Sweet Success

Originally called The Sweetshop, the British band The Sweet enjoyed phenomenal success in the 1970s, at the time of glam rock, before disbanding in 1982 and making way for three different bands created by their former members.

In some ways, the Sweet epitomized all the tacky hubris and garish silliness of the early '70s. Fusing bubblegum melodies with crunching, fuzzy guitars, the band looked like a heavy metal band, but were as tame as any pop group. It was a dichotomy that served them well, as they racked up a number of hits in both the U.K. and the U.S. Most of those songs were written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, a pair of British songwriters who had a way with silly, simple, and catchy hooks. Chinn/Chapman and Sweet were smart enough to latch on to the British glam rock fad, building a safer, radio-friendly, and teen-oriented version of Queen, T. Rex, and Gary Glitter. By the end of the '70s, the group's time at the top of the charts had expired but their hit singles lived on not only as cultural artifacts, but also as the predecessors for the pop-metal of the '80s. Originally, the Sweet were called the Sweetshop and consisted of Brian Connolly (vocals), Mick Tucker (vocals, drums), Frank Torpey (guitar), and Steve Priest (bass).

Sweet Sensation was an eight piece British soul group who had some success in the mid-1970s. They are best known for their 1974 No. 1 UK hit, "Sad Sweet Dreamer".
Formed in Manchester in 1971, the band came to prominence after appearing on the ITV talent show New Faces. Under the guidance of panellist Tony Hatch, the band signed to Pye Records. The debut single "Snowfire" failed to reach the charts, but the follow-up "Sad Sweet Dreamer" was a UK number one single in October 1974 that also reached No. 14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 the following spring. The follow-up "Purely by Coincidence" reached No. 11 in the UK in January 1975. Both songs were written by David Parton.