"Action" is a self-written and produced 1975 song by British glam rock band Sweet.

Background

The song went through several iterations; a 7" single version was recorded at Ian Gillan's Kingsway Studios in London and slightly different versions appear on the albums '' Strung Up'' and ''

Give Us a Wink ''Give Us a Wink'' is the fourth studio album by British rock band Sweet. It was the first album to be fully written and produced by the band members. Previously they had relied on material from the songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Cha ...

''.The lyrics refer to Sweet's negative treatment as pop stars, particularly by the music press, and to the demands of the music industry. The track features a masked "backwards vocal" with the words "You kiss my arse". The first verse has a striking resemblance to the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

section of

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's " Bohemian Rhapsody", which was not released for another 4 months. Lead singer

Brian Connolly Brian Francis Connolly (5 October 1945 – 9 February 1997) was a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of glam rock band The Sweet between 1968 and 1979 and renowned for his charismatic stage presence ...

called it a "blatant rip-off".

Chart performance

The single reached No. 15 in the UK in July 1975, and went to the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

in the US the following year.

Def Leppard version

In 1993, English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...

covered it on their album '' Retro Active''. "Andy '' cott' said that our version of 'Action' was the best cover of a Sweet song he'd ever heard," noted singer

Joe Elliott Joseph Thomas "Joe" Elliott (born 1 August 1959) is an English–Irish rock singer, best known as the lead singer and one of the founding members of the hard rock band Def Leppard. He has also been the lead singer of the David Bowie tribute ba ...

. The original 1992 recording, recorded before guitarist

Vivian Campbell Vivian Patrick Campbell (born 25 August 1962) is a Northern Irish guitarist. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as a member of Dio (band), Dio, and has been a member of Def Leppard since 1992 (replacing Steve Clark after his death). Camp ...

joined the band, was released as a B-side to "

Make Love Like a Man "Make Love Like a Man" is a 1992 single by English hard rock band Def Leppard from their multi-platinum album ''Adrenalize''. The song reached No. 3 on the Album Rock Tracks chart and No. 36 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the United Stat ...

"; the version featured on ''Retro Active'' and released as a single features a newly-recorded snare drum from drummer Rick Allen and additional backing vocals from Campbell and P.J. Smith. The single charted at number 14 on UK Singles Charts The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was directed by Phil Tuckett from NFL entertainment. The approximate shooting date was between June and December 1993; in Sheffield, Ottawa, and Joe Elliott's home in Ireland. The band 'discovered' the masked backwards vocal on the original track and refer to it on the CD single cover. Leppard's version reappeared on a special edition of their 2006 album '' Yeah!''.

Track listing

CD: Bludgeon Riffola/LEPCD 13 (UK)/858 093-2 (INT)

# "Action" # "She's Too Tough" (Joe's demo) # "Miss You in a Heartbeat" (Phil's demo)

Other cover versions

*The song was also covered by

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

(on their 1981 album ''

Rock Until You Drop ''Rock Until You Drop'' is the first full-length album by British heavy metal band Raven, released in 1981. The album was the first of many heavy metal studio albums issued by British independent label Neat Records. It reached position No. 6 ...

'') * Black 'n Blue (on their 1984 album '' Black 'n Blue'') *

Power Metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band Vengeance Incorporated on their 1992 album ''Bad Crazy'' * Steve Stevens (on his 1989 album '' Atomic Playboys''). * Scorpions released it in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

translation as "Wenn es richtig losgeht" on the B-side of the single "

Fuchs geh' voran "Fox on the Run" is a song by the British band Sweet, first recorded in 1974. It was the first Sweet single written by the band, rather than producers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, and was their 14th single overall. The song became the best chart ...

" (a translation of " Fox on the Run", also by Sweet). *Bodybuilder/hard rock singer Jon Mikl Thor once performed the song on '' The Mike Douglas Show''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Action The Sweet songs Def Leppard songs 1975 singles 1994 singles Songs written by Andy Scott (guitarist) Songs written by Brian Connolly Songs written by Steve Priest Songs written by Mick Tucker 1975 songs