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Revision as of 18:23, 7 January 2005 by 83.73.1.113 (talk) (→External links)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Sweet (referred to as "The Sweet" on one album) were a popular British glam rock group of the 1970s.
Sweet consisted of singer Brian Connolly, drummer Michael Tucker, bassist Steve Priest, and guitarist Andy Scott. A product of the very successful Chinnichap songwriting team (Nicky Chinn/ Mike Chapman), Sweet are perhaps best remembered for their outrageous stage gear - glitter and platform boots and heavy makeup - practically defining the camp extreme of the glam rock look. Scott would later say it only happened because they needed an excuse to meet Top Of The Pops dancers Pan's People and figured that going to the make-up room was a good method of doing so. Once they were in there, they started experimenting.
Sweet had strong songs that are still frequently heard on oldies radio shows, but their career was founded on the ephemeral young teenage market, and was fairly short-lived. Their biggest hit was the UK Number 1 Blockbuster in 1973 though in the UK charts they were mildly unfortunate not to add more chart-toppers - no less than five more singles (Co-Co; Hell Raiser; The Ballroom Blitz; Teenage Rampage; and Fox On The Run) all peaked at Number 2. Love is Like Oxygen was their last UK hit in 1978.
Fox on the Run, The Ballroom Blitz, and Love is Like Oxygen were by far their biggest hits in the US.
In 1979 Brian Connolly left the band under acrimonious circumstances and neither he nor the band recovered. The band had drug problems and were particularly suffering from the effects of substantial alcohol intake. Brian suffered several cardiac arrests at the height of his excess.
Brian died from liver failure in 1997 having been content in his final years to appear in retrospective documentaries to demonstrate the damage he'd inflicted upon himself.
Mick Tucker died in 2002 from leukaemia at the age of 54.
Discography
- Gimme Dat Ding (1 side only), 1971
- Funny How Sweet CoCo Can Be, 1971
- Biggest hits, 1972
- Sweet Fanny Adams, 1974
- Desolation Boulevard, 1974
- Strung Up (Double Album),1975
- Give Us A Wink, 1976
- Off The Record, 1977
- Level Headed, 1978
- Cut Above The Rest, 1979
- Water's Edge, 1980
- Identity Crisis, 1982
Hit singles
- 1971 "Funny Funny" #13 UK
- 1971 "Co-Co" #2 UK
- 1971 "Alexander Graham Bell" #31 UK
- 1972 "Poppa Joe" #11 UK
- 1972 "Little Willy" #4 UK; #3 US (1973 release)
- 1972 "Wig-Wam Bam" #4 UK
- 1973 "Blockbuster" #1 UK
- 1973 "Hell Raiser" #2 UK
- 1973 "The Ballroom Blitz" #2 UK; #5 US (1975 release)
- 1974 "Teenage Rampage" #2 UK
- 1974 "The Six Teens" #9 UK
- 1975 "Fox on the Run" #2 UK; #5 US (1976 release)
- 1975 "Action" #15 UK; #20 US (1976 release)
- 1976 "The Lies in Your Eyes" #35 UK
- 1978 "Love is Like Oxygen" #9 UK; #8 US