Sweet

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Sweet, also simply Sweet, is a British glam rock band that broke through in the 1970s. The best-known line-up consisted of the singer Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott and drummer Mick Tucker. The group came together in 1968 in London, at first under the name The Sweetshop. Its roots lie in the soul band Wainwright's Gentlemen from the early 1960s.

Music and breakthrough

The first big success came in 1971 with Funny, Funny, which they made with the songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and the producer Phil Wainman. Co-Co, Block Buster! and Hell Raiser followed, and in 1973 The Ballroom Blitz. Teenage Rampage in 1974 and Fox on the Run in 1975 were also hits. In the United Kingdom the group had thirteen songs in the top twenty. In the United States, Little Willy, The Ballroom Blitz, Fox on the Run and Love Is Like Oxygen reached the top ten. The group's albums included Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be from 1971, Desolation Boulevard and Sweet Fanny Adams from 1974, Give Us a Wink in 1976 and Level Headed in 1977. In 1979 Connolly left for a solo career, and in 1981 the group ceased to exist.

Influence

The music developed from the bubblegum of Funny, Funny, which resembled the Archies, to a harder sound influenced by The Who, with high backing vocals. Sweet shows how glam rock combined light pop melodies with hard guitars. That is why it returns in the chapter on the 1970s.

Listening

• 
  The Ballroom Blitz · Sweet, 1973
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1971Funny How Sweet Co‐Co Can Be
• 1974Desolation Boulevard
• 1974Sweet Fanny Adams
• 1976Give Us a Wink
• 1977Level Headed
• 1977Off the Record
• 1979Cut Above the Rest
• 1980Waters Edge
• 1982Identity Crisis
• 2024Full Circle

See also

• Funny How Sweet Co‐Co Can Be
• Cut Above the Rest
• Waters Edge