Block Buster!
| "Block Buster!" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by The Sweet | ||||
| B-side | "Need a Lot of Lovin'" | |||
| Released | January 1973 | |||
| Recorded | 1972 | |||
| Genre | Glam rock | |||
| Length | 3:13 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Writer(s) | Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman | |||
| Producer(s) | Phil Wainman | |||
| The Sweet singles chronology | ||||
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"Block Buster!" (also sometimes listed as "Blockbuster!") is a 1973 single by The 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,[1] and also made #1 in the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Austria and Ireland, and #3 in Finland, Switzerland and Norway. Outside Europe it fared less well as it peaked at #29 in Australia and at #73 on the American Billboard Hot 100.
Music and lyrics
Its riff was considered markedly similar to fellow RCA act David Bowie's "The Jean Genie", released shortly before, but all parties maintain that this was pure coincidence.[2]
TV performances
Some controversy rose after the band's performance of the song on the British television program Top of the Pops at December 25 1973. In this performance, Sweet's bassist Steve Priest wore a Nazi German military uniform with a Swastika hanging on it, and he also had a moustache painted on himself, which was similar to that of Adolf Hitler.[3]
References
- ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 282–3. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ↑ Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: p.110
- ↑
| Preceded by "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" by Little Jimmy Osmond |
UK Singles Chart number one single January 27, 1973 (5 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Cum on Feel the Noize" by Slade |
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