Accept

Accept is a German heavy metal band from the town of Solingen, formed in 1976 by guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and former members Udo Dirkschneider (vocals) and Peter Baltes (bass). Their beginnings can be traced back to the late 1960s, when the band got its start under the name Band X. Accept's lineup has changed over the years, which has included different singers, guitarists, bassists and drummers. Their current lineup consists of Hoffmann, vocalist Mark Tornillo, guitarist Uwe Lulis, drummer Christopher Williams and bassist Martin Motnik. Hoffmann has been the sole constant member since its inception, and he and Baltes (until 2018, when the latter left Accept) are the only band members to appear on each album.

Accept played an important role in the development of speed and thrash metal, being part of the German heavy metal scene, which emerged in the early to mid-1980s, and have been cited as an influence by a number of acts such as Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Exodus, Soundgarden, Skid Row, Alice in Chains, Helloween, Doro, Slayer, Overkill, Testament, Anthrax, Sodom, Celtic Frost, Kreator, Annihilator, and Iced Earth. Accept achieved its first commercial success with their fifth studio album Balls to the Wall (1983), which is the band's only album to be certified gold in the United States and Canada, and spawned their well-known hit "Balls to the Wall".

Accept have broken up and reformed multiple times. They first split up in 1989, several months after the release of Eat the Heat (which was their only album with Dirkschneider's initial replacement David Reece), but reformed in 1992 and released three more albums before disbanding again in 1997. After briefly reuniting in 2005, Accept announced their third reunion in 2009 with former T.T. Quick frontman Mark Tornillo replacing Dirkschneider, and released their three highest charting albums to date, Blood of the Nations (2010), Stalingrad (2012) and Blind Rage (2014), the latter of which was Accept's first album to reach number one on the charts in their home country. The band's most recent album, The Rise of Chaos, was released on August 4, 2017.