The song was recorded at Audio International Studio, 18 Rodmarton Street, London, and released as a single in September 1973. The song appeared on the US and Canadian versions of Desolation Boulevard but never appeared on a Sweet album in the UK, other than hits compilations. The initial guitar and drum riff of the song has similarity to a 1963 song by Bobby Comstock called "Let's Stomp".
Cover versions
The first cover of "The Ballroom Blitz" was by the Les Humphries Singers in 1975, the first German single to reach #1 in New Zealand. In 1979, the song was covered by the Damned, which featured Lemmy from Motörhead on bass guitar. It was released as a B-side to "I Just Can't Be Happy Today" and featured as a bonus track on their CD reissue of Machine Gun Etiquette. Other covers include Krokus in 1984, the Surf Punks on their 1988 album Oh No! Not Them Again, Japanese glam rock band Scanch on their 1991 albumUltra Romantic Bombers for Unlimited Lovers under the title of "R&R Dynamite Kyoujidai", thrash metal band Nuclear Assault on their 1991 album Out of Order, Tia Carrere on the soundtrack to Wayne's World in 1992, and Christian rock bandCalibretto 13 on their album Enter the Danger Brigade in 2000. In 2016, The Struts recorded it for the soundtrack of film The Edge of Seventeen. In 2017, the Featherz covered the song on their debut album Five Year Itch.
The song has appeared in many movies, including Wayne's World, Bordello of Blood, Romanzo Criminale, Daddy Day Care and .
The song was featured in the BBC television series Life on Mars.
The words "she thinks she's the passionate one" from the song are dubbed into the Beastie Boys song "Hey Ladies".
Ohi Ho Bang Bang released a 12" single and a CD Video in 1988. "The Three" samples "Ballroom Blitz" extensively, especially the drumming from the intro.
The song was featured in a 2004 commercial for the Mitsubishi Galant.
It was in the official soundtrack of the Ubisoft game Shaun White Snowboarding.
The song is used in an episode of the cartoon Regular Show entitled "T.G.I. Tuesday" first airing on January 7, 2013.
The opening lyrics were parodied in The The's 1989 song, "Armageddon Days Are Here "
A cover version by the Struts is featured on the soundtrack of the 2016 film The Edge of Seventeen.
The opening lyrics are emulated in My Chemical Romance's 2010 song "Vampire Money"
The song was used as the replacement of Queen's "Seven Seas of Rhye" in the Borderlands 3 Official Cinematic Launch Trailer "Let's Make Some Mayhem" published in Borderlands YouTube account.
