Accept’s Wolf Hoffman Names His Favorite Riff From His Career

Accept’s Wolf Hoffman has crafted many a riff in his 50 years of rocking, but which one is his favorite? In some cases, you’ll get a surprise answer, but Hoffman reveals to Full Metal Jackie on her weekend radio show that it’s simply quite hard to go against the band’s most recognizable riff.

“I’m sort of the riff guy. I have created countless riffs. But I guess the one that always stands out is ‘Balls to the Wall’ because it’s turned into an iconic kinda riff,” reveals Hoffman, who adds, “which interestingly enough, because it only happens once in the song at the very beginning and then it never happens again.”

“But it definitely stands out as being super simple, super recognizable and one of those I hate to say it myself, but it turned into an iconic kinda riff,” he concludes.

That riff is among many things celebrated in Accept’s latest offering, Teutonic Titans 1976-2026. This is a special 50th anniversary album from the band with the group revisiting and reimagining many of their past songs with an all-star cast of collaborators. Hoffman shares how the project came together, the biggest surprises when they heard the new interpretations and what it means to reach the 50-year milestone in his career.

Check out more of the chat below.

It’s Full Metal Jackie, and I’m very excited to welcome to the show a true legend. We’ve got Wolf Hoffmann of Accept joining us this week. Wolf, this isn’t the traditional album we’re getting this time. Teutonic Titans is full-fledged celebration of the band’s career. 19 tracks, 50 guest artists and a reimagining of some of your biggest songs. That’s quite a huge undertaking. So tell us, where did you start? What got the ball rolling on putting this together?

I gotta go back a few years. Traditionally, I’ve always shied away from doing anniversary tours and anniversary this and anniversary that just because we have so many occasions. And I always felt like our time would be better spent making new albums rather than revisiting the past. But at the same time, a 50-year anniversary is a huge thing and it only happens once in our career. So we thought we need to do something special here.

The idea started rather small and just sort of grew and grew and grew and more and more people signed up. To my big surprise, everybody said yes when we asked, “Hey, would you be interested in, revisiting one of those early songs?”

So many musicians have told me over the years that they listen to Accept and “Fast as a Shark” and Restless and Wild, these early albums from the ’80s, and that influenced them and their career. In some cases, it was their first concert. So I’ve heard this story so many times that I thought it might be a cool idea to get those people and ask them to reinterpret together with us and create the songs again. Let’s bring them back to life in a new way.

Let’s talk about “Save Us” featuring Tobias Forge from Ghost, Frank Bello from Anthrax, and Ray Luzier from Korn sitting in. First, how did you end up with that trio for the song? And then what is the biggest challenge in trying to reimagine the track with new collaborators?

The whole idea started with our producer Zeuss and I brainstorming, Which songs are we gonna do, which are the most important ones and which are maybe the deep cuts that might be the most interesting. So that was a criteria.

And then once we had picked our songs, some people like Tobias Forge said, “I love Accept. I’ve been a huge fan, but my favorite song is …” for instance, in this case, “Save Us,” which wasn’t on my radar or Zeuss’ or on nobody’s radar. That was a very, very forgotten song, I would say.

We’d never played it live from what I remember and it’s been one of those deep cuts that I completely had forgotten about. But Tobias from Ghost told me that, “Oh yeah, man, that was my all-time favorite song.” So then, of course, we said, “Well, let’s hear what it sounds like when you interpret it in your way.” And by God, it turned out amazing. It’s much better than the original, in my mind and much more interesting.

Accept With Tobias Forge, Frank Bello and Ray Luzier, “Save Us”

Wolf, over the years, songs just naturally evolve. It happens in the live setting, sometimes it’s in jamming. But when you’re purposely trying to reimagine something that already exists, is that a difficult thing? And of all the reimagined versions, what was one of the most surprising to you?

I would say that [“Save Us”]  is one of the most surprising songs right there, just because it is done with not the usual. We have Rob Halford on “Balls to the Wall,” for instance. That’s amazing. And we’ve got the guys from Pantera on “Fast as a Shark” together with the Scorpions’ guitar player and Mikkey Dee on drums. So we’ve got the A-list of people.

But, you know, one of the most surprising guests that we have is Tobias [Forge] because he’s not the typical metal shouter. So the fact that we did and redid this song and it turned out so well, that to me was the biggest surprise.

And you have to understand, when you do this, you don’t really know what’s gonna happen. You just ask these people to contribute their style. And we told everybody, “Do it in your style. Just be mindful of the original. You don’t have to stick to the original, like, verbatim because we don’t want a clone of the original. We want a new version.” So that’s what everybody did, and it brought an amazing amount of energy and new elements to these songs. So I think it’s fantastic.

It’s Full Metal Jackie. Wolf Hoffmann of Accept with us talking about Teutonic Titans 1976 to 2026. And for those of you bad at math, that is 50 years we are talking about. Wolf, you have the distinction of being the one guy there from the start. You can never predict how things will go, but would you have ever thought you’d be here five decades later from when you first started? And what would’ve been the biggest concern you had about sustaining a five-decade career?

Of course, nobody in their wildest dreams could have imagined that back then. We didn’t know if it was gonna last five months or even five years. So 50 years was like, that was like the moon. You’re talking the outer of the moon. It would’ve been so far away and we didn’t really know how long this would all last.

You have to understand, when we got started, the metal scene itself was in its infancy and nobody was old. Everybody was young and nobody had an idea that you could do this for generations to come. That’s a new experience that sort of just happened later. But back then, we just had a big dream, but no idea how far we could ever get.

Accept have had moments of inactivity over the years, but when we do an album like this, does it give you a chance to take stock of what this career has been for you? It’s 17 previous albums. It feels like you’ve always been in the middle of something and probably preparing for the next thing. But at this stage, do you try to be more present in the moment or start to realize the gravity of what came before and what it means to a fan base and its place in music history?

I’m typically not the one who’s sort of nostalgic and I don’t constantly live in the past or think about the past that much. But I have to admit, in this case, because I had to go back through the old catalog and  we got all these amazing players and contributions, it amounted to something that’s almost like a live resume at this point. And it feels weird. All of a sudden, I feel old because until then I always thought, “Yeah, whatever, 50. Yeah, yeah.” But it, it really starts to sink in now.

Of course, in your mind you go back to all the years that these things happened in the ’80s. Everybody’s always talking about the ’80s. And then the ’90s were like a dark period and then followed by some inactivity. But personally, I enjoy these last few years of our career, especially the ones now with our new singer, Mark Tornillo, who has been with us for 17 years now.

So this whole period of new albums is something that I enjoy almost more than anything that happened in the ’80s, you know? Or maybe it has to do with the fact that we’re getting more conscious of things and maybe wiser. Although I kinda doubt that, to be honest.

Since this album does come at a time from looking back at past history, I’m gonna ask, and I realize this may change depending on the day and what you’re feeling, but do you have a favorite guitar riff from your time in the band? And why does it stand out to you?

Well, if I had to pick one and I’m sort of the riff guy. I have created countless riffs. But I guess the one that always stands out is “Balls to the Wall” because it’s turned into an iconic kinda riff. Which interestingly enough, because it only happens once in the song at the very beginning and then it never happens again.

READ MORE: Accept’s Wolf Hoffman Names the Band’s Two Most Rewarding Albums

But it definitely stands out as being super simple, super recognizable and one of those I hate to say it myself, but it turned into an iconic kinda riff.

It absolutely did. I could not agree more.

Accept, “Balls to the Wall”

Wolf, within the live setting, how does this work for you? Fans obviously have an attachment to how the songs have been played throughout the years, but do you give some of the songs the reimagined arrangements now that you guys are back out there supporting this?

Yeah, we’ve always changed songs for live versions up a little bit. And in this case, now that we have this, For this year, this is the celebration of 50 years of Accept. So any show we’re gonna do this year and maybe going into the next year at least once in every territory, we’re gonna put on a very special show, meaning we’re gonna play songs that’ll be from this album and maybe even some other deep cuts that we’ve never done before, just to sort of give the fans a different experience because this is not another sort of new album or kind of regular show. It’s definitely something very special and we have a much bigger production than we’ve ever had.

We’re also gonna have a lot of special guests on these shows. So [you might see] whoever is available from this album roster and maybe some other friends. We always really enjoy having friends on stage. Fans also, of course.

It’s Full Metal Jackie. Wolf Hoffmann of Accept with us. We’re talking about Teutonic Titans. And does doing this kind of record give you a fresh slate of what comes next? I, feel like records can be a reaction to what just came before it. Does this allow you almost to start from scratch, being this is more of a revisiting and celebration of the past?

Yeah. I’m already really fired up and looking forward to creating a new studio album. I guess having done this album project for the last year, year and a half, yeah, it really gave us some time to reset and recharge the energy and really go full force into a new studio album.

It was really a nice experience and it also gives you a different perspective on things. When you look back at all these years and all the stuff that you’ve done and also what it means to other people, I guess you can’t help it. It opens up your mind and it gives a different perspective.

Thanks to Accept’s Wolf Hoffman for the interview. ‘Teutonic Titans 1976-2026’ is available to order now. Stay up to date with the band through their website, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts.  Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio show here.

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