Accept - Biography
by Charles Reece
Accept might not have ever achieved the worldwide fame of Judas Priest or the Scorpions, but they remain a seminal influence on the development of the core heavy metal tradition that has always been on the fringe of popular music. As the band began to cast off the arena swagger and excess of early hard rock inspirations to achieve a distilled angst-filled core aimed at nothing in particular, the rules of the metal genre were becoming codified.
Accept began as Band X in 1968 in Solingen, Germany, with vocalist Udo Dirkschneider (born April 6, 1952 in Wuppertal, Germany) and guitarist Michael Wagener serving as the two principle members. The name was changed to Accept in 1971, but the band did not begin to achieve much notice in its homeland until the last half of the decade. Wagener left in the mid-1970s for a career in production (going on to mix many classics in the metal genre, including Metallica’s Master of Puppets), while Dirkschneider was lucky enough to find as a replacement Wolf Hoffmann, formerly of the Wuppertal-based Baal. Hoffmann (born December 10, 1959 in Mainz, Germany) was inspired as much by the melodic compositions of Mozart and Tchaikovsky as his early guitar idols, Deep Purple’s Richie Blackmore and The Scorpions’ Uli Roth. It was the combination of Hoffman’s chugging melodic riffing and Dirkschneider’s theatrical use of his growling voice that came to define the band’s sound.
By the time the band performed at The Rock am Rhein Festival in 1976, the first official line-up was completed by ex-Pythagoras bassist Peter Baltes (born on April 4, 1958 in Solingen, Germany), drummer Frank Friedrich and second guitarist Gerhard Wahl. That performance garnered some national attention, but Accept was not signed until after placing third in a Düsseldorf band competition a bit later. Not wanting to turn professional, Friedrich left in 1978 to be replaced by the fourth and final member of the group’s most consistent line-up, Stefan Kaufmann (born August 4, 1960 in Solingen, Germany). The drummer was an old friend and ex-bandmate (from Frenzy and Fathers of Invention) of guitarist Jörg Fischer, who had just been hired earlier that year to replace Wahl. With this new line-up and songs written with Friedrich, the band began recording its first album.
Released by the German-based Brain Records in 1979, the album Accept was and remains largely ignored by metal fans for good reason, the total being a good deal less than the sum of its generic parts. Cigarettes had yet to fully bring out the unique character of Dirkschneider’s voice and the songs themselves could have appeared on any number of sub-par records being released in the wake of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. As was the case with Judas Priest, it took a few albums before Accept came into its own style.
Unhappy with the first record, the group was still searching for an identity with the Dirk Steffens-produced I’m A Rebel (1980 Brain). The eponymous single is a good hard rock song, but sounds more like AC/DC than Accept’s later classics (little surprise, since “I’m A Rebel” was penned in 1976 for Angus and Malcolm Young’s band by their brother, Alex, but credited here as “George Alexander”). Likewise, the rest of the album shows the band experimenting with multiple styles, from standard butt rock (“Do It”) to disco-tinged backing vocals (“Save Us”) to prog-rock ballads (“The King” – as with all of the band’s softer songs, sung by Baltes). Although aesthetically meandering, the album was successful enough locally to get distribution in both the United Kingdom (Logo Records) and the United States (Passport Records, a subsidiary of CBS). It was with the next two albums that Accept’s unique aesthetic emerged.
Failing to have much of a hit using the strategies of others, the band decided to do things its own way with Breaker (1981 Brain). Steffens once again produced, but ex-member Wagener was brought in to do the mixing (as he would for the next two albums), giving the guitars a sharp, crunching quality. Accept’s attitude and direction at the time was summed up in the album’s most memorable cut, the profanity-ridden “Son Of A Bitch,” directed at the record industry. (The song was re-recorded for the more sensitive UK market as the emasculated “Born To Be Whipped.”) Along with the harder sound came a change in the band’s look. No longer looking like a meaner version of Paul Williams, Dirkschneider sheared off his blonde locks to a military roman cut, ditched the flared pants, and began wearing his patented camos, while the other members started dressing in black leather.
Following a successful European tour opening for Judas Priest, the rage and defiance continued with the undisputed metal classic, Restless and Wild (1982 Brain). Gone were the attempts at radio-friendly hits and drippy ballads sung by Baltes, leaving a sound aimed at the purist of metal devotees. Out of this approach came the seminal “Fast As A Shark,” often said to be the first speed metal song due to its early combination of single-chord riffing backed by rapid double bass drumming. Also gone was guitarist Fischer, who left due to increasing friction with the rest of the band that had begun to develop during the previous tour. His replacement for the recording sessions was Jan Koemmet, who was himself soon replaced by Hermann Frank (ex-Sinner) for the subsequent tour.
The two most significant changes with the fourth release were the band taking over part of the production duties (with Steffens co-producing) and more importantly, the introduction of Deaffy in the song-writing credits. As was later revealed, ‘Deaffy’ was the nom de plume for Accept’s female manager, Gaby Hauke (who signed the band just after Breaker was released). Figuring that the machismo world of European metal was not yet ready for a woman’s touch, she derived the pen name from her publishing company, Deaf Music. Her most notable contribution to this album was on the perennial fan favorite, “Princess Of The Dawn,” a hodge-podge of tropes from well-known fantasy stories. Due to its more focused style and well-regarded live shows (which included choreographed headbanging), Accept had become a major act in the UK and across Europe by the end of the tour.
Much like Rammstein a decade and half later, Accept was the subject of controversy surrounding allegations of Nazi-sympathizing and homosexuality. The former, more negative, publicity was unintentional, resulting from the use of an old children’s recording of an 1830’s German folk song (“A Farthing And A Penny”) to introduce “Fast As A Shark.” The band intended the intro as a humorous contrast to the rest of the record, unaware that it was a popular marching song for the Nazi party. The latter controversy was more intentional, being the result of the homo-erotically charged album art of Balls to the Wall (1983 Portrait) and Hauke’s lyrical imagery. Rumors began to circulate that it was Dirkschneider on the Robert Mapplethorpish cover in leather briefs tightly gripping a rubber ball. It was, in fact, a professional model and the idea came from Hoffmann’s growing interest in photography. Unaware that Hauke wrote the lyrics, much of the public assumed that Dirkschneider was singing about himself in “London Leatherboys” and “Love Child” (only the latter was explicitly about homosexuality; the former was actually about motorcycle gangs). No publicity is bad publicity, and since the band viewed homosexuals as part of the oppressed underdogs being championed in the anthemic single, “Balls To The Wall,” they were more than happy to let the controversy persist (even after Dirkschneider settled down with a wife and two children). Based on the strength of the single (which has consistently made it onto lists of the greatest metal songs), the album became Accept’s most successful of its career, reaching gold status in the US and eventually selling over two million copies worldwide.
Following a successful world tour with Fischer now back on guitar, the next album’s change in aesthetic focus divided Accept’s fanbase. Hoffmann was always inclined to put the needs of the song over his own virtuosic ability with the guitar, and with Metal Heart (1985 Portrait) his gift at creating melodic hooks took precedent over the assaultive precision playing that dominated the previous two efforts. Rather than having the band produce the album (as it had Balls to the Wall), famed Scorpions producer Dieter Dirks was brought in to emphasize the melodic turn with a cleaner style in hopes of attracting a wider American audience. The result alienated many in the band’s European audience (with a preference for increasingly faster and harder playing), but did not increase its American one. Despite the lackluster critical and audience reception at the time, the album is now considered one of Accept’s best and has influenced many modern metal bands (including Dimmu Borgir). It undoubtedly contains some of Accept’s most-loved songs, such as “Metal Heart” (with its musical quotes from Beethoven and Tchaikovsky), “Up To The Limit” (a Judas Priest-inspired song that manages to surpass much of its inspiration) and the single “Midnight Mover” (the video for which contains one of the earliest uses of the “bullet-time” photography later seen in The Matrix).
The worldwide headlining tour proved to be more successful than the record itself, but Hoffmann and Dirkschneider somewhat apologetically promised to return to the basics with Russian Roulette (1986 Portrait). Wagener was brought back for engineering duties with the band producing in order to recreate another Balls to the Wall. The record was a decent imitation, replacing the salacious connotations with murky political critique. Mark Dodson (engineer for Judas Priest) came in to punch up Wagener’s mix, but ultimately the material was just too much of an unsatisfying retread. The band and Dirkschneider began to disagree on musical direction, which led to his solo project, UDO. His first album, Animal House (1987 RCA), has been considered the unofficial sequel to Russian Roulette, because all the songs were initially written by Accept and Hauke for that purpose (his erstwhile band even plays on “Lay Down The Law”). Then residing in the US, Hoffmann and Baltes wanted to pursue a more commercial direction for which they and Dirkschneider agreed that his snarl was unsuitable. It was a peaceful separation.
Dirkschneider continued to release hardedge metal records (with Kaufmann producing), while Accept hired the American David Reece as his replacement for Eat the Heat (1989 RCA). Fischer had left for the final time, so Hoffmann handled all the guitar parts (with Jim Stacey playing rhythm guitar on the subsequent tour). Reece’s voice certainly had a wider range than Dirkschneider’s, unfortunately without any of his character. With Dieters polished production, the album was largely indistinguishable from the throngs of hair metal bands at the time, sold poorly and is now dismissed by the band members and fans alike. Ken Mary replaced Kaufmann for the tour (with WASP) due to the latter’s chronic back pain. With his volatile personality coming out on tour, Reece was finally given the boot after getting into fisticuffs with Baltes. Accept went on hiatus (only releasing 1990’s live album Staying a Life on RCA), during which Baltes played bass for solo projects from Don Dokken and Europe’s John Norum, Hoffmann pursued photography, and Kaufmann continued his production work.
With both sides feeling that their best work was when they were together, Dirkschneider reunited with Accept for 1993’s Objection Overruled (RCA). The band considered the album a return to classic form and it did well in Europe and Japan, if not in the alternative rock-dominated States. Accept continued as a four-piece for two more albums, Death Row (1994) and Predator (1996), but old creative differences began to resurface. Dirkschneider was more of the purist mentality, while Hoffmann continued to be influenced by current music trends. Kaufmann had to leave due to the return of his back pain during the recording of Death Row. UDO drummer Stefan Schwarzmann served as his replacement until Michael Cartellone (ex-Damned Yankees) took over in 1996. By that time, Dirkschneider had reached the point of diminishing returns, turning vocal duties over to Baltes for three of the numbers on Predator. After a farewell tour, Accept officially disbanded.
Dirkschneider continues to sing for UDO with Kaufmann now playing guitar and co-writing songs. Hoffman married Hauke (they began dating in the early 1980s) and is a professional commercial photographer (his work appears on the cover of Objection Overruled). Hauke became a real estate agent. In addition, Hoffmann has continued to play guitar, such as on his own 2000 album, Classical (Japanese Victor), and in ex-Skid Row vocalist Sebastian Bach’s solo band. Lastly, Baltes has become a committed Christian artist, but continues to teach bass at the Rock Factory, a music school in Newtown, Pennsylvania. All four members got back together for a brief festival tour in 2005, but Dirkschneider made it clear that he remains foremost committed to his own band. The band have since reformed with former TT Quick vocalist Mark Tornillo, releasing the LP Blood Of The Nations in 2010, their highest charting record to dat. In 2012 they followed this with Stalingrad, and continue as a band to this day.