AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Sweet

Artist:The Sweet
Song:Ballroom Blitz
Album:The Best Of Sweet





The British group The Sweet rode the glam rock coattails of T Rex and had success in the mid-70s. Ballroom Blitz is one of their better known songs. The history of The Sweet goes back to the band Wainwright's Gentlemen. Sweet lead singer Brian Connolly and drummer Mick Tucker were in that band before they split up in 1968. Connolly and Tucker formed The Sweetshop and then shortened the name to The Sweet when they discovered there was already a band called The Sweetshop. They brought in bassist Steve Priest and they went through a couple of guitarists before Andy Scott joined in 1970. After a couple of unsuccessful singles on Fontana, The Sweet signed with EMI in 1970 and the songwriting and production team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. The Sweet had success in England with the 1973 single Little Willy. It eventually reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. By this time they were on RCA in England and Capitol in the US. Also, on some of the early Sweet recordings, Chinn and Chapman used session musicians. This would soon become a source of conflict between The Sweet and Chinn and Chapman. The 1973 single Block Buster was The Sweet's first number one hit in England. Ballroom Blitz was also a hit in 1973. Then the group split with Chinn and Chapman in 1974 and they decided to start wearing makeup on stage to take advantage of the glam rock trend. They didn't like being a bubblegum band. Ballroom Blitz was re-released in 1975 and it reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Then they went into decline and by 1979, Connolly left The Sweet. I think what The Sweet discovered was their own songs weren't as successful as the songs written by Chinn and Chapman. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. The Sweet disbanded in 1982. Scott and Tucker reformed the Sweet in 1985. At the same time, Connolly led The New Sweet. Then in 1991, Scott split with Tucker and started his own version of The Sweet. There are still two versions of The Sweet, one led by Scott and the other led by Priest. Connolly died in 1997 and Tucker died in 2004. Here's The Sweet performing Ballroom Blitz 1973.