Block Buster!

"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.

"Block Buster!"
Single by Sweet
from the album The Sweet
B-side	"Need a Lot of Lovin'"
Released	5 January 1973[1]
Recorded	1972
Genre	Glam rock[2][3][4] hard rock[5] blues rock[6] bubblegum[7]
Length	3:13
Label	RCA
Songwriter(s)	Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman
Producer(s)	Phil Wainman
Sweet singles chronology
"Wig-Wam Bam" (1972) "Block Buster!" (1973) "Hell Raiser" (1973)
Video
"Blockbuster" - Top Of The Pops on YouTube

Music and lyric

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]

TV performances

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, a painted Hitler moustache and a Pickelhaube.^[10]

Charts

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]