Balls to the Wall

Balls to the Wall
Accept studio album
Publication (s)	1983
Label (s)	Lark Records
Format (s)	LP, CD
Genre (s)	Heavy metal
Title (number)	10
running time	45 min, 13 sec
occupation	Udo Dirkschneider - vocals Herman Frank - guitar, backing vocals Wolf Hoffmann - guitar, backing vocals Peter Baltes - electric bass, backing vocals Stefan Kaufmann - drums
production	Accept
chronology Restless and Wild (1982) Balls to the Wall Metal Heart (1985)

Balls to the Wall is the fifth album by the German heavy metal band Accept . The label Lark Records released the album in December 1983. It is the best-known and best-selling Accept album, they sold around two million albums worldwide and in America and Canada there was a gold award for it.

useful information

The cover of the album, which shows the part of a male lower body with short leather pants, in connection with the piece London Leatherboys , brought the musicians the rumor of being gay.

reception

The album reached number 50 in Germany and number 74 in the USA. The critic Martin Popoff declared Balls to the Wall to be one of the greatest heavy metal albums of the 1980s. He praised the smooth production, guitar riffs, and strong melodies. Rock Hard magazine put the album in 114th place in its editorially selected list of the 500 best rock and metal albums. Marcus Schleutermann described the title track as the best Accept song “ever”. Even London Leather Boys was "like a blast goodness." In the former issue of the magazine's editor, Holger Stratmann, the ballad had Winter Dreams criticized - she could even with Dieter Thomas Heck in the ZDF hit parade run. Nevertheless, he had given 8.5 out of ten points at the time.

Track list

All songs were written by Accept and Deaffy (aka Gaby Hoffman ).

1. Balls to the Wall - 5:50
2. London Leatherboys - 3:57
3. Fight it back - 3:30
4. Head over Heels - 4:19
5. Losing more than you've ever had - 5:04
6. Love Child - 3:35
7. Turn me on - 5:12
8. Losers and Winners - 4:19
9. Guardian of the Night - 4:25
10. Winter Dreams - 4:45

A remastered version released by Sony in 2001 also includes live versions of Head over Heels and Love Child ; the 2002 re-mastered version of BMG Live versions of Head over Heels and Up to the Limit .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gold and Platinum Database of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
2. ↑ Gold and platinum database of the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)
3. ↑ ^{a b} Rock Hard: Best of Rock & Metal , Königswinter 2007, pp. 177f.
4. ↑ Booklet of the CD