"The Ballroom Blitz" (often called "Ballroom Blitz") is a song by British

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

band

The Sweet The Sweet (often shortened to just Sweet), are a British glam rock band that rose to prominence in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer M ...

, written by

Nicky Chinn Nicholas Barry Chinn (born 16 May 1945) is an English-American songwriter and record producer. Together with Mike Chapman he had a long string of hit singles in the UK and US in the 1970s and early 1980s, including several international number- ...

and

Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suz ...

. The song reached number one in Canada, number two in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and the Australian Chart, and number five on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It remains an enduring favourite with close to 30,000,000 streams 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 Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and were driven offstage by a

bottling Bottling lines are production lines that fill a product, generally a beverage, into bottles on a large scale. Many prepared foods are also bottled, such as sauces, syrups, marinades, oils and vinegars. Beer bottling process Packaging of bottle ...

History and description

The song was recorded at Audio International Studio, 18 Rodmarton Street, London, and released as a single in September 1973. The song appeared on the US and Canadian versions of ''

Desolation Boulevard ''Desolation Boulevard'' is the third studio album by the British glam rock band Sweet, originally released in the United Kingdom in November 1974. Two noticeably different versions of the album were released: one by RCA Records in Europe, and ...

'' but never appeared on a Sweet album in the UK, other than hits compilations. The initial guitar and drum riff of the song has similarity to a 1963 song by

Bobby Comstock Robert L. Comstock (December 29, 1941 – January 9, 2020)
Retrieved 20 March 2013

called "Let's Stomp".

Cover versions

An early cover of "The Ballroom Blitz" was by the

Les Humphries Singers The Les Humphries Singers was a 1970s pop group formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1969 by the English-born Les Humphries. The group had several chart hits in Germany and in other European countries. The Les Humphries Singers dissolved at the end ...

in 1974, the first German single to reach #1 in New Zealand. In 1979, the song was covered by the Damned, which featured Lemmy from

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

on bass guitar. It was released as a B-side to "

I Just Can't Be Happy Today "I Just Can't Be Happy Today" is a song by English punk rock band the Damned from their 1979 album, ''Machine Gun Etiquette''. Released as a single in November on Chiswick Records, it peaked at No. 46 in the UK Singles Chart. Production The s ...

" and featured as a bonus track on their CD reissue of ''

Machine Gun Etiquette ''Machine Gun Etiquette'' is the third studio album by English punk rock band the Damned, released on 2 November 1979 by Chiswick Records. Background The album was the group's first since reforming with Dave Vanian on vocals, Captain Sensibl ...

''. Other covers include Krokus in 1984, the

Surf Punks The Surf Punks were a pop punk band formed in 1976 by Malibu residents Dennis Dragon (1947-2017) and Drew Steele. (Dragon was the son of symphony conductor Carmen Dragon, the brother of Captain & Tennille's Daryl Dragon, and he was previously ...

on their 1988 album ''Oh No! Not Them Again'' (in the lyrics jacket it just says, "You should know the words by now"),

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

band

Scanch is a Japanese rock band originally active from 1982 to 1996. The members of Scanch met and formed the band in 1982 - while they were still in high school. The band started with Rolly, shima-chang, Obata Pump and Doctor Tanaka as members. By t ...

on their 1991 album ''Ultra Romantic Bombers for Unlimited Lovers'' under the title of "R&R Dynamite Kyoujidai",

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band

Nuclear Assault Nuclear Assault was an American thrash metal band formed in New York City in 1984. Part of the mid-to-late 1980s thrash metal movement, they were one of the main bands of the genre to emerge from the East Coast along with Overkill, Whiplash, ...

on their 1991 album '' Out of Order'',

Tia Carrere Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo (born January 2, 1967), known professionally as Tia Carrere (), is an American actress, singer and former model who got her first big break as a regular on the daytime soap opera '' General Hospital''. Carrere played C ...

featuring a back track featuring Tommy Nickerson on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

to ''

Wayne's World "Wayne's World" was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series ''Saturday Night Live''. It evolved from a segment titled "Wayne's Power Minute" (1987) on the CBC Television series '' It's Only Rock & Roll'', as the main characte ...

'' in 1992, and

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus, typically performed by self-proclaimed Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Ch ...

band

Calibretto 13 Calibretto 13 (later, simply Calibretto) was a Christian folk punk band from Kokomo, Indiana, United States. The acoustic punk style of the band and the peculiar vocal style of singer Joe Whiteford gives the band their signature sound. Another ...

on their album '' Enter the Danger Brigade'' in 2000. In 2016,

The Struts The Struts are a British rock band formed in Derby, Derbyshire in 2012. The band consists of lead vocalist Luke Spiller, guitarist Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliott, and drummer Gethin Davies. The band has cited its influences as: Queen, The ...

recorded it for the soundtrack of film ''

The Edge of Seventeen ''The Edge of Seventeen'' is a 2016 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig, in her directorial debut. The film stars Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson, Kyra Sedgwick, and Haley Lu Richardson. The f ...

''. In 2021,

White Denim White Denim is an American four-piece rock band from Austin, Texas, United States. Their music is influenced by dub, psychedelic rock, blues, punk rock, progressive rock, soul, jazz, experimental rock with home-based recording, jamming appro ...

published a cover of The Ballroom Blitz via Dropbox.

In popular culture

*The song has appeared in many movies, including ''

'', '' Bordello of Blood'', ''

Romanzo Criminale ''Romanzo criminale'' (; "Criminal Novel") is an Italian-language film released in 2005, directed by Michele Placido, a criminal drama, it was highly acclaimed and won 15 awards. It is based on Giancarlo De Cataldo's 2002 novel, which is in turn ...

'', ''

Daddy Day Care ''Daddy Day Care'' is a 2003 American family comedy film starring Eddie Murphy in the lead role, Jeff Garlin, Steve Zahn, Regina King, and Anjelica Huston. Written by Geoff Rodkey and directed by Steve Carr, it marks Murphy and Carr's second ...

'' and '' The Sandlot: Heading Home''. * The words "she thinks she's the passionate one" from the song are dubbed into the

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

song "

Hey Ladies "Hey Ladies" is a song by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys, featured on their album ''Paul's Boutique''. It was the album's only charting single, hitting #36 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It is also the first single in history to chart ...

". * Ohi Ho Bang Bang (a one-off project of

Holger Hiller Holger Hiller (born 26 December 1956) is a German musician. Hiller studied art at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg, where he met Walter Thielsch and Thomas Fehlmann and recorded first works with them. With Fehlmann he later fou ...

, Karl Bonnie of

Renegade Soundwave Renegade Soundwave (sometimes shortened to RSW) was an electronic music group. Formed in London in 1986, the group originally consisted of Gary Asquith, Carl Bonnie and Danny Briottet. Their debut LP '' Soundclash'' was released in 1990 on Mu ...

and video artist Akiko Hada) released a 12" single and a

CD Video CD Video (also known as CDV, CD-V, or CD+V) is a format of optical media disc that was introduced in 1987 that combines the technologies of standard compact disc and LaserDisc. CD-V discs are the same size as a standard 12-cm audio CD, and conta ...

in 1988. "The Three" (a remix of their song "The Two") samples "Ballroom Blitz" extensively, especially the drumming from the intro. * Since June 2016, the song has been used in

public information films Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, ...

on the subject of

smart meters A smart meter is an Electronics, electronic device that records information such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor. Smart meters Telemetering, communicate the information to the consumer for greater c ...

surrounding gas and electricity use in the United Kingdom. *The song was featured in the trailer for Season 3 of Netflix's Umbrella Academy.

Personnel

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 ...

– lead vocals * Steve Priest – bass guitar, backing vocals, spoken lead vocals * Andy Scott – guitar, backing vocals *

Mick Tucker Michael Thomas Tucker (17 July 1947 – 14 February 2002) was an English musician, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of the glam rock and hard rock band Sweet. Biography Mick Tucker was born on July 17, 1947, in Kingsbury, North ...

– drums, backing vocals

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballroom Blitz, The 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 The Sweet 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