Adam & the Ants
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genre(s)	New Wave Punk rock Post-punk Glam punk New Romantic
Years active	1977 - 1982
Label(s)	CBS Records Do It Records
Associated acts	Bow Wow Wow Adam Ant
Members
Adam Ant Marco Pirroni Gary Tibbs Terry Lee Miall Merrick
Former members
Lester Square Andy Warren Paul Flanagan Matthew Ashman Leigh Gorman Dave Barbarossa Kevin Mooney

Adam & 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".

Contents 1 History 1.1 Formation 1.2 Early Recordings 1.3 Dirk Wears White Sox 1.4 Kings of the Wild Frontier 1.5 Prince Charming 1.6 Music videos 1.7 Breakup 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.2 EPs 2.3 Singles 3 Awards 4 External links

History

Formation

Prior to the Ants, Adam Ant (real name Stuart Goddard) played bass in pub rock group Bazooka Joe, now primarily known as the band that headlined when the Sex Pistols played their first concert on November 6, 1975 at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. After witnessing this Adam immediately quit the band with the intention of forming his own, inspired by the Sex Pistols.

Tentatively called the B-sides they practiced regularly over the following months but, lacking a drummer, never managed to play a gig. Meanwhile Adam Ant had befriended some influential figures in the burgeoning London Punk scene, most notably Jordan, who worked in Malcolm McLaren's SEX boutique store. Auditioning members for a new band the Ants eventually formed in early 1977 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]

Early Recordings

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. Touring extensively around the Britain, often with Siouxsie and the Banshees, they proved to be unpopular with much of British music press who disliked their fetishistic lyrics and imagery. The band struggled to find success or even a record deal until 1978 when they were signed to Decca and released their first single Young Parisians to confused reviews and little success. Apparently unable to satisfactorily market the band the Ants were soon let go from the label. Many of their early recordings and demos would eventually surface on bootleg records. They also went through several line up changes before eventually settling on the semi-stable line up of Adam Ant (vocals) and guitar, Matthew Ashman (guitar), Andrew Warren, (bass) and Dave Barbarossa, (drums) It would be this line up that recorded their debut album. They also recorded three John Peel Sessions between 1978 and 1979 which were released on cd in 2001 on the The Complete Radio 1 Sessions cd.

Dirk Wears White Sox

Late 1979 saw 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, as well as attempts to fuse this sound with Funk and Soul. 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, 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 comprising guitarist Matthew Ashman, bassist Leigh Gorman and drummer Dave Barbarossa to leave the Ants and form Bow Wow Wow, fronted by Annabella Lwin.[2]

Kings of the Wild Frontier

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. 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).[3]. In addition, Antmusic made it to No.1 in Australia for 5 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".

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] "Ant Rap" reached #3 in January, 1982.[7].

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.

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(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).

Discography

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
1982	The Very Best of Adam and the Ants	33	-
2001	The Complete Radio 1 Sessions		-
2004	The Very Best of Adam and the Ants	33	-
2006	The Very Best of Adam and the Ants: Stand And Deliver	39	-

EPs

Year	EP	UK	US
	Adam and the Ants:
1982	Antmusic EP	46	-

Singles

Year	Song	UK	U.S.
1978	"Young Parisians B/W Lady"	-	-
1979	"Zerox B/W Whip in My Valise"	45	-
1980	"Cartrouble B/W Kick!"	-	-
1980	"Kings Of the Wild Frontier B/W Press Darlings"	48	-
1980	"Dog Eat Dog B/W Physical (You're So)"	4	-
1980	"Antmusic B/W Fall In"	2	-
1980	"Young Parisians B/W Lady"	9	-
1981	"Cartrouble B/W Kick!"	33	-
1981	"Kings Of the Wild Frontier B/W Press Darlings"	2	-
1981	"Stand and Deliver B/W Beat My Guest"	1	-
1981	"Prince Charming B/W Christian D'or"	1	-
1981	"Ant Rap B/W Friends"	3	-
1982	"The B-Sides"	46	-
1982	"Deutscher Girls B/W Plastic Surgery"	13	-

Awards

• 1982 BRIT Awards - Best selling album (for Kings Of The Wild Frontier)

External links

• Official website for Adam Ant
• Ant Liberation Front - Adam & the Ants Fan Organisation
• Miceinfreefall.com
• Punk webpage with information on early Adam and the Ants
• The Adam Ant Story by James Maw 1981, edited by Hellione Dec 1993