Action (Sweet song)

"Action"
"Action"
Single by Def Leppard
from the album Retro Active
B-side	"She's Too Tough" (Joe's demo); "Miss You in a Heartbeat" (Phil's demo);
Released	3 January 1994 (UK)
Recorded	1992–1993
Genre	Heavy metal; glam metal; speed metal;
Length	3:41
Label	Bludgeon Riffola
Songwriter(s)	Andy Scott; Brian Connolly; Steve Priest; Mick Tucker;
Producer(s)	Def Leppard
Def Leppard singles chronology

"Action"
"Action"
Single by Sweet
from the album Strung Up and Give Us a Wink
B-side	"Sweet F.A." (Europe); "Medussa" (US);
Released	July 1975 (UK)
Recorded	1975
Genre	Hard rock
Length	3:18 (single version); 3:44 (album version); 3:35 (Strung Up edit);
Label	RCA (Europe); Capitol (US);
Songwriter(s)	Andy Scott; Brian Connolly; Steve Priest; Mick Tucker;
Producer(s)	Sweet
Sweet singles chronology

"Action" is a self-written and produced 1975 song by British glam rock band Sweet.

Background

The song went through several iterations; a 7" single version was recorded at Ian Gillan's Kingsway Studios in London and slightly different versions appear on the albums Strung Up and Give Us a Wink.^{[citation needed]} The lyrics refer to Sweet's negative treatment as pop stars, particularly by the music press, and to the demands of the music industry. The track features a masked "backwards vocal" with the words "You kiss my arse".^{[citation needed]}

The first verse has a striking resemblance to the hard rock section of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was not released for another four months.^{[citation needed]} Lead singer Brian Connolly called it a "blatant rip-off".^{[citation needed]}

Chart performance

Weekly charts

The single reached No. 15 in the UK in July 1975, and went to the Top 40 in the US the following year.

Chart (1975)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)^[2]	4
UK Singles (OCC)^[3]	15
US Billboard Hot 100^[4]	20

Year-end charts

Chart (1975)	Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)^[2]	37

Def Leppard version

In 1993, English rock band Def Leppard covered "Action" on their album Retro Active. "Andy [Scott] said that our version of 'Action' was the best cover of a Sweet song he'd ever heard," noted singer Joe Elliott.^[6] The original 1992 recording, recorded before guitarist Vivian Campbell joined the band, was released as a B-side to "Make Love Like a Man"; the version featured on Retro Active and released as a single features a newly-recorded snare drum from drummer Rick Allen and additional backing vocals from Campbell and P.J. Smith. The single charted at number 14 on UK Singles Chart.^[7]

The music video was directed by Phil Tuckett from NFL entertainment. The approximate shooting date was between June and December 1993; in Sheffield, Ottawa, and Joe Elliott's home in Ireland. The band 'discovered' the masked backwards vocal on the original track and refer to it on the CD single cover.

Leppard's version reappeared on a special edition of their 2006 album Yeah!.

Track listing

CD: Bludgeon Riffola/LEPCD 13 (UK)/858 093-2 (INT)

"Action"
"She's Too Tough" (Joe's demo)
"Miss You in a Heartbeat" (Phil's demo)

Other cover versions

Raven on their 1981 album Rock Until You Drop
Black 'n Blue on their 1984 album Black 'n Blue
Vengeance Incorporated on their 1992 album Bad Crazy
Steve Stevens on his 1989 album Atomic Playboys
Nelson on their 1996 album Imaginator
Scorpions released it in German translation as "Wenn es richtig losgeht" on the B-side of the single "Fuchs geh' voran" (a translation of "Fox on the Run", also by Sweet)
Jon Mikl Thor once performed the song on The Mike Douglas Show^[8]
Burning Airlines recorded a cover during the sessions for their album Identikit^[9]

References

^ Popoff, Martin (January 5, 2024). "The Top 20 unlikely Progressive Rock hits, ranked". Goldmine. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
^ ^a ^b "National Top 100 Singles for 1975". Kent Music Report. 29 December 1975. Retrieved 15 January 2022 – via Imgur.
^ "UK Official Charts". Officialcharts.com. 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 821.
^ Hung, Steffen. "Def Leppard - Action". Hitparade.ch. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
^ Ling, Dave (July 2006). "The dirt: Joe Elliott". Classic Rock #94. p. 38.
^ "UK Official Charts". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
^ "?". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2016-01-21. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
^ "Action, by Burning Airlines". Burning Airlines. Retrieved 2023-08-14.