The Ballroom Blitz

"The Ballroom Blitz"
Cover of the 1973 German single issue
Single by Sweet
from the album Desolation Boulevard (US Version)
B-side	"Rock and Roll Disgrace" (RCA) "Restless" (Capitol)
Released	September 1973 (Europe) July 1975 (US)
Format	7" single
Recorded	1973
Genre	Glam rock[1][2] hard rock[3] pop metal[4]
Length	4:06
Label	RCA
Writer(s)	Nicky Chinn Mike Chapman
Producer(s)	Nicky Chinn Mike Chapman
Sweet singles chronology
"Hell Raiser" (1973) "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) "Teenage Rampage" (1974)
Desolation Boulevard US release track listing "Ballroom Blitz" (1) "The Six Teens" (2) Music sample "The Ballroom Blitz"

"The Ballroom Blitz" is a song by the British rock band Sweet, written and produced by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.

Background

"The Ballroom Blitz" was recorded at Audio International Studio, 18 Rodmartin Street, London.^[5][6] The song was produced by songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.^[7]

The song appeared on the U.S./Canadian version of Desolation Boulevard but never appeared on a Sweet album in the UK, other than hits compilations.^[8]

This song was inspired by an incident on 27 January 1973 when the band was performing at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock, Scotland and were driven offstage by a barrage of bottles.^[9]

The initial guitar and drum riff of the song has some similarity to a 1963 song by Bobby Comstock called "Let's Stomp".^[10]

Cover versions

The first known cover of "The Ballroom Blitz" was by the Les Humphries Singers in 1975, which was the first German single to reach #1 in New Zealand.^[11] In 1979, the song was covered by the Damned, which featured Lemmy from Motörhead on bass guitar. It was released as a B-side to "I Just Can't Be Happy Today" and featured as a bonus track on their CD reissue of Machine Gun Etiquette.^[1][12] Another notable cover was by Swiss heavy metal band Krokus, which was released on their album The Blitz in 1984.^[13][14] Other covers include renditions by Christian rock band Calibretto 13 on their album Enter the Danger Brigade in 2000, Tia Carrere on the soundtrack to Wayne's World in 1992, and thrash metal band Nuclear Assault on their 1991 album Out of Order.^[15][16]

In popular culture

• The song was played in the 1992 film Wayne's World.^[17]
• The lyrics "she thinks she's the passionate one" from the song are dubbed into the Beastie Boys song "Hey Ladies".^[18]
• The song was featured in the trailer for the 1997 movie Home Alone 3.^[19]
• The song appears in the 2005 Italian movie Romanzo Criminale.^[20]
• The song was heavily featured in promotional material for the 2016 movie Suicide Squad.^[21]
• Since June 2016, the song has been used in public information films on the subject of smart meters surrounding gas and electricity use.^[22]
• The song is in the Rock Band video game.
• A multiplayer level in the Battlefield 1 video game is named after the song.

Personnel

• Brian Connolly – lead vocals
• Steve Priest – bass guitar, backing vocals, spoken lead vocals
• Andy Scott – guitar, backing vocals
• Mick Tucker – drums, backing vocals

Chart performance

Weekly charts Chart (1973-1976) Peak position Australia[23] 2 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[24] 5 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[25] 2 Canada[26] 1 Germany (Official German Charts)[27] 1 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[28] 2 Norway (VG-lista)[29] 2 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[30] 3 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[31] 2 US Billboard Hot 100[32] 5

Year-end charts Chart (1973) Rank UK [33] 31 Chart (1974) Rank Australia [23] 9 Chart (1975) Rank Canada[34] 22 US Billboard Hot 100[35] 16

References

1. Steve Waksman (4 February 2009). This Ain't the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk. University of California Press. p. 327. ISBN 978-0-520-94388-9. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
2. Wayne Coy (2005). Bay City Babylon: The Unbelievable, But True Story of the Bay City Rollers. IGS Entertainment. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-58736-463-1. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
3. Don Breithaupt; Jeff Breithaupt (29 July 2014). Precious and Few: Pop Music of the Early '70s. St. Martin's Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-4668-7649-1. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
4. Bruce Pollock (18 March 2014). Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era. Routledge. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-135-46296-3. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
5. Beat Instrumental & Songwriting & Recording. Beat Publications. 1978. p. 88. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
6. Burns, Phil. "Recorded at Audio International". Philsbook.com. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
7. Nigel Clements. Prologue: Spud Carrot Begins The First Book in the Adventures of Spud Carrot Series. Lulu.com. p. 387. ISBN 978-1-291-91615-7. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
8. Martin Popoff (15 August 2014). The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal's Debauched Decade. Voyageur Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-7603-4546-7. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
9. Robert Dimery (5 December 2011). 1001 Songs: You Must Hear Before You Die. Octopus. p. 886. ISBN 978-1-84403-717-9. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
10. Swanson, Dave. "Top 10 Sweet Songs". Ultimateclassicrock.com. Diffuser Network. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
11. The Complete New Zealand Music Charts, 1966-2006: Singles, Albums, DVDs, Compilations. Maurienne House. 1 January 2007. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-877443-00-8. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
12. Lemmy Kilmister (8 June 2012). White Line Fever: Lemmy: The Autobiography. Simon and Schuster. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-4711-1271-3. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
13. Daniel Bukszpan; Ronnie James Dio (2003). The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal. Barnes & Noble Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7607-4218-1. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
14. Taylor T. Carlson (14 June 2014). STEELcyclopedia - The Titans of Hard Rock. Lulu.com. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-304-80076-3. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
15. Mark Allan Powell (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. Hendrickson Publishers. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-56563-679-8. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
16. Martin Charles Strong; Brendon Griffin (2008). Lights, camera, sound tracks. Canongate. p. 396. ISBN 978-1-84767-003-8. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M30ACuNgKfU
18. http://www.metrolyrics.com/ballroom-blitz-lyrics-the-sweet.html
19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VJ34UG_BfU
20. http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/73809/Romanzo+Criminale
21. http://collider.com/suicide-squad-new-trailer-will-smith/
22. http://tvadsongs.uk/smart-energy-gb-advert-song-meter-gaz-leccy/
23. Steffen Hung. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
24. "Austriancharts.at – The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
25. "Ultratop.be – The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
26. List of number-one singles of 1975 (Canada)
27. "Offiziellecharts.de – The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
28. "Dutchcharts.nl – The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
29. "Norwegiancharts.com – The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz". VG-lista. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
30. "Swisscharts.com – The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
31. "Archive Chart: 1973-09-22" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
32. Billboard Singles at AllMusic. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
33. "Top 100 1973 - UK Music Charts". Uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
34. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3183". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
35. "Billboard Top 100 - 1975". Retrieved 10 October 2015.

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics