Balls to the Wall (song)

"Balls to the Wall" is a song by German heavy metal band Accept. It was released as the lead single from their 1983 studio album of the same name. The anthemic title track is the album's best known song, and quickly became Accept's signature song. An accompanying music video was made that received airplay on MTV.

"Balls to the Wall"
Single by Accept
from the album Balls to the Wall
B-side"Losing More Than You've Ever Had"
ReleasedApril 1984
Recorded1983
StudioDierks Studios, Cologne, Germany
GenreHeavy metal
Length5:44 (album version)
4:28 (video edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Accept
Accept singles chronology
"Love Child"
(1984)
"Balls to the Wall"
(1984)
"Metal Heart"
(1985)
Music video
"Balls to the Wall" on YouTube

As of 23 April 2024, the music video has received over 43.9 million views on YouTube.[1]

Song meaning

edit

When asked about the song meaning, lead guitarist Wolf Hoffmann said:

"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!'"[2]

Music video

edit

Filmed in January 1984 in London, the song's music video consists of clips of the band performing the song onstage intercut with scenes of a wrecking ball taking down a clock tower and scenes with fans of the band headbanging against the wall of the tower. Later during the buildup to the final chorus, the fans march through the rubble of the tower, and presumably head towards the stage where the band is performing. At the end of the video, singer Udo Dirkschneider rides the wrecking ball into the tower and takes out the front doors of the building it stands upon. When he discussed the scene with songfacts.com, Dirkschneider explained he was apprehensive about riding the ball because of the cold, wintry conditions on the day of the shoot, but decided to do it in the end. "It was very cold in London, near the airport", Dirkschneider said, "And especially when I had to step on this wrecking ball. I said, 'Please, no, I don't want to do this!' But in the end, I was young so I said, 'Okay, here we go.' But it was freezing like hell".[3] The song was also edited down for the video, with the guitar solo and Dirkschneider's spoken bridge being removed. The video edit of the song clocks in at four minutes and twenty eight seconds long, while the album version is five minutes and forty four seconds long.

Track listing

edit
No.TitleLength
1."Balls to the Wall"5:44
2."Losing More Than You've Ever Had"5:04

Personnel

edit

Accept

edit

Puscifer cover version

edit

Puscifer released a cover version of the song as well as a remix of the cover version on their EP Donkey Punch the Night.


References

edit
  1. ^ "Accept - Balls to the Wall". Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  2. ^ Antunovich, Tony (27 November 2005). "Interviews - Accept - Wolf Hoffman". Metal Eater. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2009.
  3. ^ "Balls to the Wall by Accept - Songfacts".
  NODES
HOME 1
iOS 1
languages 1
Note 1
os 4