The Ballroom Blitz

"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. It remains an enduring favourite, with more than 90 million streams on Spotify alone by the end of 2022.[6]

For other uses, see Ballroom Blitz (disambiguation).
"The Ballroom Blitz"
Cover of the 1973 German single issue
Single by The Sweet
from the album Desolation Boulevard (US version)
B-side
  • "Rock and Roll Disgrace" (RCA)
  • "Restless" (Capitol)
ReleasedSeptember 1973 (1973-09) (UK) July 1975 (1975-07) (US)
Recorded1973
Genre
Length4:06
LabelRCA (UK)
Capitol (US)
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
The Sweet singles chronology
"Hell Raiser"
(1973)		 "The Ballroom Blitz"
(1973)		 "Teenage Rampage"
(1974)
Audio sample
"The Ballroom Blitz"
  • file
  • help
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.[7]

History and description

The song was recorded on 11–12 June 1973 at Audio International Studio, 18 Rodmarton Street, London,[8][9] 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.[10]

The initial guitar and drum riff of the song has similarity to a 1963 song by Bobby Comstock called "Let's Stomp".[11]

Cover versions

An early cover of "The Ballroom Blitz" was by the Les Humphries Singers in 1974, the first German single to reach #1 in New Zealand.[12] 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.[13][14]

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.[15][16] In 2016, The Struts recorded it for the soundtrack of film The Edge of Seventeen.[17]

The song was written following a bottling incident at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock, Scotland
  • The words "she thinks she's the passionate one" from the song are dubbed into the Beastie Boys song "Hey Ladies".[18]
  • Ohi Ho Bang Bang (a one-off project of Holger Hiller, Karl Bonnie of Renegade Soundwave and video artist Akiko Hada) released a 12" single and a CD Video in 1988. "The Three" (a remix of their song "The Two") samples "Ballroom Blitz" extensively, especially the drumming from the intro.[19]

Personnel

Chart performance

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[37] Gold 75,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[38] Silver 250,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Savage, Jon (1 February 2013). "The 20 best glam-rock songs of all time". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  2. Harris, Keith; Gehr, Richard (29 August 2016). "20 Songs That Defined the Early Seventies". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  3. Wroe, Nicholas (12 September 2014). "That's neat: Chinnichap's blitz of 70s hits become a musical". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  4. Cantwell, David (4 November 1998). "Power Pop It Ain't". MTV News. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  5. Coffman, Tim (19 April 2023). "The Story Behind The Song: Sweet's brutal true tale 'Ballroom Blitz'". Far Out. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  6. "Sweet". Spotify. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  7. Dimery, Robert (5 December 2011). 1001 Songs: You Must Hear Before You Die. Octopus. p. 886. ISBN 978-1-84403-717-9. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  8. Beat Instrumental & Songwriting & Recording. Beat Publications. 1978. p. 88. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  9. Burns, Phil. "Recorded at Audio International". Philsbook.com. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  10. Popoff, Martin (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.
  11. Swanson, Dave (27 February 2013). "Top 10 Sweet Songs". Ultimateclassicrock.com. Diffuser Network. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  12. 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.
  13. Waksman, Steve (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.
  14. Kilmister, Lemmy (8 June 2012). White Line Fever: Lemmy: The Autobiography. Simon and Schuster. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-4711-1271-3. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  15. Mark Allan Powell (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. Hendrickson Publishers. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-56563-679-8. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  16. Strong, Martin Charles; Griffin, Brendon (2008). Lights, camera, sound tracks. Canongate. p. 396. ISBN 978-1-84767-003-8. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  17. "The Struts cover Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz" for The Edge of Seventeen soundtrack — listen". Consequence.net. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  18. "Hey Ladies - Paul's Boutique Samples and References List at paulsboutique.info". Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  19. "Ohi Ho Bang Bang - Discogs". www.discogs.com. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  20. "Cash Box - International Best Sellers" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com. Cash Box. 16 February 1974. p. 50.
  21. "Top 40 Australian Singles". Go-Set. 19 January 1974. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  22. "National Top 100 Singles for 1974". Kent Music Report. 30 December 1974. Retrieved 15 January 2022 – via Imgur.
  23. Hung, Steffen. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  24. "The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  25. "The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  26. List of number-one singles of 1975 (Canada)
  27. "Offiziellecharts.de – The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 10 October 2015. To see peak chart position, click "TITEL VON The Sweet"
  28. "The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  29. "The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz". VG-lista. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  30. Currin, Brian. "South African Rock Lists Website - SA Charts 1965 - 1989 Songs (A-B)". www.rock.co.za. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  31. "The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  32. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  33. "Sweet Ballroom Blitz Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  34. "Top Selling Singles for 1973". Sounds. London, England: Spotlight Publications: 4. 5 January 1974.
  35. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3183". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  36. Top Records of 1975, Billboard, Section II, December 27, 1975. p. 38. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  37. "Canadian single certifications – Sweet – Ballroom Blitz". Music Canada. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  38. "British single certifications – Sweet – Ballroom Blitz". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
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