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Block Buster!

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"Block Buster!"
Single by Sweet
from the album The Sweet
B-side"Need a Lot of Lovin'"
ReleasedJanuary 1973
Recorded1972
Genre
Length3:13
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman
Producer(s)Phil Wainman
Sweet singles chronology
"Wig-Wam Bam"
(1972) 		"Block Buster!"
(1973) 		"Hell Raiser"
(1973)

"Block Buster!" (also sometimes listed as "Blockbuster!") is a 1973 single by Sweet. Written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, and produced by Phil Wainman, "Block Buster!" was the band's sole UK No. 1 hit. Released in January 1973, it spent five weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart,[5] and also made #1 in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Ireland, and #3 in Finland, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. Outside Europe it peaked at #1 in New Zealand, #29 in Australia and at #73 on the American Billboard Hot 100.

Charts

Chart (1973) Peak
position
Australia 29
Austria 1
Belgium 2
Denmark 1
Finland 3
Germany 1
Ireland 1
Italy 30
Netherlands 1
New Zealand 1
Norway 3
South Africa 7
Spain 12
Switzerland 3
United Kingdom[6] 1
United States[7] 73

In the case of Belgium, there are two types of lists. The one for the Flemish speaking part of Belgium (Flanders) saw the song reach number two, for five consecutive weeks,.[8] In the French speaking part (Wallonia) the song climbed to number one, for two consecutive weeks.[9]

Music and lyrics

Its Muddy Waters-inspired blues riff is markedly similar to the one featured on fellow RCA act David Bowie's "The Jean Genie", released shortly before, but all parties maintain that this was a coincidence.[10]

TV performances

Some controversy rose after the band's performance of the song on the British television program Top of the Pops on December 25, 1973. In this performance, Sweet's bassist Steve Priest wore a swastika arm band.[11]

In Pop Culture

The song appears in the 2007 film Hot Fuzz.

References

  1. ^ Popoff, Martin (2014). The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal?s Debauched Decade. Voyageur Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-62788-375-7.
  2. ^ Swanson, Dave (10 May 2014). "10 Underrated Glam Rock Stompers Worth Getting All Dolled Up For". Diffuser.fm. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  3. ^ Chapman, Ian (2015). Experiencing David Bowie: A Listener's Companion. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-44223-752-0.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 282–3. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  6. ^ "UK Official Charts". Official Charts Company. 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Hot 100: The Sweet". Billboard. 2019. Archived from the original on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  8. ^ "The Sweet - Block Buster - Vlaanderen". ultratop.be.
  9. ^ "The Sweet - Block Buster - Wallonie". ultratop.be.
  10. ^ Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: p.110
  11. ^ "Steve Priest | The Sweet". Thesweetband.com. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
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