Anyone else remember Adam & The Ants?

We had an "Adam Ant." Is this the same guy/group?

Adam Ant was solo by 1981 or so, and he lasted longer than the time frame you mentioned.

R1 yes, same performer.

1983

90s Adam

R1 yes. It was Adam & The Ants and the in 1982 he went solo. But it started off as a group

R2 Adam & The Ants (led by Adam Ant) lasted 4 years. Adam Ant then went solo and had his own career.

The timeframe I have had to do with the group, not the solo individual

I remember Adam & The Ants, but I have no recollection of "Prince Charming."

Awful song, cheesy dance moves, but nice VPL on Adam in his silvery breeches!

OP, we didn't have Adam in the states until he was solo and "Adam Ant."

Aside from a few college stations, most of us in the US didn't hear of Adam until "Goody Two Shoes."

MTV played a few of his older songs when Goody Two Shoes got big.

Adam Ant was so pretty. I was around 13 when Goody Two Shoes and Strip were getting tons of play on MTV and he definitely made me feel things.

He was cute, although Billy Idol was sheer sex in that same era.

Wasn't really impressed with the music of either, though.

R8 incorrect. Adam and the Ants “Stand and Deliver” entered the US dance charts in 1981.

Kings of the Wild Frontier was their best album. Great LP. The song “Antmusic” actually did get an little American radio play (I’m old enough to remember) and may have charted in the top 100 somewhere. And as someone mentioned above, they were in heavy rotation on pre-MTV late night music video shows because they were so visual and weird.

I was just entering my teens in the UK at the time, and for two years they were HUGE.

Kings Of The Wild Frontier was their best single.

The US version of KINGS OF THE WILD FRONTIER is slightly different than the UK version. It’s longer and has a few different songs, and (as a fan) in my opinion it’s better.

R12 glad someone else remembers them being on the US radio and MTV. R8 has it wrong. Their EP charted on the US dance charts and then Stand and Deliver charted in 1981, before he hit it big here with his solo debut.

MTV used to play a lot of unknown British artists in the 80s. That’s how some of them became known.

Adam's tight black leather 'highwayman' pants in the 'Stand & Deliver' video had quite the effect on me as a budding gayling.

Adam Ant (and his band the Ants) also go waaay back in the whole original UK punk/Vivienne Westwood/Malcolm McLaren/Bromley Contingent scene in London in the mid/late 70s.

The “tribal beat” sound of KOTWF was also used (stolen) from/by Bow Wow Wow and McLaren. All these people knew each other and were always using each other’s ideas (and of course they all stole it from African tribal music). Also the pirate clothes were a line designed by Westwood at the time.

Adam and the Ants even have an LP before that called Dirk Wears White Sox that’s reeeally weird and has no tribal beats.

And before that Adam was one of the stars of the Derek Jarman punk film Jubilee, which has much of that UK punk lot in it.

Adam Ant was huge on MTV. I remember the Ant Music video playing in heavy rotation in the channel’s early days.

Stop this concept of “stealing” music. Music is historically cross cultural and musicians were among the more harmonious artists as far as crossing racial lines. Taking a sound or beats and creating a new genre is a positive.

HUGE Adam Ant fan and hobby music historian here.

Adam Ant didn't "go solo" so much as Malcolm McLaren poached his band and his amazing, novel sound, and created Bow Bow Bow. He had asked McLaren, who had created the Sex Pistols, to manage the Ants. McLaren fucked him over.

If you read Adam's autobiography Stand And Deliver, you will learn that Adam went into a deep depression due to this betrayal. He had developed that sound and that band over a period of intense creative dedication and channelled ambition, and then wanker McClaren undermined everything Adam achieved to date.

Already prone to mental illness, Adam went to a dark place. Somehow he was able to come back from the brink of suicidality, marshall his resolve, get a new band together including guitarist Marco Pirroni who he remained creatively partnered with for the next 30 year, and he came back fucking swinging with his cock in his hand, recording the critically acclaimed album Kings of the Wild Frontier in 1980, which included hits such as Ant Music and Dog Eat Dog. He doubled down on that barundi sound, merged it with Marco's spaghetti western guitar riffs, and developed his most famous and beloved image and sound at this time as the Dandy Highwayman.

Then dropping "and the Ants," Adam released the album Friend Or Foe in 1982, which included the massive hit Goody Two Shoes. At this point Adam had become an international superstar and sex symbol.

Bow Bow Bow faded as fast as they appeared.

If it weren't for the crippling, crushing cycles of mania and depression that held Adam back from continued forward momentum, he'd perhaps have had even more longevity as well as more steady work as an actor.

Your timeline of Malcolm pilfering Adam and the Ants is correct. Thank you!

But I would hardly say Bow Wow Wow “faded as fast as they appeared.” They weren’t as successful as Adam, but they had a typical-for-the-era rise and fall timeline of releases, a hit or two, and tons of press. Plus they also ended up hating McLaren in the end and parted ways with him (that’s when their career tanked, actually, plus their main guitarist died).

Also, at the time, fans of Adam and the Ants tended to also be fans of Bow Wow Wow because they were so similar.

R20 you clearly aren’t a historian as your timeline is inaccurate. Adam & The Ants original lineup was broken up because the manager created Bow Wow Wow out of the other members, leaving Adam Ant alone. They got a new manager and created a new lineup. Bow Wow Wow was created before 1982.

It's funny because I have unbroken memory of Adam Ant from the time of Antmusic through the Goody Two Shoes/Desperate But Not Serious/Friend Or Foe era, through to the Strip video and album, through to him acting in movies and TV, through the Viva Le Rock album, Live Aid, the late-80s Manners and Physique era, through to his 90s "comeback" album Wonderful, though to his move to Tennessee, the birth of his daughter, and all of his bipolar antics which got plenty of press. I bought his book, and have kept up with his latest comeback era which includes a very terrible album and video for the song "Cool Zombie," and semi-consistent touring all through the 2010s until today.

For me, he never has gone away since 1980. I assumed it was like that for everyone, but I'm realizing that I always loved him and I must have been disposed to make the effort to keep up. The invention of the internet certainly made it possible to keep up with him. It would have been easy to forget about him if one were more of a casual observer of his music and if he hadn't made a certain impact on one's memory or soul.

I saw him live in 2014 in Boston. It was obviously not the same vibe as if I'd gotten to see him in his prime. But I was grateful for the opportunity. There were many, many zealous middle-aged American fraus there who apparently had maintained a crush on Adam And over the years. It was cute to see.

R20 is such a “fan” and “historian” that he got the timeline 100% wrong.

Wikipedia has it correct.

“Adam and the Ants were an English rock band that formed in London in 1977. The band existed in two versions, both of which were fronted by Adam Ant, between 1977 and 1982.

The first phase began when the band were founded in May 1977 and were called The Ants until November of that year. They later changed their style from punk rock to post-punk and new wave, and released one album. The final line-up of this version consisted of Dave Barbarossa, Matthew Ashman, and Leigh Gorman—all of whom left the band in January 1980 at the suggestion of manager Malcolm McLaren to form Bow Wow Wow.

The second version of Adam and the Ants included guitarist Marco Pirroni, and drummer-and-producer Chris Hughes, and was noted for its use of Burundi drums. This band existed from February 1980 to March 1982, and achieving major commercial success in the UK. With their music videos receiving airplay on MTV and Ant appearing as a guest VJ on the station, they are associated in the United States with the Second British Invasion.“

That's what I said, R22 R24. Bow Bow Bow was created in 1980 and that's when Adam re-created the Ants with Marco before dropping the "Ants" part in 1982.

Girls… Girls! You’re BOTH Fat Whores!

R25 what you said was that he didn’t go solo so much as being screwed by the manager. That would imply that the manager is why he “went solo” against his will. Only that isn’t true.

Him going solo in 1982 had nothing to do with what happened in 1980. In March of 1982 Adam Ant 100% did go solo. He is the one who disbanded the group.

Speaking of Bow Wow Wow - they made one of THE iconic Top Of The Pops performances.

I distinctly remember Annabella being the talk of the playground the day after.

I liked Cool Zombie. And the video. He got a lot of primo tail in his prime. If you're into girls

Trivia: the female spoken word bridge in Strip was done by Frida of ABBA as the song was recorded in ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm

[quote]If it weren't for the crippling, crushing cycles of mania and depression that held Adam back from continued forward momentum, he'd perhaps have had even more longevity as well as more steady work as an actor.

I had forgotten about him acting! I liked him in Slam Dance.

Yes, R30, and Phil Collins was the drummer on Strip, and produced the track!

He was fun in a Northern Exposure cameo.

My HS clique and I loved them so much. He spun off on his own and we saw INXS open for him in 1983. Both were really fun live. I love their weirdo pirate/Native American look and the gorgeous drumming.

R8

We loved them in TX before he was solo but Houston had good college radio so I guess that’s where we heard about them first.

Of course you horse

R11 most of Middle America didn't hear songs on "the dance charts."

Goody Two Shoes was the song that broke through.

R37 the charts are made up by what’s happening nationwide. It’s not a state to state thing. If you’re #38 on the dance charts that means you’re #38 in the country. Of course you’re Gonna be more popular in some places than others. That’s all genres of music.

You think midwestern people don’t dance? Oh honey. So uneducated with no culture.

I grew up in central Missouri and I remember seeing the Antmusic video on Friday Night Videos. And Stand And Deliver was all over MTV in 1981. I for sure was aware of him - already in love with him - prior to Goody Two Shoes.

Adam was my first celebrity crush as a teen. I would have bet everything I owned that he was a closeted gay. He seemed as blatantly queer to me as George Michael was. To this day I can't wrap my mind around the fact that he is by every account 100% heterosexual. For God's sake, he had songs titled "Miss Thing" and "Mohair Locker Room Pinup Boys"!

From the same album as R4's link, I liked his attempt at 90s dance pop. So dreamy.

I love "Rough Stuff" the song, but the video is horrendous. I have to watch through my fingers as I try to blot out the jockstrap-clad women and still allow my eyeballs to be available for the moments that Adam is on the screen

So freaking cute in this one. He's always been obsessed with sex and romance. But he finds ways to put a coy or humorous spin on it, unlike today's music which is humorless and graphic.

I worked with him on a photo shoot. He was a nice guy

Adam dated Jamie Lee Curtis for a short time in the early 80's.

[quote]Adam dated Jamie Lee Curtis for a short time in the early 80's.

Nobody's perfect.

I saw Adam and the Ants in 1981, it was at a pier in NYC and they arrived in a fucking pirate ship, cannons going off and all. I loved it, think they started off with Kings of the Wild Frontier.

My first ever "purchased with my own money" album was Adam & The Ants "Kings of the Wild Frontier". LOVED it. Got "Dirk Wears White Socks" soon after, and loved that too. Then "Prince Charming". Then all the rest. Was always a fan. Dressed up as him for Halloween one year when I was in college. Still love the song "Wonderful" (though I never really got into the rest of that album).

It's weird to me to hear people say they've never heard of the song "Prince Charming" or "Stand and Deliver" or any of the other songs that felt like they were EVERYWHERE in the 80s (thanks to MTV).

Jesus, R46 you were at that?!?! I have a vintage music magazine that has a whole photo spread of him based around the harbor and the ship and the NYC show. That was his big arrival in the States as a live act. He was a marketing genius. He used the pirate ship trope a few different times for photo shoots. Brilliant

The rockabilly vibe he had going on during the Vive Le Rock era of 1984-85 was sex on legs. He was beautiful, like a fucking Greek god. The quality of sound on this clip is not great, but the video is WOWZA! Instant arousal.

Holy shit! Thanks for sharing!… best band entrance.

*

My pleasure, R50! Here's a fun live performance of Apollo 9 on TOTP. I loved his brief theatrical astronaut-cum-Cassanova look. God I miss these days!

Remember the Prince Charming Review? Incredible performances from beginning to end. I love the theatricality. He did not do anything in half measures. Band was tight as fuck. And always, always shirtless for Physical (You're So). To this very day.

R50, I just realized you were probably talking about coming in on a pirate ship being the best band entrance ever. Sorry. And it is, you're right.

Blackfoot, Pawnee, Cheyenne, CROW!

Apache, Arapaho

He's part Romany

At one point in the 90s, Adam lived in my apartment building on the corner of Fountain and Crescent Heights. Would see him frequently at the elevator. Knew who he was. Never made a big deal about it.

He played a bad ‘un in an episode of the original Equalizer. A white slaver!

He remained extremely hot up until his major breakdown when he pulled the gun at a pub. Then he was put on Lithium and it destroyed his looks. Poor guy. It was a shocker when we all saw him going to court looking like a banker. He's since regained his slim frame, but now he's older and covered in tattoos and it's just not the same as that pristine beauty he had in his youth.

I remember an appearance on Solid Gold. Madam said that the only thing that could come between her and Adam Ant was a can of Raid.

Sexy MF

You all forget the excellent horror movie "Nomads" from 1986 that he was in with Pierce Bronson and Lesley Anne Down. It really holds up after all these years with it's atmosphere of dread. I had previously read the novel it's based on and its quite good and original.

Thanks for that r28…I’ve never seen that clip. Love that song. I had a friend who had an older brother who somehow always got UK imports, and we wore that Bow Wow Wow album out (and Adam Ant ones)

The UK charts in the 80s were much more interesting than the US charts.

Didn't he have some sort of psychotic incident on a public street in London and have to be carted off to the Booby Hatch?

^ That was Prince Andrew.

I saw him for the "Strip" concert tour. I swear to god, INXS opened for him.

Op duh

Of course I'm not jealous, R66. Why on earth would I be jealous?

Adam Ant was in an episode of Tales From The Crypt with Blythe Danner in the early 90s. He's supposed to be dorky or weird or something, but he's so freaking handsome. However, he does act like a super creeper in this, he pulls that off very well.

This takes me back. As an NYU Freshman - young, gay and living in the Village in 1981 - I remember finding KINGS OF THE WILD FRONTIER at St. Marks SOUNDS used record shop. I played this album 'til it was worn down. I thought he and the music was hot af.

Charlene had a bigger career here in the US. To be fair though she did a lot of drinking and smoking. Plus she would do other things.

R66

Yes! I saw them on that tour at the Houston Coliseum? It was downtown so I don’t think it was Hofheinz Pavilon. Whatever, it was a smallish venue and we were third or fourth row. Spectacular!!

I was Adam Ant at Radio City in 1984 for the Strip tour. The Romantics opened.

That banker photo is from 2008 when he was appearing at court. Apparently he toured last year in the U.K. However he's giving Landon Cider a run for his money:

He and Jamie Lee loved to be seen at many NYC restaurants, The only problem was, Adam was a shitty tipper.

He we dated Amanda Donohoe who appears as the lady in the carriage in “Stand and Deliver”. Gorgeous couple!

I was Adam Ant every year for Halloween until people started asking who I was.

Loved all of it.

James Franco as Adam Ant in a pictorial for British GQ in 2011.

Apparently this happened because Adam had been talking about creating a biopic in interviews around this time, and mentioned Franco as someone he thought could play him.

Adam Ant and the Boss, Miss Ross, gettin' down at the Motown 25 special in 1983.

r76, so he dated a female version of him. She was fantastic in, "Lair of the White Worm".

At some point during the 1984 Strip tour Adam began to morph into the next version of his look, anticipating the rockabilly hair of his Stip's successor, Viva Le Rock. I've seen (terrible) footage of that part of the tour and he looks hotter to me then than at any other time of his life. Is that what you saw?

Also it was the best band, so good!! He had brass players for that tour

My comment at R81 was meant to be addressed to R73!

Are there any pix of Adam's dick out there?

He also dated Heather Graham

Adam was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 2002. The hospital was the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, near to where Adam lived at that time. I actually saw him in the ward, I was a social worker and visiting a client. Security was strict as the press were hovering around the hospital. He was reading a bunch of fan letters whilst eating his lunch. He was using a spoon to eat and kept missing his mouth I remember, it was very sad.

He was in there for a few days before being whisked off to a private facility.

Is he still in the private facility?

[quote]Is he still in the private facility?

If he'd been in a psych ward for the past 20 years don't you think we'd have mentioned it by now?

Teen Adam

My older sister went to see him in 1983.

She came to my Catholic elementary school to pick my sister and I up one day, wearing his tour shirt-an image of him, shirt open, with pants barely hanging onto his hips.

Sister Madeline and Sister Monina were not impressed .

I used to work for the man who played the trumpet in the band. That's some kind of weak claim to fame I guess.

Actually credited with vocals too, he had some great tales of the recording sessions in Nassau, at least I remember them as being great but it was a long time ago now and he talked more about his mate Paul Young and their exploits.

R12, he performed that album in full on tour in 2017. I never had the chance to see him back in the day and was surprised how good he sounded that late in his career.

I loved Adam & The Ants! They were in HEAVY rotation on KROQ 106.7 (Los Angeles) in 1981.

At the end of each year, KROQ had a countdown of the top 106 most requested/played songs. Adam & The Ants landed five songs in the 1981 countdown (Antmusic #2) -- more than any other group/artist except The Go-Go's (who also had five).

Thank you R88!! I have never seen Jubilee, you'd think as an Ant Fan I would have gotten around to it at some point. That was super interesting!

I bought Dirk Wears White Sox later, after I owned the Wonderful album. I was super into it, although I prefer the music that came later. I still found Xerox Machine and Car Trouble to be absolute bangers. But I never could quite square that version of Adam Ant with the Dandy Highwayman.

He was ALWAYS an actor. I think, in some way, he was a born actor. His theatricality was always front and center, as well as his cheekiness in all of his videos. He never just sang in his videos. Always there was acting. I know he had aspirations to take his acting career further, but alas.

I love him so much.

Johnny Depp took over Adams look

Johnny Depp WISHES he took over Adam Ant's look, R95

Yes, R84, the song Wonderful was written about Heather Graham. She was 15 years younger than him and he was in the throes of mental illness throughout their four year relationship. He wrote about it in his autobiography but I feel like Heather hasn't opened up much about the relationship.

I bet she saw some shit.

I’d say Adam Ant has aged better than Johnny Depp, for sure.

I thought in the early 80’s he was also romantically linked to British actress Caroline Munro. I know she was in some of his videos, but I think that was because they had been dating.

All these stupid videos were so much fun. Miss them.

Adam is nearly 10 years older than Johnny Depp. And arguably did as many drugs in his youth and got really large from psyche meds and he still looks so much better. I'd still fuck him

Adam Ant was straight edge, i.e. stone cold sober all throughout the primary years of his career and all the way up until fairly recently, R101. He claims that he never drank nor smoked until he turned 60 and finally decided, fuck it. In his prime, he wrote about comparing himself to a prize fighter or an elite athlete, and treating his body accordingly. He was a purist and he would get extremely annoyed by people who were into partying.

R101 That is definitely not true. Please do some research before posting such crap.

Adam and the Ants appeared on "American Bandstand". I nearly wet my knickers, I did.

If I had this on VHS when I was a teen, I would have never left my room.

"Kings of the Wild Frontier" from "Marie Antoinette" (with Jamie Dornan) was one of the hottest sex-scene song choices in recent memory.

When I was 'into' him in the early 80's (I was in college and was 19 or 20), I just assumed that he was gay. He was just too hot and animalistic not to be.

As I got older and learned that he was straight - I was so disappointed.

Same, R107. Same.

Concert last year, he's doing just fine and dandy for 68!

R109 he looks strange but still fine at the same time