Adam and the Ants
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Dirk Wears White Sox -
The debut album
for Adam and the Ants gave them a strong cult
following but no commercial
success. Late 1979 saw the release of their
debut Adam and the Ants album Dirk
Wears White Sox (1979, Do It Records). The album and the
music was littered with post punk riffs and the
impression of glam rock. Lyrically it attempted to
address subjects such as fetishism, historical figures like
Hitler, JFK and Cleopatra as well as art history. It was a
cult success but not a commercial one. This
disappointment is one of the leading factors for Adam Ant
hiring Malcolm McLaren (manager of the Sex Pistols) as manager
for the band, in the hope of widespread
recognition. In January 1980 Adam Ant came to
rehearsals as usual. He thought it was strange as soon as he
arrived bec the other ants had all arrived early. Before the
session started drummer Dave Barbarossa came up to Adam and
told him he was leaving the band. Then, slowly, one by one,
the other members also told him the same story. It dawned on
Adam Ant then that it was actually Adam who was being kicked
out of Adam and the Ants. McLaren had convinced the rest of
the band that Adam wasn't a strong enough singer... He didn't
ride the beat enough and that's why Adam and the Ants was
doing so poorly. Adam stormed out of the session but not
before announcing to them, "I'm going but I'm taking the name
- Adam and the Ants - with me...". The now former
ants, Matthew Ashman (guitar), Leigh Gorman (bass) and
Dave Barbarossa (drums ) with Malcolm McLaren went on to form
Bow Wow Wow, fronted by Annabella Lwin.
Kings of the
Wild Frontier - The album, the sound and
the songs that started the Adam and the
Ants craze. "Antmusic for Sex
people". A new version of the Ants was formed
with Marco Pirroni (guitar), Kevin Mooney (bass guitar) and
two drummers, Terry Lee Miall and Chris Hughes (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. Adam had
begun to study the African percussive sounds and the hypnotic
tribal beats of some of the African tribes. He took that and
adapted it to the dual drummer setup they became famous for.
He also took the warrior theme and added to it the romance of
the pirate era. Fighting for the minority and the downtrodden
the forgotten and the abused, this was the warrior creed they
embodied and it was all too evident in the sounds and heavy
brum beats of the kings of the wild Frontier album. That album
was an enormous hit in the United Kingdom and put the band at
the forefront of the New Romantic movement. 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),
Antmusic (#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). In addition, Antmusic made it to No.1 in Australia
for five weeks. 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".
The Prince Charming
Album - The best and also the last
album for Adam and the Ants. Adam felt that other
members of the band lacked commitment and this
caused friction leading to the
breakup. In November 1981 Adam & the Ants
released another highly successful album, Prince Charming. The band had two UK
#1 singles. Stand and Deliver was the #1 single in the UK for
5 weeks in May 1981., followed by Prince Charming, which
topped the UK charts for 4 weeks in September 1981. Ant Rap
reached #3 in January, 1982. The band seized the opportunities
provided by music videos on the new MTV channel to develop a
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. The Prince Charming single was
produced with the video in mind. From the unusual opening
scream/chant to the dance moves and Dianna Doors, it was
highly commercial and the US loved it. The Prince Charming
Video follows the Cinderalla story with Adam Ant as a male
counterpart of Cinderalla. These videos helped break the band
in the United States when MTV began airing them. In early 1982 the band received a
Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist. In March of 1982
feeling certain band members 'lacked enthusiasm', Adam Ant
disbanded the group and launched a solo career (though he kept
Marco Pirroni as co-writer). In 2000 a number of "rare" versions of
early songs were released on a boxed set, Antbox, with moderate success. 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).
Adam Ant as Prince
Charming - All the makeup and the music
masked his inner
turmoil.
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