#sweet #ballroomblitz #reaction Rapper FIRST time reaction to SWEET - The Ballroom Blitz!! YOOooooooooo! Join this channel to get access to perks: / @blackpegasusraps
The young people of today think Harry Styles & Co are something new and revolutionary. Me a a 60 year old starts laughing: Look at The Sweet, Bavid Bowie, Elton John and others from the 70s - THAT was new!
@@tonkabeanpumpkin-fh4fz And don't forget late 17th and 18th century nobleman fashion. All make-up, wigs, fine materials like velvet, vivid colours, high heels, and lots and lots of lace! Check out the movie Amadeus for some of the more flamboyant fashion of the time. Men's fashion got really boring in the Victorian era when they all started wearing black all the time.
The lead singer Brian Connelly was not wearing a wig. And he had a tragic life from childhood to his early death from alcoholism. He was known to be a humble, gentle soul.
A lovely guy who was as beautiful on the inside as on the outside. His teenage single mother did not name his father and abandoned him in hospital as a baby when he became ill. He was fostered and later adopted by the family of 'Taggart' actor, Mark McManus, who it later turned out was the family of their mutual father.
How DARE you! Kids today invented it! just ask them! Us old people do not understand them because they are SO hip. Meanwhile nothing is new under the sun.
This was part of the "Glam Rock" music style. It's theatrical metal from the '70's. People you will have heard of who went through Glam Rock are David Bowie, Queen, Slade, and Marc Bolan and T-Rex. It was a lot of glitter, long hair and makeup. However, while acting androgynous, they were mostly treated like sex idols from women at the time. The majority of them were straight. (Ziggy Stardust was Bowie's Glam Phase.)
It is 1975, I am 12 years old, I am in Year 8 (first year of High School). My bestie (Elise) and I have on our glitter eyeshadow in shades to match our eyes (green for me, blue for her). Sweet are playing at the Embassy Ballroom in Perth, Western Australia. It was my very first music concert and I thought it was the coolest thing EVER! To this very day (and I am 61 now), Ballroom Blitz is played regularly by DJs in pub gigs and parties and NOTHING will get me on the dance floor faster!
They were not ahead of their time, they were of their time. The early 70's was when bands were experimenting with the fluidity of gender stereotypes. Bowie, T Rex and many others were doing the same thing. It was the genre of "Glam Rock" and it gave birth to the Rocky Horror Show. You can hear it in the music. Their look was never pushed down anyone's throat in a demand for recognition, it was fun and they were accepted just the way they were. Some were gay, most were straight, some, like Bowie, swung both ways, sometimes only temporarily. It's all become so much more aggressive now but there's nothing new under the sun, we've seen it all before. We were more advanced in the 70's, the attitude was "live, and let live.
This was fire in the 70's, this was fire in the 80's, this was fire in the 90's and it's still fire today ! One of the greatest party songs of all time !
Your reaction made me laugh so much, thank you. The song is about what happened on January 27, 1973, The Sweet were playing at the Grand Hall (Kilmarnock, Scotland), and were driven offstage by a “bottling,” as angry fans began to throw things onto the stage. Don't feel too bad about not knowing they were guys, I can still remember my dad asking "what are they", when I first saw them on 'Countdown' (an Aussie pop show. Ahh, good old Glam Rock, confusing parents everywhere, which is why we always cranked up the sound. ;) This was always played as the second last song at the roller skating rink, I can remember as a beginner quickly getting off the rink, and letting the 'pros' handle it, there were injuries due to the fast pace. 🤣 We all quickly got back onto the rink for the final song, 'Nutbush City Limits', such fun, great times. 🤩 Cheers, from Australia 🐨🦘
Just four straight guys in a "Glam-Rock" band. The costumes and makeup were simply show business props for that era. The hair?... well, it was the early 70s
Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
I'm a 70yr old Brit, I loved this band, They were one of the Original Glam Rock groups(before your American Prog Rock)The idea about are they aren't they, was to mess with your parents heads, a rebel song, @ about 5yrs later their was a Brit Disco song called, "somebodies going to get, their head kicked in tonight"
We did the whole AMAZING glam rock thing, with men in make up, glitter and long hair, while STILL knowing exactly what a women is. And NOBODY had a problem with it. Definitely put this on to get the party started 🤩🤩🤩
That’s not entirely true, I remember my WW2 era family members bashing many, KISS was evil to them. I also remember, quite distinctly, not being able to get a job in the 80’s as a metal dude with long hair. I suspect it has quite a bit to do with where you were at there. Let’s just say rural, small country town Ohio wasn’t exactly open minded or tolerant. Probably still isn’t, don’t know, graduated high school and bailed. Oh, it was also incredibly racist and sexist. The shit my WW2 era uncles would spew was quite vile.
@@Imathomeboredlol. I had such awesome hair in the 80’s, more than one gf did my hair before a show, don’t think I ever bought my own hairspray. 😂 2020 I decided to grow it out again, and I must say, it’s really a pain in the ass!
@@Imathomebored. That brings back memories! I was dating my husband at the time and he had the most glorious hair. Very straight, very thick and jet black. I got used to him getting all the attention!!
I went and saw him with The Sweet about 14 yrs ago in Australia. He was the only original member left but it was still a good show. I still have my Fox on the Run single from 1975, loved that band as a teen.
Im British.. this was the70’s .. a game changer when boys started wearing makeup, it was rock n roll on a different level.. people where free to express themselves..think u need to understand what the word blitz means, they smashed it!!😊😊💕
The judgments and racism of today's era were non existent in the70's. We had FUN with our music, loving, laughing, crying, dying, daydreaming... you name it and there was a song for it.
I'm the youngster here only in my fifties but I remember this era fondly zero f*ck were given you wanted if you wanted to dress like a 50's scifi rock god go for it, but you wanted to wear a tux and crooning no problem. hope you ready for a get of my lawn cranky old man rant, people these days need to chill the hell out stop taking everything so seriously. And before anyone jumps on me I may wear glasses but they aren't rose tinted there were thing back then that weren't good but I don't know if its really better now
"Ballroom Blitz" was inspired by an incident at a concert in Scotland when the band was booed and pelted with bottles, and reached the top of the charts in Canada and Australia, and the top five in the UK and the US.
I don't know if they were booed and pelted with stuff, but it certainly was in Scotland. The Grand Hall of the Palace Theatre in Kilmarnock, in fact, back in 1973. 🙏
You are so right. I think we had an open mind and really didn't give a Frick, just enjoyed it. Glam Rock was big in the early 1970s and it started with T. REX. When I was 12/13 my wall over the bed was full with all different Glam Rock posters.
I remember being more shocked when Freddy Mercury changed his look for a more muscular look, I was about 9 and I remember shouting to my Dad in another room come look at Freddy Mercury!
If you're my age (almost 60) & from the UK, this song (& Sweet generally) is pretty much inseperable from memories of your childhood. For some of us the best examples of glam rock were what prepared our ears for punk when it arrived a few years later. It was pretty much punk, punk & more punk for me from 1977 to 1980, but I never forgot those early 70s glam jukebox singles. I still have all of them. Tangible memories of childhood that you can hold in your hand & let them take you back. Over 50 years ago now. The oldest things I own.
It’s called Glam Rock! It’s a genre from the 70s. Outrageous Costumes, makeup, and theatrics are what it’s about … there’s also Glam Metal…such as Twisted Sister
My dad used to be a bodyguard for The Sweet and other British bands back in the 70s and 80s. Got loads of cool photos and stories from The Sweet, Phil Collins, Mud, you name it. Crazy days back then. This was called The Glam Rock era btw. 70s.
💯!! That's probably why he's equating it to Halloween. That's when they play Rocky Horror and everyone gets all dressed up and brings their props. They used to anyway 😂
I remember the old wooden floored skating rink in the '70s. Someone would play this song on the jukebox and suddenly everyone in the place was on their feet and skating/dancing around the room.
I am this old: I was the winner of that Sweet vinyl album. I called into a radio station and was the winner! Love this reaction - it brought back some great memories. The 70s were a different animal, that's for sure.
I'm a 70s kid. This is THE song that epitomizes my youth. Saturday morning bowling alley, jukebox, billiard room and wall of pinball machines. This song blaring from the jukebox. Yes!
Sweet were regarded as "Glam", along with acts such as Slade, T-Rex, Roxy Music, Gary Glitter, Mud etc. They played some of the best pop/rock of the day and their hits were extensive. Do more Sweet.
First production of the Rocky Horror Show (stage version) was 1973. So they were contemporaries, both out of the UK. The movie happened in 1975. The UK has a relatively long tradition of men/boys cross-dressing on stage, from Shakespeare (when women weren't allowed to act so men did female roles) to pantomimes for kids where there was usually an older female character played by a male. The Kenny Everett show in the 70s/80s on TV & others. (In Australia, Aunty Jack). The US always was a bit more uptight about those things.
The song was inspired by an incident in Jan 1973. Sweet was performing at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock,Scotland. The band was driven offstage by what's called "bottling" or when the audience is so angry they throw things at the stage.
@@theodoreritola7641 What part of smoke on the water sounds like ballroom blitz to you? Two totally different songs tempo wise sound wise and feeling? Not knocking what you're saying, just curious to see what makes you say it reminds you of it?
In 1974, The lead singer Brian Connolly was badly beaten after leaving a nightclub in Staines where he received several kicks to his throat resulting in him being unable to sing for some time and permanently losing some of his previously wide vocal range. You're right BP hate always has something to do with it. Is it really that much better today? Sadly, It really depends on who you ask.
It's an energy song. Whether you need a boost when you're tired, depressed, partying, exercising...this kind of song is what you play. What they look like doesn't matter. What the song means doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the energy. Some songs are like that.
Sweet were a working class band. They were navvies and factory workers and, despite the glam rock androgeny, these were the guys that the young men in the clubs were getting together to mosh pit and headbang to. They certainly weren't Prog. The Prog snobs at the time were turning up their noses at these guys. They were pretty unique in their way. Suzie Quatro had similar energy and maybe Mark Bolan and T-Rex. Glam rock was a wildly creative genre.
@@digitig Prog snobbery was definitely a big thing at my school, but we were out in the sticks so we didn't have access to Saturday night discos. West Cumbria in the 70s was so backwards that we didn't get Punk until 2 years after everyone else. We also had a lot of leftover Hippies. My music tastes are about the same as those of someone born three or four years earlier.
They're glam rock. It came out of the UK in the 70s. They are all men. Think early David Bowie, Queen, T Rex, Mott the Hoople and even Kiss fall into that genre. All great bands. I'm not sure if you've watched any early stuff from those bands but you need to. Lol
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. Also the word blitz were used during 2ond war world about the bombing in London.
In America, "Ballroom Blitz" was the second hit for Sweet, following "Little Willy." They had more success and notoriety in their native UK, where their outlandish lyrics caused some controversy. In America they were more of a curiosity, delivering fun, relatively mindless entertainment. The band members do a roll call at the beginning of Ballroom Blitz, which is a great way to introduce themselves to listeners. Lead singer Brian Connolly asks: Are you ready Steve? (bass player Steve Priest), Andy? (guitarist Andy Scott), Mick? (drummer Mick Tucker).
First of all they are all guys. They formed in London UK in 1968. In the 1970's they had 13 top 20 hits in the UK singles charts. The only surviving member of the band is the lead guitarist Andy Scott. He still tours with a band.
I was born in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock where the Ballroom Blitz took place. It really happened and the boys took their bottle pelted selves back south to London and wrote this song. Killie takes no prisoners.
@@punkpopnotdead You do realize Chinn and Chapman were inspired by what happened to the band in Scotland and wrote this song for them. It's definitely not rubbish, unlike your post.
@@timmarshall2491[the boys took their bottle pelted selves back south to London and wrote this song] is rubbish they only wrote 2 good songs at the end of there time
This is the height of rock that brought grunge and eventually metal on the scene. This was and is peak owning yourself. And when I tell you the ladies love the makeup...🥵
“In 1974, Connolly was badly beaten after leaving a nightclub in Staines where he received several kicks to his throat resulting in his being unable to sing for some time and permanently losing some of his previously wide vocal range.”
This was the 70s its called glam rock the Sweet were one of the best groups around. We no longer have Brian the singer Mick the drummer and Steve the guitar player waring the big collar with us Andy playing the other guitar is now 75 years old and still playing gigs with his new band still called the Sweet, who I am going to see in concert again in Dec 2024.
I saw Wayne's World in the cinema at least 5 times in 1992, ..., it was just great! All the hidden references, great! Until NOW I always thought the song was by Tia Carrere. Well I was wrong, thanks Black Pegasus. Greetings from Switzerland.
I was madly in love with Brian Connolly (blond in red) and wouldn’t have said no 😂😂. This was glam rock. Brian died in the next town to where I lived after repeated heart attacks. He was abandoned when he was young and adopted by a family who had a son called mark McManus who went on to be the main person in a Scottish tv program called Taggart. Mark died of alcohol problems.
This is what gave rise to the glam metal of the 80s. Steve Priest, the bassist, was a badass and the drummer, Mick Tucker was killing it. The ladies loved The Sweet in the day. I like their song Blockbuster, and also Love Is Like Oxygen. Fox on the Run is pretty wild. All four of them are amazing singers.
This song came out around 1973/4. We didn't use the terminology "fire" back then, but it really was. And no they were not crossdressers. They were part of the rock genre known as Glam Rock, mostly started by David Bowie and Marc Bolin (T. Rex) and others. Sweet has had a good many great songs before and after this great big hit. Songs to consider checking out include "Little Willy", "Wig Wam Bam", "Fox On The Run" and "Love Is Like Oxygen".
"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. "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. Brian Connolly - lead vocals Steve Priest - bass guitar, backing vocals Andy Scott - guitar, backing vocals Mick Tucker - drums, backing vocals Year-end charts Chart (1973) Rank UK 17 Chart (1974) Rank Australia (Kent Music Report) 9 Chart (1975) Rank Canada 22 US Billboard Hot 100 16
They were awesome, listened to them all the time when I was at high school and I'm in my 60s now, thats how long ago these guys played. December 1974 this was released I was 14 years old me and my friends played it so loud, loved it!
Sweet were at the top through the glam rock era, massively popular in the UK and Europe and here too in Australia. Many line up changes due the the sad passing of every member except Andy. They'll be back in Australia again later this year.
I met the sweet many many years ago I’m 72 but if you like this I recommend you listen to Suzi Quattro she was an American singer songwriter she had a lot of hits early 70s here in the UK she’s fire 🔥 also .
Suzi's first record came out in '65, with The Pleasure Seekers. Suzi sang lead on the b-side, a song that celebrates the joys of underage drinking. I think that she was about 15 at that time.
GLAM ROCK.. Everyone had long hair in the 70's (myself included).. GOTTA check out "Love is Like Oxygen".. "Action".. "Fox on the Run".. Ballroom Blitz was HUGE HIT in 70's.. Luvit!
Dude, glad you enjoyed it. Good music is timeless. Sweet were one of the biggest bands in the UK in the 1970s. Their contemporaries were Slade, Mud, Marc Bolan and T Rex, David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust period, early Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd etc. They were one of the progenitors of the Glam-Rock era. They were all totally straight guys, glam rockers just wore a lot of makeup and were kind of androgynous. It was a fashion back then. The point is that they were a really tight rock band who created some great tunes and were very talented musicians. Remember, no auto tune or synthetic music back in those days. These guys could play!
The Sweet were Glam Rockers. Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by male musicians who wore flamboyant and feminine clothing, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter, and female musicians who wore masculine clothing.
@@patriciakern-butler732 NYD formed in 71, i think... They still borrowed their style from the UK, where glam originated in the late 60's... NYD, Stooges and The Ramones invented punk, though: Even though the UK usually gets the credit.
A Ballroom Blitz was a riot of fight in a concert. This was done in the day before every single had a music video. The videos were done to introduce the group to DJs. or they came from appearances on TV shows. They were what became known as Glam Rock or Hair Rock.
So loved this group in the 70s. They were glam rock. You can't sit still, listening to this group. 1970s. The lead singer died not long ago. Amazing time in the UK.
Early 70s - celebrating end of exams - a group of us went to a local nightclub. I'd never even heard of the sweet at the time and to be honest i was a little surprised by the groups dress sense but when they started to perform - fantastic.
The Sweet were a group that started the Glam Rock Style. They wanted to be different and Steve started the show by walking passed a shoe shop and saw a pair of shimmering purple platform boots for women, the shoe shop was owned by a family friend and said he would like a pair like them. A pair was specially made for him. The others in the band liked them and decided to trawl women’s boutiques and brought wild clothing, they painted one hand with black nail varnish. This was the start of the movement which also had Elton John, Marc Bolan, Slade etc in it. It was a fun era. Just like Lord Sutch sort of started Shock Rock which Alice Cooper is part of in the 1960’s. Glam Rock was a sort of Shock Rock of the 1970’s. Ballroom Blitz is one of my top 10 songs.
Sweet were part of the Glam Rock movement which was extremely important in Britain. So many great bands and icons emerged during this period eg Roxy Music. Marc Bolan and T Rex were amazing before his very sad passing 😢 Slade and Wizard are still permanent fixtures at Christmas. There was someone else who was very popular too but we don't mention his name now after his horrible crimes ✖️
UK 1973. This always takes me back to the waltzers at the local fair. The Sweet's genre is Glam Rock and they're dudes. This song is one of my favourites.
14 дней назад
In the UK the biggest music show on TV was "Top of the Pops" on the BBC. The show had an all girl dance troupe called "Pans People" who were the height of glamour. Apparently, their dressing room in the TV studio was behind the make up room for the artists, therefore the longer you sat in the makeup chair, the more opportunities you had to "get off with" one of Pan's People. This is supposedly the origin of "Glam rock" in the early '70's
"Ballroom Blitz" was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote many of the biggest glam rock hits. They also wrote Sweet's "Blockbuster," Suzi Quatro's "Devil Gate Drive" and Tony Basil's "Mickey."