This was part of the "Glam Rock" music style. It's theatrical metal from the '70's. People you will have heard of who went through Glam Rock are David Bowie, Queen, Slade, and Marc Bolan and T-Rex. It was a lot of glitter, long hair and makeup. However, while acting androgynous, they were mostly treated like sex idols from women at the time. The majority of them were straight. (Ziggy Stardust was Bowie's Glam Phase.)
@@LongReachOne that's because they aren't "leisure suits" they are glam rock costumes. And we were not "chicks". It's a British thing, but yes, long hair is quite sexy, better than tatts and shaved heads any day.
They were not ahead of their time, they were of their time. The early 70's was when bands were experimenting with the fluidity of gender stereotypes. Bowie, T Rex and many others were doing the same thing. It was the genre of "Glam Rock" and it gave birth to the Rocky Horror Show. You can hear it in the music. Their look was never pushed down anyone's throat in a demand for recognition, it was fun and they were accepted just the way they were. Some were gay, most were straight, some, like Bowie, swung both ways, sometimes only temporarily. It's all become so much more aggressive now but there's nothing new under the sun, we've seen it all before. We were more advanced in the 70's, the attitude was "live, and let live.
The young people of today think Harry Styles & Co are something new and revolutionary. Me a a 60 year old starts laughing: Look at The Sweet, Bavid Bowie, Elton John and others from the 70s - THAT was new!
Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
How DARE you! Kids today invented it! just ask them! Us old people do not understand them because they are SO hip. Meanwhile nothing is new under the sun.
This was fire in the 70's, this was fire in the 80's, this was fire in the 90's and it's still fire today ! One of the greatest party songs of all time !
Your reaction made me laugh so much, thank you. The song is about what happened on January 27, 1973, The Sweet were playing at the Grand Hall (Kilmarnock, Scotland), and were driven offstage by a “bottling,” as angry fans began to throw things onto the stage. Don't feel too bad about not knowing they were guys, I can still remember my dad asking "what are they", when I first saw them on 'Countdown' (an Aussie pop show. Ahh, good old Glam Rock, confusing parents everywhere, which is why we always cranked up the sound. ;) This was always played as the second last song at the roller skating rink, I can remember as a beginner quickly getting off the rink, and letting the 'pros' handle it, there were injuries due to the fast pace. 🤣 We all quickly got back onto the rink for the final song, 'Nutbush City Limits', such fun, great times. 🤩 Cheers, from Australia 🐨🦘
@@JanetGreenslade I remember 'The Pretty Things' being on Top of the Pops. My dad was horrified and said" I don't know about pretty things, they're more like ugly buggers". Oh the days...😏
Just four straight guys in a "Glam-Rock" band. The costumes and makeup were simply show business props for that era. The hair?... well, it was the early 70s
It is 1975, I am 12 years old, I am in Year 8 (first year of High School). My bestie (Elise) and I have on our glitter eyeshadow in shades to match our eyes (green for me, blue for her). Sweet are playing at the Embassy Ballroom in Perth, Western Australia. It was my very first music concert and I thought it was the coolest thing EVER! To this very day (and I am 61 now), Ballroom Blitz is played regularly by DJs in pub gigs and parties and NOTHING will get me on the dance floor faster!
The 60s had so many different records on the charts and so many types. Each year from 1964 to 1967 had over 700 records hit the Hot 100 in Billboard Magazine. I have copies of every single record that hit the charts from 1950 to 2000. In 1996, there were only 314 records that hit the Hot 100. So there was much less than half as much music.
We did the whole AMAZING glam rock thing, with men in make up, glitter and long hair, while STILL knowing exactly what a women is. And NOBODY had a problem with it. Definitely put this on to get the party started 🤩🤩🤩
That’s not entirely true, I remember my WW2 era family members bashing many, KISS was evil to them. I also remember, quite distinctly, not being able to get a job in the 80’s as a metal dude with long hair. I suspect it has quite a bit to do with where you were at there. Let’s just say rural, small country town Ohio wasn’t exactly open minded or tolerant. Probably still isn’t, don’t know, graduated high school and bailed. Oh, it was also incredibly racist and sexist. The shit my WW2 era uncles would spew was quite vile.
@@Imathomeboredlol. I had such awesome hair in the 80’s, more than one gf did my hair before a show, don’t think I ever bought my own hairspray. 😂 2020 I decided to grow it out again, and I must say, it’s really a pain in the ass!
@@Imathomebored. That brings back memories! I was dating my husband at the time and he had the most glorious hair. Very straight, very thick and jet black. I got used to him getting all the attention!!
Get your mum on my dance floor now. we will glam rock like it's going out of fashion. soundtrack of my teens. Those were the days. No internet, phones, social media, made our own fun. Went to everyvillages youth club discos on friday nights. Taking it in turns to visit different one every week. We had discos in the gym on Friday afternoon for 4th and 5th formers (14-16 )year old girls dancing like no one was watching. Went all girls' school, no boys allowed.
They were ridiculously talented. On top of being excellent at their instruments, they all could sing very well. They have some incredibly heavy songs from back in the day. They were way ahead of their time.
💯!! That's probably why he's equating it to Halloween. That's when they play Rocky Horror and everyone gets all dressed up and brings their props. They used to anyway 😂
I'm a 70yr old Brit, I loved this band, They were one of the Original Glam Rock groups(before your American Prog Rock)The idea about are they aren't they, was to mess with your parents heads, a rebel song, @ about 5yrs later their was a Brit Disco song called, "somebodies going to get, their head kicked in tonight"
I'm a 70s kid. This is THE song that epitomizes my youth. Saturday morning bowling alley, jukebox, billiard room and wall of pinball machines. This song blaring from the jukebox. Yes!
I went and saw him with The Sweet about 14 yrs ago in Australia. He was the only original member left but it was still a good show. I still have my Fox on the Run single from 1975, loved that band as a teen.
I remember the old wooden floored skating rink in the '70s. Someone would play this song on the jukebox and suddenly everyone in the place was on their feet and skating/dancing around the room.
You are so right. I think we had an open mind and really didn't give a Frick, just enjoyed it. Glam Rock was big in the early 1970s and it started with T. REX. When I was 12/13 my wall over the bed was full with all different Glam Rock posters.
I remember being more shocked when Freddy Mercury changed his look for a more muscular look, I was about 9 and I remember shouting to my Dad in another room come look at Freddy Mercury!
"Ballroom Blitz" was inspired by an incident at a concert in Scotland when the band was booed and pelted with bottles, and reached the top of the charts in Canada and Australia, and the top five in the UK and the US.
I don't know if they were booed and pelted with stuff, but it certainly was in Scotland. The Grand Hall of the Palace Theatre in Kilmarnock, in fact, back in 1973. 🙏
In those days it took three to six months for songs like that to hit the German top ten - but it did and then it was played in the church disco I was allowed to go to.
Im British.. this was the70’s .. a game changer when boys started wearing makeup, it was rock n roll on a different level.. people where free to express themselves..think u need to understand what the word blitz means, they smashed it!!😊😊💕
The lead singer Brian Connelly was not wearing a wig. And he had a tragic life from childhood to his early death from alcoholism. He was known to be a humble, gentle soul.
A lovely guy who was as beautiful on the inside as on the outside. His teenage single mother did not name his father and abandoned him in hospital as a baby when he became ill. He was fostered and later adopted by the family of 'Taggart' actor, Mark McManus, who it later turned out was the family of their mutual father.
True...Such a humble and kind person, that in the last years of his life, when he was a very sick man, he used to thank the nurses and doctors in the hospital for what was done for him...he was definitely a beautiful person, on the outside as much as on the inside...
The judgments and racism of today's era were non existent in the70's. We had FUN with our music, loving, laughing, crying, dying, daydreaming... you name it and there was a song for it.
I'm the youngster here only in my fifties but I remember this era fondly zero f*ck were given you wanted if you wanted to dress like a 50's scifi rock god go for it, but you wanted to wear a tux and crooning no problem. hope you ready for a get of my lawn cranky old man rant, people these days need to chill the hell out stop taking everything so seriously. And before anyone jumps on me I may wear glasses but they aren't rose tinted there were thing back then that weren't good but I don't know if its really better now
One thing I like about your reactions is your offering of real reflection, often from your own experiences, about opening up to things not yet experienced. It’s like having a conversation with a friend.
It’s strangely gratifying to hear someone reacting so positively to a song which was perhaps the biggest ‘banger’ (we didn’t use that term back in ‘73) of my Australian high school years. Every time I hear it I’m straight back in a portable classroom at recess listening to a transistor radio with my classmates as we jump up and down on the desks and sing our lungs out. “All right fellas, let’s go!!!!” BTW It was called ‘glam rock’.
The song was inspired by an incident in Jan 1973. Sweet was performing at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock,Scotland. The band was driven offstage by what's called "bottling" or when the audience is so angry they throw things at the stage.
@@theodoreritola7641 What part of smoke on the water sounds like ballroom blitz to you? Two totally different songs tempo wise sound wise and feeling? Not knocking what you're saying, just curious to see what makes you say it reminds you of it?
I saw Wayne's World in the cinema at least 5 times in 1992, ..., it was just great! All the hidden references, great! Until NOW I always thought the song was by Tia Carrere. Well I was wrong, thanks Black Pegasus. Greetings from Switzerland.
I was born in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock where the Ballroom Blitz took place. It really happened and the boys took their bottle pelted selves back south to London and wrote this song. Killie takes no prisoners.
@@punkpopnotdead You do realize Chinn and Chapman were inspired by what happened to the band in Scotland and wrote this song for them. It's definitely not rubbish, unlike your post.
@@timmarshall2491[the boys took their bottle pelted selves back south to London and wrote this song] is rubbish they only wrote 2 good songs at the end of there time
They're glam rock. It came out of the UK in the 70s. They are all men. Think early David Bowie, Queen, T Rex, Mott the Hoople and even Kiss fall into that genre. All great bands. I'm not sure if you've watched any early stuff from those bands but you need to. Lol
This is what gave rise to the glam metal of the 80s. Steve Priest, the bassist, was a badass and the drummer, Mick Tucker was killing it. The ladies loved The Sweet in the day. I like their song Blockbuster, and also Love Is Like Oxygen. Fox on the Run is pretty wild. All four of them are amazing singers.
Music back then used to make you feel alive, none of the depressing self pity stuff we've had over the last 25 years. For me things started to go downhill from the late 90s onwards.
The 60s had the most variety with over 700 hits making the Hot 100 charts in four consecutive years. Just in the top 10 for the entire year of 1967, there was Lulu, the Monkees, the Association, Bobbie Gentry, Nancy & Frank Sinatra, the Rascals, the Box Tops, the Doors, the Turtles, and the Beatles.
This brought back memories of going dancing on a Friday evening and these tunes and many more 1973 I was 15 and having a great time . How lucky we were. I loved that it made you smile and dance . By the way it was called glam rock .
Sweet were a working class band. They were navvies and factory workers and, despite the glam rock androgeny, these were the guys that the young men in the clubs were getting together to mosh pit and headbang to. They certainly weren't Prog. The Prog snobs at the time were turning up their noses at these guys. They were pretty unique in their way. Suzie Quatro had similar energy and maybe Mark Bolan and T-Rex. Glam rock was a wildly creative genre.
@@digitig Prog snobbery was definitely a big thing at my school, but we were out in the sticks so we didn't have access to Saturday night discos. West Cumbria in the 70s was so backwards that we didn't get Punk until 2 years after everyone else. We also had a lot of leftover Hippies. My music tastes are about the same as those of someone born three or four years earlier.
They were awesome, listened to them all the time when I was at high school and I'm in my 60s now, thats how long ago these guys played. December 1974 this was released I was 14 years old me and my friends played it so loud, loved it!
They did one called Little Willie, too. I was like 4. I think I still have the single on vinyl. Krokus remade it in the ‘80s and Tia Carrera did it in Wayne’s World - quite well. Love glam rock. Glad you enjoyed it.
So loved this group in the 70s. They were glam rock. You can't sit still, listening to this group. 1970s. The lead singer died not long ago. Amazing time in the UK.
Sweets peppermint twist album was one of the first records i ever bought. 70s Glam Rock. Everyone had OTT costumes and make-up. Take a look at Skyhooks - Horror Movie or Living in the 70s. Twisted Sister - We're not gonna take it or I wanna rock
"The Ballroom Blitz" (often called "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. "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. Brian Connolly - lead vocals Steve Priest - bass guitar, backing vocals Andy Scott - guitar, backing vocals Mick Tucker - drums, backing vocals Year-end charts Chart (1973) Rank UK 17 Chart (1974) Rank Australia (Kent Music Report) 9 Chart (1975) Rank Canada 22 US Billboard Hot 100 16
It's an energy song. Whether you need a boost when you're tired, depressed, partying, exercising...this kind of song is what you play. What they look like doesn't matter. What the song means doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the energy. Some songs are like that.
In America, "Ballroom Blitz" was the second hit for Sweet, following "Little Willy." They had more success and notoriety in their native UK, where their outlandish lyrics caused some controversy. In America they were more of a curiosity, delivering fun, relatively mindless entertainment. The band members do a roll call at the beginning of Ballroom Blitz, which is a great way to introduce themselves to listeners. Lead singer Brian Connolly asks: Are you ready Steve? (bass player Steve Priest), Andy? (guitarist Andy Scott), Mick? (drummer Mick Tucker).
It’s called Glam Rock! It’s a genre from the 70s. Outrageous Costumes, makeup, and theatrics are what it’s about … there’s also Glam Metal…such as Twisted Sister
Glam Rock was big in the U.K. and crossed the Atlantic too. Queen, David Bowie, T-Rex, Slade, they were good! My fave Sweet songs were Action and Love is like Oxygen.
Diving into the glam music scene. Fox on the Run is another great hit from them. T Rex with Bang a Gong is another good one. Swiss metal band Krokus does a good cover of this
Ahhh, hitting the punk side of my soul. There’s a song I first hear as a young teen and the first time I ever heard Institutionalize by Suicidal Tendencies. An awesome song and think not only would you enjoy the song but also how being about being misunderstood and thought he was having psych issues.
This song came out around 1973/4. We didn't use the terminology "fire" back then, but it really was. And no they were not crossdressers. They were part of the rock genre known as Glam Rock, mostly started by David Bowie and Marc Bolin (T. Rex) and others. Sweet has had a good many great songs before and after this great big hit. Songs to consider checking out include "Little Willy", "Wig Wam Bam", "Fox On The Run" and "Love Is Like Oxygen".
"Ballroom Blitz" was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote many of the biggest glam rock hits. They also wrote Sweet's "Blockbuster," Suzi Quatro's "Devil Gate Drive" and Tony Basil's "Mickey."
Early 70s. This is still on my playlist. I had a friend, Andrew who I worked with and our work Christmas party had a bif dance floor and DJ. All men btw. We danced furiously to this song over and over again - so much so I could hardly move the next day. I think Black Pegasus that US missed a lot of UK and Aus stuff. at that time. Music from the UK was great!!!
I am this old: I was the winner of that Sweet vinyl album. I called into a radio station and was the winner! Love this reaction - it brought back some great memories. The 70s were a different animal, that's for sure.
I met the sweet many many years ago I’m 72 but if you like this I recommend you listen to Suzi Quattro she was an American singer songwriter she had a lot of hits early 70s here in the UK she’s fire 🔥 also .
Suzi's first record came out in '65, with The Pleasure Seekers. Suzi sang lead on the b-side, a song that celebrates the joys of underage drinking. I think that she was about 15 at that time.
If you're my age (almost 60) & from the UK, this song (& Sweet generally) is pretty much inseperable from memories of your childhood. For some of us the best examples of glam rock were what prepared our ears for punk when it arrived a few years later. It was pretty much punk, punk & more punk for me from 1977 to 1980, but I never forgot those early 70s glam jukebox singles. I still have all of them. Tangible memories of childhood that you can hold in your hand & let them take you back. Over 50 years ago now. The oldest things I own.
I love Sweet!! Not a lot of people know Sweet, but almost everyone knows their hits because they get covered or reused in pop culture so much. Between this, Fox on the Run, and Love is Like Oxygen, they're always getting used in movies and TV.
I remember buying this record when I was 17 in 1972 and still play their songs today. I used to blast it out of giant speakers in my bedroom, much to the annoyance of some neighbours.
Sweet were part of the Glam Rock movement which was extremely important in Britain. So many great bands and icons emerged during this period eg Roxy Music. Marc Bolan and T Rex were amazing before his very sad passing 😢 Slade and Wizard are still permanent fixtures at Christmas. There was someone else who was very popular too but we don't mention his name now after his horrible crimes ✖️
A Ballroom Blitz was a riot of fight in a concert. This was done in the day before every single had a music video. The videos were done to introduce the group to DJs. or they came from appearances on TV shows. They were what became known as Glam Rock or Hair Rock.
Sweet is one of the forerunners of glam rock. A music style which involved men wearing makeup. David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust days is a leading example of the style. It would later evolve into glam metal. Check out Sweet's " Fox on the run" and "AC/DC."
This was part of the "Glam Rock" music style. It's theatrical metal from the '70's. People you will have heard of who went through Glam Rock are David Bowie, Queen, Slade, and Marc Bolan and T-Rex. It was a lot of glitter, long hair and makeup. However, while acting androgynous, they were mostly treated like sex idols from women at the time. The majority of them were straight. (Ziggy Stardust was Bowie's Glam Phase.)
Glam rock was a thing for such a short time, it's not surprising he wasn't aware of it
....and not to forget early Roxy Music 🌟
Or the New York Dolls!@@pinkstarphoenix6182
I came to comment this exactly. Thanks!
Glam rock eventually spawned Hair Metal which turned into Grunge when the guys got tired of teasing their hair on tour.
Being of that era, I didn't know anyone who was confused. We all knew they were blokes, and us girls loved them.
absolutely. No confusion at all.
Oh yes ❤❤❤
Crazy how those leisure suits and long hair worked on the chicks lmao
@@LongReachOne that's because they aren't "leisure suits" they are glam rock costumes.
And we were not "chicks".
It's a British thing, but yes, long hair is quite sexy, better than tatts and shaved heads any day.
Us blokes loved them too, in the 'normal' way, I was a spotty teenage boy with hair like Brian - Good times
They were not ahead of their time, they were of their time. The early 70's was when bands were experimenting with the fluidity of gender stereotypes. Bowie, T Rex and many others were doing the same thing. It was the genre of "Glam Rock" and it gave birth to the Rocky Horror Show. You can hear it in the music.
Their look was never pushed down anyone's throat in a demand for recognition, it was fun and they were accepted just the way they were. Some were gay, most were straight, some, like Bowie, swung both ways, sometimes only temporarily. It's all become so much more aggressive now but there's nothing new under the sun, we've seen it all before. We were more advanced in the 70's, the attitude was "live, and let live.
This absolutely this
Excellent comment.😊
Well said.
So well put. They were of their time!
You're overthinking their gender. The answer is in the first 30 seconds of the video: "You ready, Steve? Andy? Mick? All right, fellas...."
He sounds like my dad who was born 1923 😂
Thank you for stating this.
B.P. does this too much to the point that he takes the fun out of enjoying the experience.
I know it was all male, but at first glance, the resemblance was uncanny. Steve looked like Karen Carpenter .
Spot on.
The song depicts a real life event that actually happened. This was the era of Glam Rock the men wore make-up and feminine clothing.
The young people of today think Harry Styles & Co are something new and revolutionary. Me a a 60 year old starts laughing: Look at The Sweet, Bavid Bowie, Elton John and others from the 70s - THAT was new!
Has he ever done an elton john song? Now there's a rabbit hole!
Little Richard
Gary Glitter
Glam rock! I will forever love Ballroom Blitz. Then they did Love is Like Oxygen in the late 1970s.
And we thought nothing of it, but there they never pretended they were women in the 1970s.
Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
55 million, or even more...
Androgyny was the flavor of the day in the early 70s
Yep and that was absolutely fine.
How DARE you! Kids today invented it! just ask them! Us old people do not understand them because they are SO hip. Meanwhile nothing is new under the sun.
It's called 'Glam Rock'.
It was the era when David Bowie first gained popularity when he dressed androgynously.
Yep, and we all STILL knew what a women was.
This was fire in the 70's, this was fire in the 80's, this was fire in the 90's and it's still fire today ! One of the greatest party songs of all time !
awesome album
Damn straight, can't wait until he does Sweet FA.
My party dancing song
Always gets a party or wedding going in the uk
I almost convinced my wife they were singing "Balls and Tits". She learned to never listen to me.
Your reaction made me laugh so much, thank you.
The song is about what happened on January 27, 1973, The Sweet were playing at the Grand Hall (Kilmarnock, Scotland), and were driven offstage by a “bottling,” as angry fans began to throw things onto the stage.
Don't feel too bad about not knowing they were guys, I can still remember my dad asking "what are they", when I first saw them on 'Countdown' (an Aussie pop show.
Ahh, good old Glam Rock, confusing parents everywhere, which is why we always cranked up the sound. ;)
This was always played as the second last song at the roller skating rink, I can remember as a beginner quickly getting off the rink, and letting the 'pros' handle it, there were injuries due to the fast pace. 🤣
We all quickly got back onto the rink for the final song, 'Nutbush City Limits', such fun, great times. 🤩
Cheers, from Australia 🐨🦘
@@JanetGreenslade I remember 'The Pretty Things' being on Top of the Pops. My dad was horrified and said" I don't know about pretty things, they're more like ugly buggers". Oh the days...😏
Just four straight guys in a "Glam-Rock" band. The costumes and makeup were simply show business props for that era. The hair?... well, it was the early 70s
my dad rocked hair like that into the mid 90's.
Yah, my hair was down to my shoulder blades, 1973 5th former at boys high
My hair was platinum blond back then and I had it down to my waist I actually hated it being blond
Glam rock was massive in the UK in the 70s....See Slade, Marc Bolan, 70's Queen, Wizzard, Roxy Music, Chickory Tip (and US versions like Alice Cooper)
They definitely had less makeup than Kiss. 😏
It is 1975, I am 12 years old, I am in Year 8 (first year of High School). My bestie (Elise) and I have on our glitter eyeshadow in shades to match our eyes (green for me, blue for her). Sweet are playing at the Embassy Ballroom in Perth, Western Australia. It was my very first music concert and I thought it was the coolest thing EVER! To this very day (and I am 61 now), Ballroom Blitz is played regularly by DJs in pub gigs and parties and NOTHING will get me on the dance floor faster!
I am just glad I lived through the 60's & 70's 2 of the most creative musical decades ever.
The 60s had so many different records on the charts and so many types. Each year from 1964 to 1967 had over 700 records hit the Hot 100 in Billboard Magazine. I have copies of every single record that hit the charts from 1950 to 2000. In 1996, there were only 314 records that hit the Hot 100. So there was much less than half as much music.
We did the whole AMAZING glam rock thing, with men in make up, glitter and long hair, while STILL knowing exactly what a women is. And NOBODY had a problem with it. Definitely put this on to get the party started 🤩🤩🤩
the only problem I had was half the guys I dated had better hair than me and some of them could do makeup better.. LOL
That’s not entirely true, I remember my WW2 era family members bashing many, KISS was evil to them. I also remember, quite distinctly, not being able to get a job in the 80’s as a metal dude with long hair.
I suspect it has quite a bit to do with where you were at there. Let’s just say rural, small country town Ohio wasn’t exactly open minded or tolerant. Probably still isn’t, don’t know, graduated high school and bailed.
Oh, it was also incredibly racist and sexist. The shit my WW2 era uncles would spew was quite vile.
@@Imathomeboredlol. I had such awesome hair in the 80’s, more than one gf did my hair before a show, don’t think I ever bought my own hairspray. 😂
2020 I decided to grow it out again, and I must say, it’s really a pain in the ass!
@@Imathomebored. That brings back memories! I was dating my husband at the time and he had the most glorious hair. Very straight, very thick and jet black. I got used to him getting all the attention!!
@@c1ph3rpunkwe did the glam rock thing in the UK. This was all perfectly normal to us in the 70’s. Sounds like things in the US were very different.
Back in the 70s here in the UK, we called this genre Glam Rock.
Next banger by sweet "Blockbuster"
Then put him away with Sweet FA
We did in the States as well.
Teenage Rampage or Fox on the Run.
Here I am again. The same 66 year old black female enjoying the reaction to yet another group who’s music I LOVE! Thnx for the reaction.
My mother's favorite song. Put this on and the last 50 years just disappears and she dances like a 15 year old again.
Me too.
first pop song i remember hearing! i dance like a five year old too lol
Golly, I love this song, and always have. Your mom and I can probably sing it together, word for word. 😂
Get your mum on my dance floor now. we will glam rock like it's going out of fashion. soundtrack of my teens. Those were the days. No internet, phones, social media, made our own fun. Went to everyvillages youth club discos on friday nights. Taking it in turns to visit different one every week. We had discos in the gym on Friday afternoon for 4th and 5th formers (14-16 )year old girls dancing like no one was watching. Went all girls' school, no boys allowed.
@@mistermoo5843 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Little Willie , Action and Love is Like Oxygen are also worth a listen. They dressed for entertainment. RIP Brian.
Can;t forget Fox on the run
@@machtshnel Don't forget Hellraiser too! Fantastic band.
But, the long version of Oxygen. I love it
Teenage Rampage. Hellraiser. Blockbuster. Action. Fox on the Run.
Can’t believe no one entioned The Six Teens. Total banger.
They were ridiculously talented. On top of being excellent at their instruments, they all could sing very well. They have some incredibly heavy songs from back in the day. They were way ahead of their time.
Rocky Horror Picture Show vibes for me! Always loved this song! ❤️🔥✌🏻🫶🏻
Yes absolutlly!!! I keep thinking it's on RHPS, it would definitely fit right in.
💯!! That's probably why he's equating it to Halloween. That's when they play Rocky Horror and everyone gets all dressed up and brings their props. They used to anyway 😂
@@christenwarner7558 Great times back in the day!
Let's do the time warp again!
Definitely!!!❤❤❤❤
This era was full of flamboyant androgynous British glam rockers like Queen, David Bowie, even Elton John.
Don't forget Marc Bolan.
Yesss Marc Bolan
And Roxy Music!
...Slade...the list goes on, LOL
and then there was the one whom we shall NOT mention.
I'm a 70yr old Brit, I loved this band, They were one of the Original Glam Rock groups(before your American Prog Rock)The idea about are they aren't they, was to mess with your parents heads, a rebel song, @ about 5yrs later their was a Brit Disco song called, "somebodies going to get, their head kicked in tonight"
Prog rock isn't "American"...it primarily started in the UK in the mid to late 60's...way before Sweet hit the charts
I'm a 70s kid. This is THE song that epitomizes my youth. Saturday morning bowling alley, jukebox, billiard room and wall of pinball machines. This song blaring from the jukebox. Yes!
Yep this is THE one that lit us up 😄
Do we know each other or what! 😂😅
oi i waS THERE too lol
Yep! Was there, Did That, Good Times, Good Highs, Good Memories & Good Byes to The Past of Good Times. FREEDOM!
It's about a riot in a club they were playing in Scotland one time when they had to leave the stage because of flying bottles and ashtrays.
The guitarist, Andy, is the only surviving one now. Thanks for the great music boys. RIP Brian, Mick and Steve. ❤
Before Sweet, Andy was in a group called Elastic Band, had an album in 1969. Worth checking out.
I went and saw him with The Sweet about 14 yrs ago in Australia. He was the only original member left but it was still a good show. I still have my Fox on the Run single from 1975, loved that band as a teen.
Rocky Horror Picture Show!!!!
Andy still performs with a version of Sweet
I´m right back in my pre teen years. 63 now, and I still love these old bands. Suzie Quatro and Slade were great too ❤️🇩🇰. Lene
I remember the old wooden floored skating rink in the '70s. Someone would play this song on the jukebox and suddenly everyone in the place was on their feet and skating/dancing around the room.
@@tfrank1326 oh yeah, those were the days.
I remember that too x
Yeah and ironically they'd go from this song to disco duck LOL... Skating in the '70s was always a blast
70s glam rock! No one blinked an eye at the look/vibe - it was normal then :) It's interesting that 50 years later it's remarked on more. :)
You are so right. I think we had an open mind and really didn't give a Frick, just enjoyed it. Glam Rock was big in the early 1970s and it started with T. REX. When I was 12/13 my wall over the bed was full with all different Glam Rock posters.
I remember being more shocked when Freddy Mercury changed his look for a more muscular look, I was about 9 and I remember shouting to my Dad in another room come look at Freddy Mercury!
@@pippavombr5856 It was just clothes.
These days it's hormones and irreversible surgery. I think there's reason for concern, thank you very much.
Also saw them play one very hot night in tee shirts and jeans. The performance was still amazing
@@dannypatrick9361 And those new things make people unable to ever have children. That's sad.
I love this song. lol used to party with it.
So glad I grew up with the 60 and 70's music. It was all pure talent. You just don't get this level of talent with today's music.
Love the 60s and 70s that's what I call music
"Ballroom Blitz" was inspired by an incident at a concert in Scotland when the band was booed and pelted with bottles, and reached the top of the charts in Canada and Australia, and the top five in the UK and the US.
The interview I saw said girls attacked the band members with scissors to cut locks off their hair!! Now I need to look it up!!!
I don't know if they were booed and pelted with stuff, but it certainly was in Scotland. The Grand Hall of the Palace Theatre in Kilmarnock, in fact, back in 1973. 🙏
@@BuddyBoy68
Sounds like a standard night out back in the day 😂🎉...
In those days it took three to six months for songs like that to hit the German top ten - but it did and then it was played in the church disco I was allowed to go to.
Im British.. this was the70’s .. a game changer when boys started wearing makeup, it was rock n roll on a different level.. people where free to express themselves..think u need to understand what the word blitz means, they smashed it!!😊😊💕
It refers to a concert in Ayr where the crowd rioted and attacked the stage.
They had about 4 hits, the biggest one being "Fox on the run". They also have the songs,"Little Willie" and," love is like oxygen "
Love is like oxygen would be a fantastic reaction. I cannot stress that enough.
Wigwam bam
Agreed but add Blockbuster to the list 🎉
Turn it Down, Teenage Rampage and anything from the Desolation Boulevard album is fire
Yeah, they had quite a few hits just some weren’t played. Even Def Leppard in the 2000’s did a cover of their song “Action”.
…….that’s why the 70’s were the best generation for creative music all played on the same radio stations (all genres) ❤️🎸🔥
TOTALY AGRE 1 TRILLION PERCENT Rock Country Jazz R You name it us 70s BRATS HAD IT ALL ,,EXSEPT 4 AIDS THAT CAME OUT IN THE 80s
This song has every bit of rock and roll that can be crammed into a single song. Everything!! Its the perfect rock song! Everything is there!!
The lead singer Brian Connelly was not wearing a wig. And he had a tragic life from childhood to his early death from alcoholism. He was known to be a humble, gentle soul.
A lovely guy who was as beautiful on the inside as on the outside.
His teenage single mother did not name his father and abandoned him in hospital as a baby when he became ill. He was fostered and later adopted by the family of 'Taggart' actor, Mark McManus, who it later turned out was the family of their mutual father.
crying shame about brian
True...Such a humble and kind person, that in the last years of his life, when he was a very sick man, he used to thank the nurses and doctors in the hospital for what was done for him...he was definitely a beautiful person, on the outside as much as on the inside...
The judgments and racism of today's era were non existent in the70's. We had FUN with our music, loving, laughing, crying, dying, daydreaming... you name it and there was a song for it.
I couldn't of said it better, 67 and still rocking to the seventies greatest music ever made!! ❤
I'm the youngster here only in my fifties but I remember this era fondly zero f*ck were given you wanted if you wanted to dress like a 50's scifi rock god go for it, but you wanted to wear a tux and crooning no problem.
hope you ready for a get of my lawn cranky old man rant, people these days need to chill the hell out stop taking everything so seriously.
And before anyone jumps on me I may wear glasses but they aren't rose tinted there were thing back then that weren't good but I don't know if its really better now
@@alankohn6709 Today is raffly the same, except now it is polarized.
You are SO RIGHT! In spite of Constant Wars on OUR PLANET, WE PARTIED HARD TO ENJOY MUSIC FREEDOM!
Racism non existent in the 70's??? In the words of Gang of Four, "you must be joking, oh man you must be joking"
One thing I like about your reactions is your offering of real reflection, often from your own experiences, about opening up to things not yet experienced. It’s like having a conversation with a friend.
They're guys. It 's glam rock,BP. Don't overthink it, just go with and enjoy it. Sweet is pure 70's glam rock. They are 🔥.
I grew up in the 70s and 80's. Sweet were an absolute blast! Still love them.
It’s strangely gratifying to hear someone reacting so positively to a song which was perhaps the biggest ‘banger’ (we didn’t use that term back in ‘73) of my Australian high school years. Every time I hear it I’m straight back in a portable classroom at recess listening to a transistor radio with my classmates as we jump up and down on the desks and sing our lungs out. “All right fellas, let’s go!!!!”
BTW It was called ‘glam rock’.
The song was inspired by an incident in Jan 1973. Sweet was performing at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock,Scotland. The band was driven offstage by what's called "bottling" or when the audience is so angry they throw things at the stage.
Just up the road from me in Ayr
Reminds me of THE ROCK DEEP PURPLES SONG SMOKE ON THE WATER 1972🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥Big time top of the play list sog
PLAY LIST SONG SMOKE ON THE WATER BY DEEP PURPLE1972
@@theodoreritola7641 What part of smoke on the water sounds like ballroom blitz to you?
Two totally different songs tempo wise sound wise and feeling?
Not knocking what you're saying, just curious to see what makes you say it reminds you of it?
@Rab_Knox I'm assuming what they mean is that Smoke on the Water is similarly based on an ugly (and much more tragic) concert incident
This song became popular again in the movie with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey ,Wayne’s World a classic!
I saw Wayne's World in the cinema at least 5 times in 1992, ..., it was just great!
All the hidden references, great!
Until NOW I always thought the song was by Tia Carrere.
Well I was wrong, thanks Black Pegasus.
Greetings from Switzerland.
When i saw this video, my first thought was " Wayne's world".
Damn I hate being late to the party! 😂
They also did fox on the run. Another good listen.
Tell me you've never seen "Wayne's World," without telling me you've never seen "Wayne's World."
Great impression of Garth dancing. Lol
Damn! I missed your comment and pretty much expanded on that 😅
Sweet, was right out there in the 70s. Sad ending for the singer Brian Connolly. R.I.P. Brian.🙏🎸
And bless Mike Myers & Dana Carvy for reviving this song in their Wayne's World movie. Tia Carrere slayyed, dude!
I was born in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock where the Ballroom Blitz took place. It really happened and the boys took their bottle pelted selves back south to London and wrote this song. Killie takes no prisoners.
well they never wrote this song so that rubbish it was Nicky Chinn Mike Chapman
@@punkpopnotdead You do realize Chinn and Chapman were inspired by what happened to the band in Scotland and wrote this song for them. It's definitely not rubbish, unlike your post.
@@timmarshall2491[the boys took their bottle pelted selves back south to London and wrote this song] is rubbish they only wrote 2 good songs at the end of there time
We are the ayrshire killie boys🤣🤣
@@punkpopnotdead wheesht ya bampot!
Aah yes Glam , never mind the crimes against fashion, the music was banging ❤
I always had to get up and dance to this one
They're glam rock. It came out of the UK in the 70s. They are all men. Think early David Bowie, Queen, T Rex, Mott the Hoople and even Kiss fall into that genre. All great bands. I'm not sure if you've watched any early stuff from those bands but you need to. Lol
This is what gave rise to the glam metal of the 80s. Steve Priest, the bassist, was a badass and the drummer, Mick Tucker was killing it. The ladies loved The Sweet in the day. I like their song Blockbuster, and also Love Is Like Oxygen. Fox on the Run is pretty wild. All four of them are amazing singers.
I had forgotten all about Sweet and Ballroom Blitz - this was a fun song, Good to hear it again - I'm really enjoying it.
This music makes me think where did music go wrong. There will never be music like we had in the 70's and 80's.
You are right! Never. The era is gone.
I’m a 70s girl but I think the 90s (my kids’ music) were great.
Music back then used to make you feel alive, none of the depressing self pity stuff we've had over the last 25 years. For me things started to go downhill from the late 90s onwards.
50's 60's & 70's best music best singers, no auto tune.
The 60s had the most variety with over 700 hits making the Hot 100 charts in four consecutive years. Just in the top 10 for the entire year of 1967, there was Lulu, the Monkees, the Association, Bobbie Gentry, Nancy & Frank Sinatra, the Rascals, the Box Tops, the Doors, the Turtles, and the Beatles.
This brought back memories of going dancing on a Friday evening and these tunes and many more 1973 I was 15 and having a great time . How lucky we were. I loved that it made you smile and dance . By the way it was called glam rock .
Sweet was so underated. All their songs were fantastic!! Still listen to them today! They get me motivated!
Sweet were a working class band. They were navvies and factory workers and, despite the glam rock androgeny, these were the guys that the young men in the clubs were getting together to mosh pit and headbang to. They certainly weren't Prog. The Prog snobs at the time were turning up their noses at these guys.
They were pretty unique in their way. Suzie Quatro had similar energy and maybe Mark Bolan and T-Rex. Glam rock was a wildly creative genre.
What Suzi Quatro song should he check out? Can the Can 1973 ???
@@Tsass0Stumbling In.
No we weren't. We'd listen to Genesis and ELP at home then headbang to this at the disco on Saturday night.
@@digitig Prog snobbery was definitely a big thing at my school, but we were out in the sticks so we didn't have access to Saturday night discos. West Cumbria in the 70s was so backwards that we didn't get Punk until 2 years after everyone else. We also had a lot of leftover Hippies. My music tastes are about the same as those of someone born three or four years earlier.
T.Rex had the lyrics to impress the prog snobs.
They were awesome, listened to them all the time when I was at high school and I'm in my 60s now, thats how long ago these guys played. December 1974 this was released I was 14 years old me and my friends played it so loud, loved it!
Aaaaaahhhhhh yes ... I love the way you are brightening my days by bringing up such amazing memories!
I loved these guys as a child,still do! Rest in peace bassist Steve Priest 1948-2020 .Glam Rock gods!
They did one called Little Willie, too. I was like 4. I think I still have the single on vinyl. Krokus remade it in the ‘80s and Tia Carrera did it in Wayne’s World - quite well. Love glam rock. Glad you enjoyed it.
So loved this group in the 70s. They were glam rock. You can't sit still, listening to this group. 1970s. The lead singer died not long ago. Amazing time in the UK.
Brian died 27 years ago, Mick 22 years ago. Steve died more recently, in 2020. Andy is the only one left.
@@heidiv5488 I didn't realise it was that long ago. But we can still play their songs at a party and it kicks off a great time.
Brian was died in 1997 year
I'm 66 and Sweet was one of my top 5 favorite bands back in the early 70's. I think they've stood the test of time pretty damn good.
Definitely ahead of their time...they are guys
😂I lived through this Era. I can still see my father shaking his head when this came on the TV in the UK.
1970’s glam rock, A lot of rock bands were wearing makeup during the 70’s, Rolling Stones,David Bowie,Kiss, etc
Sweets peppermint twist album was one of the first records i ever bought. 70s Glam Rock. Everyone had OTT costumes and make-up. Take a look at Skyhooks - Horror Movie or Living in the 70s. Twisted Sister - We're not gonna take it or I wanna rock
Little Willy, Fox on the Run, Love is Like Oxygen, The Six Teens- these are all bangers from Sweet
I'm not sure I'd call Love is like Oxygen a banger. Great song, but not really banging. The others, hell yeah.
"The Ballroom Blitz" (often called "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.
"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.
Brian Connolly - lead vocals
Steve Priest - bass guitar, backing vocals
Andy Scott - guitar, backing vocals
Mick Tucker - drums, backing vocals
Year-end charts
Chart (1973) Rank
UK 17
Chart (1974) Rank
Australia (Kent Music Report) 9
Chart (1975) Rank
Canada 22
US Billboard Hot 100 16
Thanks for mentioning Chinn and Chapman. They wrote so many hits for so many bands, just knocked it outta the park everytime.
Great band from the early 70's, check out Love is like Oxygen, Fox on the Run and Solid Gold Brass. Still have the album I bought in the 70's.
It's an energy song. Whether you need a boost when you're tired, depressed, partying, exercising...this kind of song is what you play.
What they look like doesn't matter. What the song means doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the energy.
Some songs are like that.
In America, "Ballroom Blitz" was the second hit for Sweet, following "Little Willy." They had more success and notoriety in their native UK, where their outlandish lyrics caused some controversy. In America they were more of a curiosity, delivering fun, relatively mindless entertainment.
The band members do a roll call at the beginning of Ballroom Blitz, which is a great way to introduce themselves to listeners. Lead singer Brian Connolly asks: Are you ready Steve? (bass player Steve Priest), Andy? (guitarist Andy Scott), Mick? (drummer Mick Tucker).
What an fn fantastic song, danced our butts off. Been generations of dancin dude!
It’s called Glam Rock! It’s a genre from the 70s. Outrageous Costumes, makeup, and theatrics are what it’s about … there’s also Glam Metal…such as Twisted Sister
I don't think that I heard the term glam rock until the eighties. In the seventies we called it glitter rock.
The Darkness - a thing called love (;
As Bob sings, "Most time you can't hear 'em talk, other times you can. All the same old cliches, is that a woman or a man."
Glam Rock was big in the U.K. and crossed the Atlantic too. Queen, David Bowie, T-Rex, Slade, they were good! My fave Sweet songs were Action and Love is like Oxygen.
Diving into the glam music scene. Fox on the Run is another great hit from them. T Rex with Bang a Gong is another good one. Swiss metal band Krokus does a good cover of this
Krokus has bangers! I like their version
Banger banger banger!!!!
Ahhh, hitting the punk side of my soul. There’s a song I first hear as a young teen and the first time I ever heard Institutionalize by Suicidal Tendencies. An awesome song and think not only would you enjoy the song but also how being about being misunderstood and thought he was having psych issues.
Since this is around 45 yrs old, maybe this is when America was great. Live and Let Live
@@jollybobo6379 British band and glam rock was a British thing lol. A time of great music
You sounded just like my dad back in the day "is that a boy or a girl?" (I am 60 years old by the way) xxx
70's glam rock. Bowie, Queen, the Sweet, love them all!
This song came out around 1973/4. We didn't use the terminology "fire" back then, but it really was. And no they were not crossdressers. They were part of the rock genre known as Glam Rock, mostly started by David Bowie and Marc Bolin (T. Rex) and others. Sweet has had a good many great songs before and after this great big hit. Songs to consider checking out include "Little Willy", "Wig Wam Bam", "Fox On The Run" and "Love Is Like Oxygen".
Marc BolAn, please
"Ballroom Blitz" was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote many of the biggest glam rock hits. They also wrote Sweet's "Blockbuster," Suzi Quatro's "Devil Gate Drive" and Tony Basil's "Mickey."
Now that you mention it, this definitely has "Devil Gate Drive" vibes.
Early 70s. This is still on my playlist. I had a friend, Andrew who I worked with and our work Christmas party had a bif dance floor and DJ. All men btw. We danced furiously to this song over and over again - so much so I could hardly move the next day. I think Black Pegasus that US missed a lot of UK and Aus stuff. at that time. Music from the UK was great!!!
I am this old: I was the winner of that Sweet vinyl album. I called into a radio station and was the winner! Love this reaction - it brought back some great memories. The 70s were a different animal, that's for sure.
Don't worry about those haters! Some people are JUST ANGRY ALL the time!!! But yes!!! This is a BANGER!!
I grew up with this music - what a great reaction to a 50 year old song glad you liked it 👍
This was the beginning of an era when the guys in band had better hair than the gals in the audience. 😘
YES we did!!!😂😂😂 🤘
It was so unfair they had better and thicker hair than us.
I met the sweet many many years ago I’m 72 but if you like this I recommend you listen to Suzi Quattro she was an American singer songwriter she had a lot of hits early 70s here in the UK she’s fire 🔥 also .
Suzi's first record came out in '65, with The Pleasure Seekers. Suzi sang lead on the b-side, a song that celebrates the joys of underage drinking. I think that she was about 15 at that time.
Loved this song the first time i heard it in the early 80's lol, now when it comes on the radio i have my 77 yr old mother loving it hahahaha
Glam Rock at its finest - The Sweet was such an incredible band!! Definitely go down this rabbit hole - they have such great tunes!! XO
If you're my age (almost 60) & from the UK, this song (& Sweet generally) is pretty much inseperable from memories of your childhood. For some of us the best examples of glam rock were what prepared our ears for punk when it arrived a few years later. It was pretty much punk, punk & more punk for me from 1977 to 1980, but I never forgot those early 70s glam jukebox singles. I still have all of them. Tangible memories of childhood that you can hold in your hand & let them take you back. Over 50 years ago now. The oldest things I own.
Same for us Aussies the same age. 👍
Great glam rock at its best. Wig Wam Bam, Wee Willy, Love Is Like Oxygen, Blockbuster, Fox OnThe Run..all great songs from them.
I still love blockbuster
@@maryotoole7389 its so cool.
I love Sweet!! Not a lot of people know Sweet, but almost everyone knows their hits because they get covered or reused in pop culture so much. Between this, Fox on the Run, and Love is Like Oxygen, they're always getting used in movies and TV.
I remember buying this record when I was 17 in 1972 and still play their songs today. I used to blast it out of giant speakers in my bedroom, much to the annoyance of some neighbours.
I loved Sweet back in the day! You can't help but move when you hear them!
Sweet were part of the Glam Rock movement which was extremely important in Britain. So many great bands and icons emerged during this period eg Roxy Music. Marc Bolan and T Rex were amazing before his very sad passing 😢 Slade and Wizard are still permanent fixtures at Christmas. There was someone else who was very popular too but we don't mention his name now after his horrible crimes ✖️
LOL. Yes, I was about to mention him... but held back. LOL. Cheers.
A Ballroom Blitz was a riot of fight in a concert. This was done in the day before every single had a music video. The videos were done to introduce the group to DJs. or they came from appearances on TV shows. They were what became known as Glam Rock or Hair Rock.
We’ve had some great bands over the decades 🥳
Sweet is one of the forerunners of glam rock. A music style which involved men wearing makeup. David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust days is a leading example of the style. It would later evolve into glam metal. Check out Sweet's " Fox on the run" and "AC/DC."
It's Glam Rock. David Bowie was all about that. Actually there were many glam groups back in the 70's. Sweet was excellent!!! ❤
Bravo