This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2014) |
"Block Buster!" | ||||
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Single by Sweet | ||||
from the album The Sweet | ||||
B-side | "Need a Lot of Lovin'" | |||
Released | 5 January 1973 [1] | |||
Recorded | 1972 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:13 | |||
Label | RCA | |||
Songwriter(s) | Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman | |||
Producer(s) | Phil Wainman | |||
Sweet singles chronology | ||||
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Video | ||||
"Blockbuster" - Top Of The Pops on YouTube |
"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, [8] 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.
Its Muddy Waters-inspired blues riff is markedly similar to that featured on fellow RCA act David Bowie's "The Jean Genie", released shortly before, but all parties maintained this was a coincidence. [9]
Some controversy arose after the band's performance of the song on the British television program Top of the Pops on 25 December 1973, for which bassist Steve Priest wore a swastika arm band. [10]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(January 2018) |
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 [11] | 1 |
United States [12] | 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,. [13] In the French speaking part (Wallonia) the song climbed to number one, for two consecutive weeks. [14]
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Sweet are a British glam rock band who rose to prominence in the 1970s. Their best-known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bassist Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott and drummer Mick Tucker.
Stephen Norman Priest was an English musician who was the bassist of the glam rock band The Sweet.
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