Teenage Rampage

"Teenage Rampage"
"Teenage Rampage"
Single by Sweet
B-side	"Own Up, Take A Look At Yourself"
Released	January 1974
Genre	Glam rock
Length	3:31
Label	RCA Victor
Songwriter(s)	Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman
Producer(s)	Nicky Chinn and Phil Wainman
Sweet singles chronology

"Teenage Rampage" is a 1974 glam rock song performed by English band Sweet.^[1]^[2]

Song history

The song was written by prolific songwriting duo Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.^[3]

It was released by (The) Sweet in January 1974 and reached number 1 in the Irish singles chart for two weeks in September 1974. It was also number 1 in West Germany and number 2 in Britain.^[4]

Reception

Gold Radio named it as Sweet's 6th best song, saying it "was inspired by the growing youth culture and rebellion in Britain at the time, and the lyrics express the frustration and anger of the teenagers who feel ignored and oppressed by the older generation."^[5]^[6]

Moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse wrote to BBC director-general Ian Trethowan to demand its immediate ban, saying it was "inadvisable in the present circumstances" for a song promoting teenage revolution to be played on the radio; the UK was experiencing a recession, industrial strife as well as the ongoing Troubles. Trethowan refused, saying that the song was harmless on account of being "totally empty of real content – like all too much pop music."^[7]

References

^ "Sweet's Platinum Rare 1 Brings Unreleased Tracks to Fans for the First Time on May 23". Thatericalper.com. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
^ "The Sweet Tour Dates". Yahoo Life. February 25, 2014.
^ Wroe, Nicholas (September 12, 2014). "That's neat: Chinnichap's blitz of 70s hits become a musical" – via The Guardian.
^ "BBC - Radio 2 - Documentaries - Chinnichap: The True Story of Glam". Bbc.co.uk.
^ "The Sweet's 10 greatest songs, ranked". Gold Radio.
^ Petridis, Alexis (June 5, 2020). "Steve Priest: the outrageous Sweet bassist who presaged heavy metal" – via The Guardian.
^ Hodgkinson, Will (September 20, 2022). "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep! Why singalong 70s pop was edgier than you think" – via The Guardian.

External links

Teenage Rampage on YouTube
Teenage Rampage at IMDb

[1] "Sweet's Platinum Rare 1 Brings Unreleased Tracks to Fans for the First Time on May 23". Thatericalper.com. Retrieved 26 May 2025.

[2] "The Sweet Tour Dates". Yahoo Life. February 25, 2014.

[3] Wroe, Nicholas (September 12, 2014). "That's neat: Chinnichap's blitz of 70s hits become a musical" – via The Guardian.

[4] "BBC - Radio 2 - Documentaries - Chinnichap: The True Story of Glam". Bbc.co.uk.

[5] "The Sweet's 10 greatest songs, ranked". Gold Radio.

[6] Petridis, Alexis (June 5, 2020). "Steve Priest: the outrageous Sweet bassist who presaged heavy metal" – via The Guardian.

[7] Hodgkinson, Will (September 20, 2022). "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep! Why singalong 70s pop was edgier than you think" – via The Guardian.

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v t e The Sweet
Brian Connolly Steve Priest Mick Tucker Andy Scott Frank Torpey Mick Stewart
Studio albums	Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be Sweet Fanny Adams Desolation Boulevard Give Us a Wink Off the Record Level Headed Cut Above the Rest Waters Edge Identity Crisis
Live albums	Strung Up Live in Denmark 1976 Live at the Rainbow 1973
Compilation albums	Gimme Dat Ding The Sweet's Biggest Hits The Sweet The Sweet Singles Album Strung Up The Golden Greats The Ballroom Blitz & More Sweet Hits Platinum Rare Action: The Sweet Anthology
Singles	"Funny, Funny" "Co-Co" "Little Willy" "Wig-Wam Bam" "Block Buster!" "The Ballroom Blitz" "Teenage Rampage" "The Six Teens" "Peppermint Twist" "Fox on the Run" "Action" "Love Is Like Oxygen"
Related articles	Discography Members
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