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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I was one of those teenagers who ballroom blitzed, some good memories there.
sdwill 24.07.2002 01:16
Hey, you can't underestimate the effect they had on those impressionable teenagers! I was one of them! Not for me the Bay City Rollers (yuck, yuck) or David pukey Cassidy, I loved Sweet, Wizard, Slade and the King of them all Gary Glitter. Now I'm into Tom Petty, Sisters of Mercy, Van Halen and AC/DC!!!!!!!LOLOL
Advantages: Accoustic harmonies and easy to listen to songs.Sincere and heartfelt lyrics. A really nice album. Disadvantages: I didnt like it as much as X&Y or A Sudden Rush of Blood to the Head.
SpookyMoon 29.05.2009 ·
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