The Ballroom Blitz
"The Ballroom Blitz" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by The Sweet | ||||
from the album Desolation Boulevard (US version) | ||||
B-side |
| |||
Released | September 1973 July 1975 (US) | (Europe)|||
Recorded | 1973 | |||
Genre | Glam rock, hard rock | |||
Length | 4:06 | |||
Label | RCA | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | ||||
The Sweet singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"The Ballroom Blitz" (often called "Ballroom Blitz") is a song by the British rock band The Sweet, written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.
Background
"The Ballroom Blitz" 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]
Recorded at Audio International Studio, 18 Rodmarton Street, London.[2][3]
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.[4]
The initial guitar and drum riff of the song has similarity to a 1963 song by Bobby Comstock called "Let's Stomp".[5]
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.[6] 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.[7][8] Other covers include renditions by Krokus in 1984, the 1988 Surf Punks album "Oh no! Not them again." (in the lyrics jacket, instead of the lyrics, it says "you should know the words by now", 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.[9][10] In 2016, The Struts recorded a cover of the song for the soundtrack of The Edge of Seventeen.[11] In 2017, The Featherz covered the song on their debut album Five Year Itch. This was originally intended for the CD edition of their 2016 single Forget All You Know.
In popular culture
- The song was played in the 1992 film Wayne's World; Tia Carrere was the lead singer for the "band" (Crucial Taunt) that performed it in the film.[12]
- The song was featured in the television series Life on Mars.
- The lyrics "she thinks she's the passionate one" from the song are dubbed into the Beastie Boys song "Hey Ladies".[13]
- The song was featured in the 1996 film Bordello of Blood.
- The song was featured in the trailer for the 1997 film Home Alone 3.[14]
- The song was featured in a 2004 commercial for the Mitsubishi Galant.[15]
- The song appears in the 2005 Italian film Romanzo Criminale.[16]
- The song was heavily featured in promotional material for the 2016 film Suicide Squad.[17]
- Since June 2016, the song has been used in public information films on the subject of smart meters surrounding gas and electricity use.[18]
- A cover version by WaveGroup Sound based on the original song is used in the Rock Band video game. Another cover version (also by WaveGroup Sound) based on the Krokus version is used in the video game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s.
- The song appears in the 2003 film Daddy Day Care.
- The song appears in the 2007 film The Sandlot: Heading Home.
- The song is used in an episode of the cartoon Regular Show (season 4, episode 10) entitled "T.G.I. Tuesday" first airing on January 7, 2013.
- A multiplayer map from the 2016 video game Battlefield 1 is titled "Ballroom Blitz" set in France.
- The opening lyrics were parodied in The The's 1989 song, "Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)" ("Are you ready, Jesus?" "Uh-huh!" "Buddha?" "Yeah!" "Mohammad?" "OK!" "Well alright fellas, let's goooooooo!")
- A cover version by The Struts is featured in the soundtrack of the 2016 film The Edge of Seventeen.
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
|
Year-end charts
|
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Beat Instrumental & Songwriting & Recording. Beat Publications. 1978. p. 88. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- ^ Burns, Phil. "Recorded at Audio International". Philsbook.com. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Swanson, Dave. "Top 10 Sweet Songs". Ultimateclassicrock.com. Diffuser Network. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Mark Allan Powell (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. Hendrickson Publishers. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-56563-679-8. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
- ^ Martin Charles Strong; Brendon Griffin (2008). Lights, camera, sound tracks. Canongate. p. 396. ISBN 978-1-84767-003-8. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
- ^ https://consequenceofsound.net/2016/11/the-struts-cover-sweets-ballroom-blitz-for-the-edge-of-seventeen-soundtrack-listen/
- ^ skappyj (13 February 2014). "Tia Carrere - Ballroom Blitz (Wayne's World) HD". Retrieved 20 April 2018 – via YouTube.
- ^ "The Sweet - Ballroom Blitz Lyrics - MetroLyrics". www.metrolyrics.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ gatesz340864 (5 February 2010). "Home Alone 3 HD Trailer 1997". Retrieved 20 April 2018 – via YouTube.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ surge151 (16 January 2007). "Mitsubishi Galant - Accident Avoidance". Retrieved 20 April 2018 – via YouTube.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Romanzo Criminale- Soundtrack details - SoundtrackCollector.com". www.soundtrackcollector.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ "New 'Suicide Squad' Trailer Unleashes a Ballroom Blitz". collider.com. 10 April 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ "Smart Energy GB Advert Song – Gaz & Leccy Out Of Control – Advert Music". tvadsongs.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ a b Steffen Hung. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^ "The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
- ^ "The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
- ^ List of number-one singles of 1975 (Canada)
- ^ "The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
- ^ "The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz". VG-lista. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
- ^ Currin, Brian. "South African Rock Lists Website - SA Charts 1965 - 1989 Songs (A-B)". www.rock.co.za. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ "The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
- ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
- ^ Billboard Singles at AllMusic. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
- ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3183". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
- ^ "Billboard Top 100 - 1975". Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
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External links
- Single chart usages for Germany2
- 1973 singles
- 1975 singles
- Number-one singles in Germany
- Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
- Number-one singles in Australia
- Number-one singles in New Zealand
- RPM Top Singles number-one singles
- Sweet (band) songs
- Songs written by Mike Chapman
- Songs written by Nicky Chinn
- Song recordings produced by Mike Chapman
- 1973 songs
- RCA Records singles
- Capitol Records singles