly in use during the 1950s and 1960s. Several wrecking companies claim to have invented the wrecking ball. An e ...

taking down a clock tower and scenes with fans of the band

headbanging Headbanging is the action of violently shaking one's head in rhythm with music. It is common in the contemporary rock, punk and heavy metal music genres, where headbanging is often used by musicians on stage. Headbanging is also common in tradi ...

against the wall of the tower. Later during the buildup to the final chorus, the fans march through the rubble of the tower, and presumably head towards the stage where the band is performing. At the end of the video, singer

Udo Dirkschneider Udo Dirkschneider (born 6 April 1952) is a German singer and songwriter who rose to fame with German heavy metal band Accept. After leaving the band in 1987, he formed U.D.O., with which he has also enjoyed commercial success. Biography Fo ...

rides the wrecking ball into the tower and takes out the front doors of the building it stands upon. When he discussed the scene with ''songfacts.com'', Dirkschneider explained he was apprehensive about riding the ball because of the cold, wintry conditions on the day of the shoot, but decided to do it in the end. "It was very cold in London, near the airport", Dirkschneider said, "And especially when I had to step on this wrecking ball. I said, 'Please, no, I don't want to do this!' But in the end, I was young so I said, 'Okay, here we go.' But it was freezing like hell". The song was also edited down for the video, with the guitar solo and Dirkschneider's spoken bridge being removed. The video edit of the song clocks in at four minutes and twenty eight seconds long, while the album version is five minutes and forty four seconds long.

Track listing

Personnel

Accept

– vocals *

– lead guitar *

Herman Frank Herman Frank (born 20 January 1959) is a German heavy metal guitarist best known for his work with Accept and Victory. In 2009, he released his first solo album called ''Loyal to None''. Frank has also recorded with Hazzard, Sinner, Moon'Doc, ...

– rhythm guitar * Peter Baltes – bass * Stefan Kaufmann – drums

References

{{authority control Accept (band) songs 1983 songs 1984 singles RCA Records singles Political songs Portrait Records singles