Albums that mean something to me, part 4:Accept – Restless And Wild

I remember some albums with great joy and the one I’m going to tell you about today is one of those. I believe (I don’t quite remember) that my first meeting with those German gentlemens was in the autumn of 1983. I was at my friends house and we were playing video games, Asteroids and Pac Man were the games, at the time and in the background we were listening to music. Kiss was the band that made the biggest impact on us young kids at that time. “A Million To One” from the album “Lick It Up” was the favourite song.

One evening when we sat there it wasn’t Kiss that sounded in the speakers. Instead it was this rasping sound and voices singing “hey di hey di hey da”. We looked at each other for a couple of seconds, shaking our heads, wondering what the hell is this? And then, with a blast, guitars and drums met in an inferno and instead of shaking our heads we go:

“Oh my god, this is the fastest song we’ve ever heard”

Being twelve years old, hearing “Fast As A Shark” for the first time, was quite amazing. I don’t remember that we were listening to another song on the album that evening. It was “Fast As A Shark” over and over again. Eventually when I heard the album in its entirety I discovered there was so much more than “Fast As A Shark”.

The title track is quite amazing and I still don’t understand why the band didn’t play “Shake Your Heads” live when Udo was still in the band, that’s hard to understand. “Neon Nights” is an epic heavy metal song and the simplicity when its come to “Get Ready” its quite brilliant. The last song of the album is probably the best song in the discography of Accept. It’s impossible sitting still when “Princess Of The Dawn” sounding in the speakers. To sum it up “Fast As A Shark” is maybe the main reason I became a heavy metal fan from the beginning but “Restless And Wild” is so much more and it’s definitely an album that means a lot to me.

Tracklist:
1. Fast As A Shark
2. Restless And Wild
3. Ahead Of The Pack
4. Shake Your Heads
5. Neon Nights
6. Get Ready
7. Demon’s Night
8. Flash Rockin’ Man
9. Don’t Go Stealin’ My Soul Away
10. Princess Of The Dawn