"I'm a Rebel" is a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

song written by Scottish musician Alex Young (also known as George Alexander), that has been recorded and released by

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 ...

and

U.D.O. U.D.O. is a German heavy metal band founded by lead vocalist Udo Dirkschneider in 1987. History Following Udo Dirkschneider's departure from Accept in 1987, he formed his own band called U.D.O. He recruited guitarists Mathias Dieth and Peter ...

A version of the song recorded by Australian

band

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

has never been released. Alex Young was the older brother of AC/DC guitarists

Angus Young Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and only remaining original member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, school ...

and

Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter of AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was with the band from its beginn ...

AC/DC version

"I'm a Rebel" was recorded by AC/DC at

Maschen Maschen is a village in the municipality of Seevetal in Harburg district in the German state of Lower Saxony. It lies south of Hamburg on the northern edge of the Lüneburg Heath and within the commuter zone of the city of Hamburg. Maschen Marsh ...

, Germany, in 1976. After an AC/DC show in Machen, promoter Rudy Holzhauer asked the band to record Alex Young's song within Maschen. AC/DC recorded the song in a few hours with Alex Young on lead vocals, while usual singer

Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. Born in Forfar in Angus, Scotland, ...

(who was reportedly very drunk at the time) did backing vocals. It was recorded without the bands' usual producers, George Young (also a younger brother of Alex Young) and

Harry Vanda Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg (born 22 March 1946), better known as his stage name Harry Vanda, is a Dutch Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as lead guitarist of the 1960s Australian rock band the Easy ...

. The recording was not included on the band's next album, ''

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap ''Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap'' is the third studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, originally released only in Europe and Australia in 1976. The album was not released in the United States until 1981, more than one year after lead s ...

'', nor the box sets ''

Bonfire A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used either for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Etymology The earliest recorded uses of the word date back to the late 15th century, with the Catho ...

'' and '' Backtracks'' (which did include many other rarities). It is reportedly held in the vaults of the band's main record label,

Albert Productions Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music, is one of Australia's longest established independent record labels to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1963 by Ted Albert, whose ...

. Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann has claimed in an interview that the AC/DC recording is "way better" than Accept's version.

Leak claims

In spite of being one of AC/DC's rarest tracks, some uploaded their own recreation of the original version. Some of these uploads can be found through forums and YouTube. However a very few claim to have "leaked the original," where Bon Scott is heard singing the chorus in the background (and supposedly playing drums); hence with the quality of the "leaked" version sounding somewhat "watery".

Personnel

– background vocals, drums *

– lead guitar *

– rhythm guitar * Mark Evans – bass *

Phil Rudd Phillip Hugh Norman Rudd (born Phillip Hugh Norman Witschke Rudzevecius, 19 May 1954) is an Australian drummer, best known as the drummer of AC/DC across three stints. On the 1977 departure of bass guitarist Mark Evans from AC/DC, Rudd became ...

– drums * Alex Young – lead vocals, bass

Accept version

recorded the song in 1979, releasing it in 1980 as a single as well as the opening track for their second album, ''

I'm a Rebel ''I'm a Rebel'' is the second studio album by German heavy metal band Accept, recorded in 1979 and released in 1980 (see 1980 in music). It was the first of three consecutive Accept records to utilize Dirk Steffens as producer. The album find ...

''. It was credited to the pseudonym "George Alexander". It was the band's only recording of a song no band member wrote or co-wrote until a rearrangement of Edward Elgar's instrumental "

Pomp and Circumstance The ''Pomp and Circumstance Marches'' (full title ''Pomp and Circumstance Military Marches''), Op. 39, are a series of five (or six) marches for orchestra composed by Sir Edward Elgar. The first four were published between 1901 and 1907 ...

" was included on ''

Death Row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

'' (1994).

Personnel

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 ...

– vocals *

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 ...

– guitars *

Jörg Fischer Jörg Fischer (born 4 July 1957) is a German guitar player, primarily known for his work with the German band Accept. He joined the band at the end of the recording sessions for their self-titled debut and plays on the albums '' I'm a Rebel'' and ...

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

U.D.O. version

, featuring Accept singer Dirkschneider, released a new recording of the song in 1998 on their album '' No Limits''. They went on to include the song on their 2001 live album release ''

Live from Russia The discography of U.D.O., a German Heavy metal music, heavy metal band, consists of 17 #Studio albums, studio albums, six #Live albums, live albums, three #Compilations, compilations, 17 #Singles, singles, six #Video albums, video albums and 19 # ...

''.Liner notes for ''Live from Russia''.

Personnel, studio recording

– vocals * Stefan Kaufmann – guitar * Jürgen Graf – guitar * Fitty Wienhold – bass guitar *

Stefan Schwarzmann Stefan Schwarzmann (born 11 November 1965Larkin, Colin (2006). ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Oxford University Press. p. 189. .) is a German drummer who has recorded for Accept,Montgomery, James et al (2005)"Metal File: Korn, Motorhead, ...

– drums

Personnel, live recording

* Udo Dirkschneider – vocals * Stefan Kaufmann – guitar * Igor Gianola – guitar * Fitty Wienhold – bass guitar * Lorenzo Milani – drums

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

External links

* – crabsodyinblue.com * – No Nonsense AC/DC Webzine {{DEFAULTSORT:I'm A Rebel (Song) Accept (band) songs AC/DC songs 1976 songs 1980 singles