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The Sweet
Posted by Jennifer Grathwol on 29-Oct-08 @ 11:44 AM|
YEARS OF EXISTENCE: 1968-1982 YEARS OF DECENT EXISTENCE: 1973-1978 BEST RECORDS: The Sweet (1973), Desolation Boulevard (1974), Sweet Fanny Adams (1974), Strung Up (1975), Level Headed (1978) WORST RECORDS: Give Us A Wink (1976), Off The Record (1977), Cut Above The Rest (1979), VI (1980) GO DOWNLOAD: "Little Willy," "Blockbuster," "No, You Don't," "Ballroom Blitz," "Fox On The Run," "Someone Else Will," "Love Is Like Oxygen" FILE UNDER: From Bubble-Glam To Prog-Pop SIMILAR-SOUNDING DINOSAURS: Slade, T. Rex, Mott The Hoople THE MUSIC: After a few weak starts, British outfit the Sweet-singer Brian Connolly, guitarist Andy Scott, bassist Steve Priest and drummer Mick Tucker-achieved success in the early '70s as pop princes with thumping, hook-laden tracks as "Little Willy" and "Blockbuster." The catch was that their hits were written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, whose angle was to dumb down the glam racket that T. Rex and David Bowie were running so that people in council flats (aka the projects) could dig it. Yeah, the Chinnichap team were great, but it took a whole lot of attitude, finesse and balls to make tracks like "Ballroom Blitz, " "Fox On The Run" and "Action" the things of rock legend and not just disposable AM-radio fodder. The band extricated themselves from Chinn & Chapman on Sweet Fanny Adams, the album that established them as a full-on rock band-minus the hit singles record companies like so much. But in 1978, they successfully reinvented themselves as prog-poppers with the album Level Headed and its attendant synth-driven hit "Love Is Like Oxygen." Despite the success, Connolly was completely over it and bailed, leaving the rest of the band to carry on for a few more albums saddled with a serious charisma deficit. WHAT THEY SAY: "Fusing bubblegum melodies with crunching, fuzzy guitars, the band looked like a heavy-metal band, but were as tame as any pop group." -AllMusic WHAT I SAY: Despite the outside songwriters penning their hits, the Sweet successfully maintained one foot in the pop camp and the other in the metal realm, resulting in songs that were waaaay more timeless-sounding than anything the legion of L.A. hair farmers from the '80s pooped out. WHY YOUR (GRAND)PARENTS LIKE THEM: If you carry a British passport, liking the Sweet was crucial to your '70s childhood-and about 5 million times cooler than all of the boy-band teen pop that's come down civilization's garbage chute since then. If your parents owned Desolation Boulevard, well, they're cooler than I actually give them credit for. CURRENT WHEREABOUTS: Sadly, Connolly died in 1997 and Tucker passed in 2002. Scott is recording and touring as Andy Scott's Sweet (or A.S. Sweet, if you prefer), while Priest is currently crossing America on the "Are You Ready, Steve" Tour. While I routinely use this column to burn down any outfit of codgers tryin' to trade on their former glories, the Sweet's catalog is filled with great songs that new generations of listeners need to hear. Besides, I want to be able to say the word "glam" to people and not have them immediately ask me if I watch Bret Michaels on Rock Of Love. -Jason Pettigrew |
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