The universal appeal of Sweet can be summed up by just how many artists have covered them: “Ballroom Blitz” has been tackled by everyone from The Damned to Nuclear Assault; “Fox on the Run” from Girlschool to Deadsy; Sisters of Mercy even riffed off the name of this, their most popular record. Brian Connolly’s falsetto had a street toughness his glam contemporaries lacked, whilethe Who/Dolls/Zeppelin guitar muscle belie their bubblegum power pop candy-coating. Although the dance floor demolition and speeding canidae tunes remain the most enduring, the deeper cuts about bisexual girlfriends, streetfighting, and teenage insanity show why punk and metal bands treasure these sugar bombs.

– Jeff Treppel