Balls to the Wall (song)

"Balls to the Wall" was the lead single from Accept's fifth studio album with the same name. The album's best known song, which became Accept's signature tune, is the anthemic title track, for which a music video was shot that received American airplay on MTV.

Song meaning

Asked about the meaning of the song, guitarist Wolf Hoffmann 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!"^[1]

Legacy

The video later appeared on Beavis and Butt-head in the 1993 episode "Tornado".

The song has also been featured on two VH1 countdown shows: as #38 on the 40 Greatest Metal Songs, and as #29 on the 40 Most Awesomely Bad Metal Songs Ever. It is also on the in-game radio for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories on the V-Rock station, and appears as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, as a cover version. In this game, the word "ass" is censored, and replaced with "case" (and word "rape" was replaced with "fade").

The song was also covered by the following bands:

• Fozzy on their 2002 album Happenstance
• Altaria on their 2004 album Divinity
• Benedictum on their 2008 album Seasons of Tragedy;
• Bulletboys
• Eyes of the Dead on their EP "Lets Play Drink the Beer!!"
• Amon Amarth on their 2011 album "Surtur Rising" (only limited edition)

The song was featured in the 2008 movie The Wrestler.

Personnel (Accept)

• Udo Dirkschneider - Lead Vocals
• Wolf Hoffmann - Lead Guitar
• Herman Frank - Rhythm Guitar
• Peter Baltes - Bass Guitar
• Stefan Kaufmann - Drums
• BACKGROUND VOCALS: Accept

Personnel (U.D.O.)

Udo and Stefan's band U.D.O. also perform this song at the end of their shows. Since 2004 this line-up of U.D.O. has performed "Balls to the Wall" live:

• Udo Dirkschneider - Lead Vocals
• Stefan Kaufmann - Lead Guitar
• Igor Gianola - Rhythm Guitar
• Fitty Weinhold - Bass Guitar
• Francesco Jovino - Drums

References