Rocktober Deep Cut S: "Hell Raiser" by Sweet

Halloween week is upon us, which means the rest of the Rocktober deep cuts will feature songs with evil, dark, or demonic themes or song titles.

For "S," I'm going with '70s British glam band, Sweet (or sometimes called "The Sweet").  From 1971 to 1978, Sweet racked up an impressive roll of hits.  While they were more popular in their native UK (15 UK Top 40 hits, including ten in the Top 10 and one #1), I was surprised to see that they had a considerable amount of chart success here in the US as well.  Nine of their songs made the Billboard Hot 100, with five Top 20 songs and four Top 10 songs ("Little Willy" (#3), "Ballroom Blitz" (#5), "Fox On The Run" ("#5), and "Love Is Like Oxygen" (#8)).

One of the songs that either wasn't released as a single in the US or just didn't chart was "Hell Raiser," a non-album single released in 1973.  The first time I heard the song was a version Def Leppard put on their 2006 album Yeah!, which featured covers of '70s rock songs.  Their cover of "Hell Raiser" also featured Darkness lead singer Justin Hawkins on backing vocals.  I liked the song, so I checked out the original version (which is apparently hard to find in the US), and I liked it as well.  It's a great example of '70s glam rock:  hard rocking, catchy, high-pitched vocals.  And, of course, as evidenced by the cover of the 45 single, Sweet dressed the part.