Balls to the Wall

Balls to the Wall

Infobox Album
Name =Balls to the Wall
Type =Album
Artist =Accept


Released =December 1983 (Germany)
January 1984 (US)
Recorded =July-August 1983
Genre =Heavy metal, speed metal
Length =45:13
Label =Lark Records (Germany)
Portrait Records (US)
Producer =Accept
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:lx5ibkj96akq~T1 link]
Last album ="Restless and Wild"
(1982)
This album ="Balls to the Wall"
(1983)
Next album ="Metal Heart"
(1985)

"Balls to the Wall" is the fifth album by the German metal band Accept, released in 1983 in Germany and 1984 in the United States. It is the band's best known and highest-selling album, selling about two million copies worldwide, [ [http://www.martinpopoff.com/html/yeold_archives/accept.html http://www.martinpopoff.com/html/yeold_archives/accept.html] ] and is Accept's only record to attain Gold certification in America.

Some of the album's success can no doubt be attributed to the publicity generated from the minor "gay metal" controversy that broke out upon its American release, due to the record's title and front cover being deemed by some as homoerotic, as well as the lyrics to "London Leatherboys" and "Love Child" appearing to concern homosexuals. [ [http://www.martinpopoff.com/html/yeold_archives/accept.html http://www.martinpopoff.com/html/yeold_archives/accept.html] ] Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann was dismissive of the controversy, saying years later that "You Americans are so uptight about this. In Europe it was never a big deal...we just wanted to be controversial and different and touch on these touchy subjects, because it gave us good press and it worked fabulously, you know". [ [http://www.fullinbloommusic.com/wolfhoffman.html http://www.fullinbloommusic.com/wolfhoffman.html] ] Drummer Stefan Kaufmann explained that many of the themes on the album were about oppressed minorities in general. "London Leatherboys" was really about bikers, for example: "They're normal people, they just look different and they behave different. But they're normal people, another minority. And 'Love Child' was about gays, true, but it's basically about people who are suppressed." [ [http://www.martinpopoff.com/html/yeold_archives/accept.html http://www.martinpopoff.com/html/yeold_archives/accept.html] ]

Hoffman's wife and lyricist Gaby Hauke also denied these controversies and accusations concerning the gay issue:

"Let me answer this and (the next) question in one, ok? I have been very rebellious and by no means I would have written anything "normal"! Never! The sexual question about the context of certain lyrics are mind games and pure interpretation from outsiders. This is a band who has as individuals -so little to do with controversy and absolutely nothing in particular with anything but being VERY straight" [ [http://pagesperso-orange.fr/maury.org/gaby_hoffmanneng.htm interview with Gaby Hauke] ]

Critic Martin Popoff has declared "Balls To The Wall" the greatest metal album of the 1980s, [Popoff,Martin. "The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties." Toronto: Collector's Guide Publishing, 2005. p.429.] praising the combination of smooth production, powerful guitar riffs and strong melodies that are found throughout the record. Professianal wrestler Chris Jericho's band, Fozzy, remade this song. [ [http://www.martinpopoff.com/html/yeold_archives/accept.html http://www.martinpopoff.com/html/yeold_archives/accept.html] ]

Title track

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 airplay on MTV. Hoffmann explained the song's meaning: "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!" [ [http://www.metaleater.com/interviews-accept11272005.php http://www.metaleater.com/interviews-accept11272005.php] ] 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 on the in-game radio for ' on the station, and appears as a playable track in the video game ', as a cover version.

Track listing

# "Balls to the Wall" (5:50)
# "London Leatherboys" (3:57)
# "Fight It Back" (3:30)
# "Head over Heels" (4:19)
# "Losing More Than You've Ever Had" (5:04)
# "Love Child" (3:35)
# "Turn Me On" (5:12)
# "Losers and Winners" (4:19)
# "Guardian of the Night" (4:25)
# "Winter Dreams" (4:45)

There are two different remasters of this album. The first one is part of Sony's 'The Metal Masters Series' and the second one is part of the 'BMG Remastered Edition'

2001 Remaster
* Head over Heels (live)
* Love Child (live)

2002 Remaster
* Up to the Limit (live)
* Head over Heels (live)

Both of these songs are taken from Kaizoku-Ban.

Credits

* Udo Dirkschneider - Vocals
* Herman Frank - Guitars
* Wolf Hoffmann - Guitars
* Peter Baltes - Bass
* Stefan Kaufmann - Drums

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Notes


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  • balls\ to\ the\ wall — At full speed. Early jet age expression referring to the bakelite balls on the top of a aircraft throttle. To push the same towards the firewall of the aircraft and go at maximum speed. We needed to make up time on the red eye to LAX so we went… …   Dictionary of american slang

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  • balls to the wall — noun a) full throttle; maximum speed I told the staff...the day before the hurricane struck that I expected them to cut every piece of red tape, do everything they could, that it was balls to the wall, that I didnt want to hear anybody say that… …   Wiktionary

  • Balls to the Wall (chanson) — Balls to the Wall Chanson par Accept extrait de l’album Balls to the Wall Parolier Deaffy Auteur compositeur Wolf Hoffmann Stefan Kaufmann Udo Dirkschneider Peter Baltes Balls to the Wall est une chanson du groupe …   Wikipédia en Français

  • balls to the wall — Meaning Fast at full throttle. Origin Not related to testicles as you might think. Possibly the balls are the knobs on aircraft joy sticks. Pushing them as far as they can go, i.e. against the wall of the plane, caused it to go as fast as… …   Meaning and origin of phrases

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