Accept (band)

Accept
Accept live at Hellfest 2018
Background information
Also known as	Band X (1968–1976)
Origin	Solingen, West Germany
Genres	Heavy metal
Discography	Accept discography
Years active	1976–1989 1992–1997 2005 2009–present
Labels	Nuclear Blast Portrait/Epic RCA Germany PolyGram Passport Napalm
Members	Wolf Hoffmann Mark Tornillo Uwe Lulis Christopher Williams Martin Motnik Philip Shouse
Past members	Udo Dirkschneider Gerhard Wahl Frank Friedrich Peter Baltes Dieter Rubach Stefan Kaufmann Jan Koemmet Herman Frank Jörg Fischer Rob Armitage David Reece Michael Cartellone Stefan Schwarzmann
Website	acceptworldwide.com

Accept is a German heavy metal band from Solingen, formed in 1976 by lead guitarist Wolf Hoffmann, singer Udo Dirkschneider and bassist Peter Baltes. Their beginnings can be traced back to the late 1960s when the band got its earliest start under the name Band X. Their current lineup consists of Hoffmann, vocalist Mark Tornillo, guitarists Uwe Lulis and Philip Shouse, drummer Christopher Williams and bassist Martin Motnik. Accept has undergone numerous lineup changes; Hoffmann is the last remaining original member, and the only band member to appear on all of their albums. As of 2024, the band has released seventeen studio albums, five live albums and nine compilation albums.

Accept played an important role in the development of speed^[1] and thrash metal,^[2] and they were part of the German heavy metal scene, which emerged in the early to mid-1980s. 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,^[3][4] and spawned their well-known hit "Balls to the Wall".

Accept has 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 (who declined to participate),^[5] and the band has recorded six albums with him: Blood of the Nations (2010), Stalingrad (2012), Blind Rage (2014), The Rise of Chaos (2017), Too Mean to Die (2021), and Humanoid (2024); those albums renewed Accept's popularity in Germany and entered the top ten charts there.^[6] As of 2024, the band has sold more than 17 million copies of their albums worldwide.^[7]