Fast as a Shark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fast as a Shark is a well-known song by the German heavy metal band Accept from their 1982 album Restless and Wild.
Its blazingly fast double bass drumming is recognized today as reaching a new level in the development of the subgenre of speed and thrash metal. The intro to the track is a snippet from a crackly old children's recording of a traditional German tune titled "Ein Heller und ein Batzen" (A Farthing And A Penny). The band thought it would make a humorous contrast with their heavy metal sound, and the fact that a young Dieter Dierks was singing on the recording made it even more of an inside joke. The band soon found themselves in an unintended controversy, however: even though the song dated from 1830,[1], it was a popular marching song during the Nazi era and still held that connotation for many listeners, a fact the band was unaware of at the time. "So out of a funny little idea we created somewhat of a monster," Wolf Hoffmann recalls.[2]
Fast as a Shark was ranked #33 in Martin Popoff's book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs Of All Time.
