General: Sweet

Hiawatha didn't bother too much
'Bout Minnie Ha-Ha and her tender touch
Till she took him to the silver stream
Then she whispered words like he had never heard
That made him all shudder inside when she said

Wig-wam bam, gonna make you my man
Wam bam bam, gonna get you if I can
Wig-wam bam, wanna make you understand
Try a little touch, try a little too much
Just try a ...
.../> Another time, another place, another BIG DISGRACE....



'Cos little Willy, Willy won't go home
But you can't push Willy round
Willy won't go, try tellin' everybody but, oh no
Little Willy, Willy won't go home



Fickle feckle, momma's kettle. pout and preen and shine your shoes, shave your head and then your legs for the weekend ... pretty boys, pretty girls, ambivalent, ... more

Hiawatha didn't bother too much
'Bout Minnie Ha-Ha and her tender touch
Till she took him to the silver stream
Then she whispered words like he had never heard
That made him all shudder inside when she said

Wig-wam bam, gonna make you my man
Wam bam bam, gonna get you if I can
Wig-wam bam, wanna make you understand
Try a little touch, try a little too much
Just try a little wig-wam bam

Another time, another place, another BIG DISGRACE....

'Cos little Willy, Willy won't go home
But you can't push Willy round
Willy won't go, try tellin' everybody but, oh no
Little Willy, Willy won't go home

Fickle feckle, momma's kettle. pout and preen and shine your shoes, shave your head and then your legs for the weekend ... pretty boys, pretty girls, ambivalent, ambidextrous, ambisexual...

Aah, aah
You look in his eyes, don't be surprised
If you don't know what's going on behind his disguise
Nobody knows where Buster goes
He'll steal your woman out from under your nose

Now, what the bloody hell is that all about -

http://www.thesweet.com/ -
"The nucleus of The Sweet came together in 1966, when drummer Michael Thomas Tucker (b. 17 July 1947, Harlesden, London, England) and vocalist Brian Francis Connolly (b. 5 October 1945, Hamilton, Scotland) played together in Wainwright's Gentlemen, a small-time club circuit band whose repertoire comprised a mixture of Motown, R&B and psychedelia. The pair broke away to form Sweetshop, later shortened to just Sweet, with Steve Norman Priest (b. 23 February 1950, Hayes, Middlesex) on bass and Frank Torpey on guitar. After releasing four unsuccessful singles on Fontana and EMI, Torpey was replaced by first Mick Stewart, and then Mick by Andrew David Scott (b. 30 June 1949, Wrexham, Wales) and the new line-up signed to RCA. The band were introduced to the writing partnership of Chinn and Chapman, who were to provide the band with a string of hit singles. Their initial success was down to bubblegum pop anthems such as Funny Funny, Co-Co, Poppa Joe and Little Willy. However, the band were writing their own hard-rock numbers on the b-sides of these hits. This resulted in Chinn/Chapman coming up with heavier pop-rock numbers, most notably the powerful Blockbuster, which reached number 1 in the UK at the beginning of 1973. The group's determinedly effete, glam-rock image was reinforced by a succession of Top 10 hits, including Hell Raiser, Ballroom Blitz, Teenage Rampage and The Six Teens."

Now that's all you bleeding really need to know - The Sweet were an integral part of the glam rock scene in the UK in the period from 1971 to 1975, and they were one of a bunch of bands who used the Chinnichap team to get themselves a following - most of the others were ensconced on the RAK label, people like Mud and Suzi Quatro (those were the bleeding days) - but Sweet's attraction was their flirtation with the boy meets bot dangerous world of make up and fey posing - and their magic was a case of heavy metal noise, honed round pop melodies with a sub-Bowie bisexual preen and tease - Connolly had his dyed blonde pageboy cut, Steve Priest had his posing hook lines, and Andy Scott had his work cut out as the sleazed up, druggy version of a very bloated Mick Ronson...

This lot were never that good an outfit, and at root were just an average heavy metal band who wrote crappy B-sides and masqueraded as pop gods to the Chinnichap formula - they had a hug run of hits until a strike which took Top of the Pops off the air put an end to their success when The Six Teens only reached number two - they lost their way after that and tried to stage a return to the top with Love Is Like Oxygen, which was only a minor hit.

Look here, here's the singles up to that point -

Slow Motion/It's Lonely Out There - Jul 1968
Lollipop Man/Time - Sep 1969
All You'll Ever Get From Me/Juicer - Jan 1970
Get On The Line/Mr McGallagher - Jun 1970
Funny Funny/You're Not Wrong For Loving Me - No 13 Mar 1971
All You'll Ever Get From Me/Juicer - May 1971
Co-Co/Done Me Wrong All Right - No 2 - Jun 1971
Alexander Graham Bell/Spotlight - No 33 - Oct 1971
Poppa Joe/Jeanie - No 11 - Feb 1972
Little Willy/Man From Mecca - No 4 - Jun 1972
Wig Wam Bam/New York Connection - No 4 - Sep 1972
Block Buster/Need A Lot Of Lovin' - No 1 - Jan 1973
Hellraiser/Burning - No 2 - Apr 1973
Ballroom Blitz/Rock & Roll Disgrace - No 2 -Sep 1973
Teenage Rampage/Own Up, Take A Look At Yourself - No 2 - Feb 1974
The Six Teens/Burn On The Flame - No 9- Jul 1974
Turn It Down/Someone Else Will - No 41 - Nov 74
Fox On The Run/Miss Demeanour - No 2 - Mar 75
Action/Sweet F.A. - No 15 - Jul 75
The Lies In Your Eyes/Cockroach - No 35 - Jan 76
Lost Angels/Funk It Up - Oct 76
Fever Of Love/Distinct Lack Of Ancient - Feb 77
Stairway To The Stars/Why Don't You Do It To Me - Aug 77
Love Is Like Oxygen/Cover Girl - No 9 - Jan 78

By the time they came back with Oxygen, the punk explosion had made them very irrelevant and very out of their time, but before then they had presented the very peak of glam rock, with their witless nursery rhyme lyrics and campo poses - very pretty, very shallow and very seductive with the biggest pop hooks and glam audience you could imagine - totally uncool, totally meaningless and totally awful, but ultra successful ... it could be a million years away now...

Editor's note - I loved Blockbuster, I adored Ballroom Blitz and was seduced again when the Rezillos brought it out - the Wayne's World version was all pretty wonderful stuff.

The Six Teens - an ultimate high - instant classic rock for vacuous teenagers who prize style over content, image rathe rthan substance

Where were you in sixty-eight
In sixty-eight Julie was Johnnie's date
Two kids growin' together
Livin' each day as if time was slippin' away
Oh, they were just sixteen
And their love a teenage dream
They passed the time, they crossed the line
The line that ran between
Julie and Johnnie now you've made it

But life goes on, you know it ain't easy
You've just gotta be strong
If you're one of the sixteens
And life goes on, you know, you know it ain't easy
You know you'll never go wrong
'Cause you're all part of the sixteens

Shame it was a miss, because in its way it marked The Sweet trying a new departure, a new sound ... something they never did too often apart from those crappy early singles - Wig Wam Bam - get real! 

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