Adam & the Ants
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Adam and the Ants
<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information
<tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg London, England</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">New Wave |
Adam and the Ants were a new wave band during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were one of the bands at the time that marked the transition from the 70s punk rock era to the new-wave post punk-music era. Although the band started off with a punk-influenced sound, it soon moved on to new wave motivated by new sources such as the drum-heavy "Burundi Beat" heard on "Dog Eat Dog".
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[edit] History
Led by Adam Ant (real name Stuart Goddard), the band formed in 1977 in London, England, consisting of Lester Square (guitar), Andy Warren (bass guitar) and Paul Flanagan (drums). They played their first gig on may 5, 1977 at Muswell Hill.[1]
The band made their radio debut on the John Peel show on January 23, 1978. The following day they recorded Deutscher Girls and Plastic Surgery for the Jubilee Soundtrack.
Square was replaced by Mark Gaumont early in the band's career, before the release of their debut album Dirk Wears White Sox (1979, Do It Records). The album was somewhat dark, with post punk riffs and some vestiges of glam rock and was a cult, rather than commercial success, leading a frustrated Adam to hire Malcolm McLaren (manager of the Sex Pistols) in the hope of more widespread recognition.
In January 1980 McLaren convinced the rest of the band, then comprised of guitarist Matthew Ashman, bassist Leigh Gorman and drummer Dave Barbarossa to leave the Ants and form Bow Wow Wow, fronted by Annabella Lwin.[2]
[edit] Kings of the Wild Frontier
A new version of the Ants was formed by Marco Pirroni (guitar), Kevin Mooney (bass guitar) and two drummers, Terry Lee Miall and Merrick. Pirroni would become an influential member of the group, co-writing many of their songs with Adam Ant.
The band signed a major label deal with CBS Records and began recording Kings of the Wild Frontier. That album was an enormous hit in the United Kingdom and put the band at the forefront of the New Romantic moment. The album reached #1 on the UK album charts on January 24, 1981.
There were several hit singles from this LP, including Dog Eat Dog (reaching #4 on the UK singles charts in October 1980), Ant Music (#2 in January 1981),which was only held off of number 1 due to the re-release of Imagine after the death of John Lennon, and Kings of the Wild Frontier (#2 in March 1981).[3]. In addition, Ant Music made it to No.1 in Australia for five weeks.[4]
Bassist Kevin Mooney left the band in 1981, and was replaced with Gary Tibbs who joined just in time to record the hit single "Stand & Deliver".
[edit] Prince Charming
In November 1981 Adam & the Ants released another highly successful album, Prince Charming. The band had two United Kingdom #1 singles. "Stand and Deliver" was the #1 single in the UK for 5 weeks in May 1981.[5], followed by "Prince Charming", which topped the UK charts, for 4 weeks in September 1981. [6] "Antrap" reached #3 in January, 1982.[7].
[edit] Music Videos
The band seized the opportunities provided by music videos on the new MTV channel to develop a theatrical, charismatic onscreen persona. With romantic costumes and heavy make-up, the band was an early example of the New Romantic movement, with contemporaries such as Duran Duran. Lavish videos were produced for the Prince Charming singles, including Stand and Deliver, Prince Charming, and Antrap. In the Stand and Deliver video, Adam Ant is dressed as a "dandy highwayman" and generally indulges his exhibitionist tendencies. These videos helped break the band in the United States when MTV began airing them.
[edit] Breakup
In early 1982 the band received a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist.[8]. In March of 1982 feeling certain band members 'lacked enthusiasm', Adam Ant disbanded the group [9] and launched a solo career, albeit keeping Marco Pirroni as co-writer.
In 2000 a number of "rare" versions of early songs were released on a boxed set, IAntbox,, with moderate success. In 2004 and 2005 Sony remastered and reissued all of Adam Ant's CBS releases.
2004 saw the re-release of the albums "Dirk Wears White Sox", "Kings of the Wild Frontier" and "Prince Charming" as "digitally remastered" and with bonus material in the form of previously unreleased demo and writing tape songs. These were overseen by Marco Pirroni and "Kings of the Wild Frontier" and "Prince Charming" were remastered by Chris Hughes (a.k.a Merrick in the band's line-up).
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | UK | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam and the Ants: | |||
| 1979 | Dirk Wears White Sox | 16 | - |
| 1980 | Kings of the Wild Frontier | 1 | 44 |
| 1981 | Prince Charming | 2 | 94 |
| 2004 | The Very Best of Adam and the Ants | 33 | - |
[edit] EPs
| Year | EP | UK | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam and the Ants: | |||
| 1982 | Antmusic EP | 46 | - |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | UK | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam and the Ants: | |||
| 1978 | "Young Parisians" | - | - |
| 1979 | "Zerox" | 45 | - |
| 1980 | "Dog Eat Dog" | 4 | 15 |
| 1980 | "Antmusic" | 2 | 14 |
| 1980 | "Young Parisians" | 9 | - |
| 1981 | "Cartrouble" | 33 | - |
| 1981 | "Kings Of the Wild Frontier" | 2 | - |
| 1981 | "Physical (You're So)" | - | 19 |
| 1981 | "Stand and Deliver" | 1 | 38 |
| 1981 | "Prince Charming" | 1 | - |
| 1981 | "Ant Rap" | 3 | - |
| 1982 | "The B-Sides" | 46 | - |
| 1982 | "Deutscher Girls" | 12 | - |
