The Ballroom Blitz
1973 song by The Sweet
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"The Ballroom Blitz" is a song by British glam rock band The Sweet, written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. The song reached number one in Canada, number two in the UK Singles Chart and the Australian Chart, and number five on the US Billboard Hot 100.
- "Rock and Roll Disgrace" (RCA)
- "Restless" (Capitol)
| "The Ballroom Blitz" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cover of the 1973 German single issue | ||||
| Single by The Sweet | ||||
| from the album Desolation Boulevard (US version) | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released | 14 September 1973 (UK)[1] June 1975 (US) | |||
| Recorded | 1973 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:06 | |||
| Label | RCA (UK) Capitol (US) | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | ||||
| The Sweet singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Promo video | ||||
| "The Ballroom Blitz" on YouTube | ||||
Background
"The Ballroom Blitz" was inspired by an incident on 27 January 1973 when the band were performing at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock, Scotland, and were driven offstage by a bottling.[9]
History and description
The song was recorded on 11–12 June 1973 at Audio International Studio, 18 Rodmarton Street, London,[10][11] and released as a single in September 1973.
The song appeared on the US and Canadian versions of Desolation Boulevard but never appeared on a Sweet album in the UK, other than hits compilations.[12]
The initial guitar riff and drum patterns of the song has similarity to a 1963 song by Bobby Comstock called "Let's Stomp".[13]
Cover versions
An early cover of "The Ballroom Blitz" was by the Les Humphries Singers in 1974, the first German single to reach number one in New Zealand.[14] 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.[15][16]
Other covers include Krokus in 1984, the Surf Punks on their 1988 album Oh No! Not Them Again; and Tia Carrere on the soundtrack to Wayne's World in 1992.[17][18] In 2003, the song was covered by the female Estonian rock band Vanilla Ninja. In 2016, The Struts recorded it for the soundtrack of film The Edge of Seventeen.[19] In 2020, industrial metal band 3Teeth released Guns Akimbo, a two-track set that included a cover version of "The Ballroom Blitz". The song was previously featured in the 2019 action comedy film Guns Akimbo.[20]
In popular culture
- The words "she thinks she's the passionate one" from the song are dubbed into the Beastie Boys song "Hey Ladies".[21]
- In October 2022 Kym Marsh and professional dance partner Graziano di Prima danced a quickstep to the song for the 20th series of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.[22][23]
Personnel
- Brian Connolly – lead vocals
- Steve Priest – bass guitar, co-lead and backing vocals
- Andy Scott – guitar, backing vocals
- Mick Tucker – drums, backing vocals
Chart performance
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[48] | Gold | 75,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[49] | Silver | 250,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
See also
- Smoke on the Water, by a contemporary British band, describing how the audience interrupted their performance