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The Ballroom Blitz

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For other uses, see Ballroom Blitz (disambiguation).
"The Ballroom Blitz"
Song
B-side"Rock and Roll Disgrace" (RCA)
"Restless" (Capitol)

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

Background

The Ballroom Blitz was recorded at Audio International Studio, 18 Rodmartin Street, London. It was produced by Phil Wainman and drummer Mick Tucker used Wainman's snare drum on the recording.

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.

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.[1]

The initial guitar and drum riff of the song has some similarity to a 1963[2] song by Bobby Comstock called, "Let's Stomp."[3]

Personnel

Chart positions

Chart (1973-1976) Peak
position
Australian singles chart 1
Austrian singles chart 5
Canadian singles chart 1
Finnish singles chart 10
German singles chart 1
Irish singles chart 1
Dutch Top 40 Single Chart 2
Norwegian singles chart 2
Swedish singles chart 3
Swiss singles chart 3
UK singles chart 2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 5

Cover versions

The first known cover of "The Ballroom Blitz" was by The Les Humphries Singers in 1975. In 1979 the song was covered by two bands, The Rezillos and The Damned. In 1984, Swiss heavy metal band Krokus covered the song for their album The Blitz. In 1989 the song was sampled by the Beastie Boys for the song "Hey Ladies" appearing on the album Paul's Boutique. In 2000 the song was performed in conjunction with the song "Dancing Queen" (originally by ABBA) by the group The Black Sweden. A cover of this song is featured on the main set list for the game Rock Band, while the Krokus cover was listed for the game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. The songs "The Pit" by The Dead Milkmen, "Muskola Belulino" by La Mondanoj, "Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)" by The The, and "Vampire Money" by My Chemical Romance mimic the "soundoff" introduction to the song.

Other artists who have covered the song include:

Appearances

References

  1. ^ "The Ball Room Blitz" by The Sweet -
  2. ^ Discogs - Bobby Comstock - Let's Stomp / I Want To Do It (Vinyl)
  3. ^ "Let's Stomp - Bobby Comstock - HQ". YouTube. 2009-12-20. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
  4. ^ "New Releases: Avicii, The Naked and Famous, MGMT, Jack Johnson, Elvis Costello & The Roots, Sebadoh « Radio.com". News.radio.com. 2013-09-17. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
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