Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz

Let's start 2014 with a huge worldwide hit and a great power single

Sweet released this single in September 1973 after having huge success in the year with Blockbuster and Hellraiser. 1973 and 1974 were to be the band's biggest years and made some great singles in these years. Glam rock was in full force and there was no stopping the band, or maybe there was!

The track was partly influenced by an incident where the band were playing a gig in a ballroom in Scotland (the birth place of Brian Connolly, the lead singer) and were forced off stage due to bottle throwing from fans. Ballrooms and club were what venues were around in those days (a throwback from the 50's & 60's pre rock n roll days). Sweet didn't help the fact that they used to piss the fans off by not playing early hits as Sweet wanted to be a rock band not a bubblegum band they were more know for. The single was never featured on any album release in the UK (except Greatest Hits) but was featured on the US version of Desolation Boulevard

The single peaked at number 2 in the UK, a position that Sweet were used to but was really annoying as a lot of Sweet singles stuck at number 2 and was only Blockbuster that got to the top. Here is the single in all it's glory!

Sweet - Blockbuster

Up to this release, Sweet had been known more for their growing number of bubblegum hit singles but the group were almost like 2 bands in one, with poppy A sides but the B sides showed the band were more of a rock group (which confused the band's fans). Glam Rock had hit the UK in the early 70's and 1973 was Glam's biggest year. Written by Nicky Chinn & Mike Chapman who penned hits for many a band in the 70's (in fact I guess they were the 1970's version of Stock Aitken & Waterman) this was their first number 1 and Sweet's first and only UK number 1. Blockbuster starts with a police siren, and a guitar riff that is similar to Bowie's Jean Jeanie and is a real rock record for the band and for the next 3 and a half minutes is a camped up rocker that was at the top of the charts for 5 weeks.