The Sweet – Ballroom Blitz: Live In Berlin 1976

Fusing bubblegum melodies with crunching, fuzzy guitars, the band looked like a heavy metal band, but were as tame as any pop group

In some ways, The Sweet epitomised all the tacky hubris and garish silliness of the early 70s. Fusing bubblegum melodies with crunching, fuzzy guitars, the band looked like a heavy metal band, but were as tame as any pop group.

It was a dichotomy that served them well, as they racked up a number of hits in both the UK and the US. Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, a pair of British songwriters who had a way with silly, simple, and catchy hooks, wrote most of those songs. Chinn/Chapman and The Sweet were smart enough to latch on to the British glam rock fad, building a safer, radio-friendly and teen-oriented version of Queen and T. Rex.

By the end of the 70s, the group’s time at the top of the charts had expired but their hit singles lived on not only as cultural artefacts, but also as the predecessors for the pop-metal of the 80s.

TRACKLISTING

1. Ballroom Blitz
2. Action
3. Some Else Will + Blockbuster
4. Keep It In
5. AC DC
6. Turn It Down
7. Lies In Your Eyes
8. Set Me Free
9. The Six Teens
10. Fox On The Run