Adam & the Ants

Who are Adam and the Ants?

From Wikipedia and used in accordance with fair use policy.

Adam and the Ants and their flamboyant frontman Adam Ant were a huge influence in the early 80s and are often thought of as a New Romantic group.

It comes as a surprise to many, then, that Adam Ant started off as a punk, in fact the Sex Pistols played the support act for his former band, Bazooka Joe.

This web-page will take you through Adam and the Ants short, yet theatrical musical career.

Through the line-up changes, Malcolm McClaren's influence and achieving number one status right through until the demise and Adam's solo career.

Adam and the Ants - The Early Days

Adam and the Ants front person was vocalist Adam Ant. Born Stuart Goddard Adam Ant was the bass player for Bazooka Joe when the Sex Pistols played their first concert in 1975. The Sex Pistols were actually the back up group for Bazooka Joe. Just after this concert Adam quit Bazooka Joe in order to form his own group.

He started a group called the B-Sides who were a wash out before he joined forces with Lester Square (guitar), Andy Warren (bass) & Paul Flanagan (drums) and Adam and the Ants were born. It was the beginning of 1977, by May the Ants had their first gig and also their first change of line up with Lester Square leaving before they performed.

Lester was to go on and form The Monochrome Set. The Ants' new guitarist was Mark Ryan, he too was replaced later that year and in October Johnny Bivouac became the latest Ants' guitarist.

Adam and the Ants - Radio 1 Recordings - John Peel Show

Adam and the Ants made their radio debut on Radio 1's John Peel show at the beginning of 1978. They also toured around the UK with punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees(see the above photo of Adam & Siouxsie on the road). They got their first record deal in 1978 when they signed with Decca (the label notorious for turning down the Beatles).

Their first single was "Young Parisians" and was a flop, after this the band were dropped by Decca and went through more line-up changes before settling on Adam Ant (vocals, guitar), Matthew Ashman (guitar), Andy Warren (bass guitar) & Dave Barbarossa (drums).

You can actually still get Adam and the Ants Complete Radio 1 Recordings on CD from Amazon.

Dirk Wears White Sox

Adam and the Ants First Album

In late 1979 Adam and the Ants released their first album (under the label Do It Records) called "Dirk Wears White Sox". The album gained a cult following and actually reached number 14 in the album charts, but Adam wasn't happy.

Dirk Wears White Sox

Malcolm McLaren's Influence

Adam Ant decided to reach out to Malcolm McLaren who had managed the Sex Pistols and see if he could get them more commercial success.

At this time the line-up comprised of Adam Ant (vocals, guitar), Matthew Ashman (guitar), Leigh Gorman (bass guitar) & Dave Barbarossa (drums). Malcolm McLaren convinced the band members (except Adam) to leave Adam and the Ants and form Bow Wow Wow. So much for helping them reach the level of stardom that Adam had been after.

He did however make some suggestions regarding the image and it is claimed that he is responsible for them wearing pirate inspired costumes for their next album.

Kings of the Wild Frontier - Adam and the Ants 2nd Album

Another new line-up ensued, this time however it would become even more successful. The line up was Adam Ant (vocals), Marco Pirroni (guitar), Kevin Mooney (bass), Terry Lee Miall (drums) & Chris Hughes (drums).

The band signed another record deal this time with a major label CBS Records who already had big acts such as ELO and Pink Floyd on their books. Their album Kings of the Wild Frontier became a number one hit in the UK and the Ants were on their way.

Kings of the Wild Frontier
With this album they embraced the beginnings of the New Romantic movement that was emerging in the UK with their flouncy pirate-inspired costumes, while still showing their punk roots with a kind of "glam punk" look. Adam sported a white stripe across his nose and this was soon being copied by boys across suburbia.

I can vividly remember going Christmas shopping with my brother who would've been about 11 and he came downstairs sporting "the stripe," I was mortified!!!

Prince Charming

Adam and the Ants - Album Number 3

Adam and the Ants released their next album in November 1981. Hits off of this album included "Stand and Deliver" and "Prince Charming" and continued to cement their chart success, with both of these going to the number one spot.

Prince Charming
The videos off of this album showed the band camping it up with Adam playing his version of Dick Turpin (Britain's infamous Highwayman) for the song "Stand and Deliver." The start of MTV came at the right time for the band as they hammed up for the screen which was what helped to get them noticed in the US.

They finally had the commercial success that Adam had craved when he had turned to Malcolm McLaren in 1980.

Adam and the Ants - All Over Now

In early 1982 Adam and the Ants were nominated for a Grammy for the category of best new artist, however by March they had disbanded. Adam decided to pursue a solo career and released "Goody Two Shoes" on his first solo album, although the single was credited to Adam and the Ants.

Journey's to Glory - Spandau Ballet

Journeys to Glory - Spandau Ballet

The dawn of the New Romantics began in the UK with the aptly named Journey's to Glory album from Spandau Ballet.   Journeys to Glory as a name really reflects how the New Romantic movement grew to have such a huge impact on the 80s music scene, it was also a great name for a debut album.

Spandau Ballet's Journeys to Glory album was released in the English spring of 1981 after the huge success of their debut single 'To Cut a Long Story Short' which was not only a cult dance club hit, but also made #5 in the UK pop charts during the winter of 1980.

If all you know of Spandau Ballet are their later offerings like True and Gold then you really do need to hear how they sounded at the beginning of their musical career.   If you remember the stylized cult sounding record and enjoyed the pretentiousness of 'the art of pretending it's art' then you will love to take a trip down memory lane with this album.

Not only was the music refreshing these five lads from Islington, London actually did something else unique with their first record - instead of signing with a record label, they created their own - Reformation.

Both Gary Kemp (songwriter and guitarist) and John Keeble (drummer) have been quoted over the years as saying that the name Reformation was chosen deliberately as they wanted Spandau's music to be all about change. Fast forward to the 21st century and Spandau Ballet have completed a world tour called the Reformation Tour, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Spandau Ballet's record making journey started with the aptly named album Journeys to Glory, so let's have a look at that album.

Journeys to Glory - The Songs

Track Listing

There were only eight songs on the album, three of them would become singles - To Cut a Long Story Short, Muscle Bound, and The Freeze.

1. To Cut A Long Story Short
2. Reformation
3. Mandolin
4. Muscle Bound
5. Age Of Blows
6. The Freeze
7. Confused
8. Toys

To Cut A Long Story Short

From Journeys to Glory by Spandau Ballet

To Cut A Long Story Short was Spandau Ballet's debut single and reached number 5 on the UK charts in 1980 (when it was released). To Cut A Long Story Short was a hit in dance clubs as crowds were moving away from the punk sounds of the late 70s and although they wanted a beat to dance to disco was dead. To Cut A Long Story Short was really seen as one of the first New Romantic singles to be released.

Journeys to Glory

The song is a great club song and I, personally, can't help singing along, however when you listen to the lyrics...........well look at this -

The song starts with the lines -

Soldier is turning
see him through white light
running from strangers
see you in the valley

And with lyrics like that it's hardly surprising that this next line is repeated throughout the song - to cut a long story short, I lost my mind.

Despite not really making a lot of sense it was exactly what the youth of Britain wanted in 1980 as was evidenced by the race up the charts and into the Top 10.

The Freeze

Second Single from Journeys to Glory by Spandau Ballet

The Freeze was released on 12th January 1981 as the second single for Spandau Ballet and it reached the #17 spot in the UK charts. If you don't know much about the history of Spandau Ballet let me explain their origins to you. Spandau Ballet were all members of a movement called the Blitz Kids and their music at this stage was still focused on what type of music the Blitz Kids would like.

The Blitz Kids became known as the Cult with No Name and were then given the label of New Romantics, the idea was that it was all about the look. In interviews over the years Gary Kemp (founder of Spandau Ballet) has admitted that they were basically hanging out in Soho posing. Now you know that the single The Freeze makes more sense (well sort of!)

The music video is very stylized and the boys are all seen to be posing while one of the (very few lines in the entire song) lines is the art of pretending it's art. I think when Gary Kemp wrote this song he was coming to the realization that if the band wanted to make it really big they would have to think further ahead than just catering to their own group.

Muscle Bound

From Spandau Ballet's Journeys to Glory Album

Musclebound was the third single off of Spandau Ballet's first album Journeys to Glory. In Musclebound songwriter Gary Kemp's words are sung really well with Tony Hadley's strong voice. The rest of the band also provides great backing in the song's chorus as well.

The song starts with - We're building fires that will burn until morning

And continues with the verse and then when you come to the chorus of the song –

Work till you're musclebound all night long
Work till you're musclebound all night long
Gotta work till you're musclebound all night long
Gotta work till you're musclebound all night long

The effect is more like a chant than the rest of the song which makes the whole single very interesting and different to the other songs on the album

Journeys to Glory

The Start of Spandau Ballet's Music Career

For a first album Journeys to Glory did well as it went gold which is what the young members of the band (the deal to make their first record was signed on Martin Kemp's 19th birthday) could only have dreamed of up to then.

The band's manager, Steve Dagger, was also very young and had been to the same school. It was with his vision, along with Gary Kemp's songs and the way the band performed together that would see them become a musical force to be reckoned with and it all started with this album!

S is for Spandau Ballet

As I'm sure I've eluded to in past blogs or probably just blurted out anyways - Spandau Ballet were my favorite group when I was growing up in the 80s and my wall was covered in their posters.

I would go all starry eyed over Martin Kemp and John Keeble - which one I preferred depended on what day of the week it was! As far as Spandau's music was concerned I loved all of their works from their early singles and first album - Journeys to Glory through to their hit album True and (of course) Through The Barricades, the title track of which was without doubt one of their best ever singles - it really is haunting.  I even liked their second album, Diamond, which was slammed by critics at the time.

Spandau Ballet's first album was Journeys to Glory and they tapped into the club culture with this album and it was an aptly named first album. Number one status wouldn't come until album number three which was actually referred to as the Pleasure Project although when it came to releasing it they called it True. When the single of the same name was released it hit a chord with lovers around the world and became one of the top wedding songs of the decade - oh and a number one single as well!

I wasn't allowed to go to one of their concerts until their Through the Barricades tour and I'm so glad that I was able to go to that one as it was the last tour they did together before breaking up. It was sensational, the music, the atmosphere I can really say that it was one of the best concerts that I went to as a teen.

When their reunion was announced and they said they were going to tour my hubby already knew that I would be going. Luckily for him they didn't do a show at Bournemouth where I had seen them previously and they also announced a worldwide tour. He did think that I would want to travel halfway around the world to see them (the problems with emigrating down under), I waited and read many reviews of their tour before seeing them on their Australian leg.

I was so lucky that I waited until they came 'down under' as they toured with Tears for Fears - another great 80s group and one that my hubby was also a big fan of. The night was fantastic and as my daughter had a sleepover we even got to have a lie in the next morning, life doesn't get much better :D

Did you like Spandau Ballet? What was your favorite single of theirs,mine has got to be Through the Barricades, but I did like them all!

N is for New Romantics

The New Romantics were part of the New Wave music movement of the 80s which started in London in 1980. They were a group of musicians who were brought up watching television and believing Andy Warhol's words that everyone would have their fifteen minutes of fame.   They wanted their 15 minutes and more, but they didn't want to be relegated to hearing their music on the radio they wanted to own the television sets and saw the 'whole look' of the band as being just as important as the sound.

The New Romantics evolved from the Blitz Kids in London and almost overnight similar groups were popping up in other parts of the country most notably a certain group of five guys in Birmingham who named themselves after an evil character from the movie Barbarella - yes I'm talking about Duran Duran!

The problem was that the New Romantics who were originally referred to as the Cult With No Name weren't easily categorized which meant that you had bands such as Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Human League, Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow all labelled as the same.

H is for Human & Heaven

For those of you who are new to this blog we're part of an A-Z Blogging Challenge where each day of April (except Sundays) we write a post on a different letter of the alphabet and today we've got up to the letter H.   As this is an eighties blog the H has to be related to something from the 80s and I've chosen to talk about two musical groups - Human League and Heaven 17.

There is actually a connection between these two groups, you see Martyn Ware and Ian Marsh were the founding members of both groups - did you know that?   The story starts in Sheffield Martyn, Ian and a third person -  Glen Gregory - were all at school together.   They were all friends who dreamt of being pop stars as many of us do.

Martyn & Ian founded a group called The Future and invited Glen to join them as they needed a singer, unfortunately (or fortunately as musical history would discover) he was unavailable and so they then asked a singer by the name of Phil Oakley to join them.   The Future would become the Human League.

After a difference of opinion Martyn and Ian left the Human League and this time their third friend Glen was available to join them and Heaven 17 was formed.

I'm really glad that things happened that way because one of my favorite 80s songs is Temptation which was Heaven 17's most commercial success, however I also love Human League and find it hard to pick a favorite out of their songs - Don't You Want Me, Mirror Man, Fascination....the list just keeps on going.

What is your favorite Heaven 17 and/or Human League song?

D is for Duran Duran

Okay so I can’t really do an A-Z challenge on an 80s blog without mentioning probably the most internationally successful New Romantic band – Duran Duran, but if you lived in the UK you believed that there were two huge New Romantic bands and you had to pick sides.   

The big two were Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran and I’m in the Spandau camp which was why when I emigrated ‘down under’ I had a huge shock as some of Spandau Ballet’s songs weren’t even heard of by many (gasp doesn’t really cover it).

I tried to explain to an Australian friend how Spandau and Duran Duran were just as big as each other in the UK during the 80s but he didn't get it until he watched an interview with Bob Geldof on the Live Aid DVD set.   The next day he saw me and was like - you know you were right with what you said about Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran.    I looked at him and thought 'I know I lived it, but why have you changed your tune'.   It turned out that Bob, being the sly dog that he is, asked Simon Le Bon (remember Duran Duran's lead singer) if Duran Duran would participate in Band Aid and when he hesitated to think about it he mentioned that Spandau Ballet had already said yes - Simon immediately said that Duran Duran would as well.   I don't know how true the story is, but my best friend when I was younger was a huge Duranie while I was a Spandau fan an d we tossed the pros and cons between 'our' groups constantly.

Back to Duran Duran they were huge and I can admit now that I’m in my 40s (haven’t the years flown by) that I liked their songs as well.   The line up was Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor and they were from Birmingham.   What I still find amazing is that they had three Taylors in the band and yet none of them were related - it must be a more common name in Birmingham than anywhere else!

In October 1980 as Spandau's first single was released they played in Birmingham and according to Gary Kemp's autobiography Duran Duran asked to play support - Spandau Ballet didn't have anyone playing support for them then so the answer was no.   A few months later in early 1981 Duran Duran's first single would be released and the rest is history.

Duran Duran's first single was Planet Earth and this cracked the UK's top twenty topping out at number 12, it was their 3rd single however that made every sit up and take notice - Girls on Film.   The single made number 5 in the charts, but then Duran Duran released the video.   The 80s saw the introduction of music video's being seen as just as important as the song and Duran Duran's Girls on Film video was scandalous and the sort of video that would have been played on the Playboy Channel back then.   The BBC quickly banned it which meant every young person saw it as censorship and wanted to know more about this band from Birmingham.

Duran Duran not only conquered the British youth, but ended up becoming the most internationally successful New Romantic band of the 80s.

I can’t think of a favourite Duran Duran song because as soon as I say Hungry Like  A Wolf then I’ll suddenly get Rio playing in my head  or Girls on Film, so I change my mind and what do you know I suddenly think of A View to a Kill or Is There Something I Should Know.

If you have a favourite Duran Duran song then leave it below.

A is for Adam Ant

This post is part of the A-Z Blogging Challenge that we’re participating for the month of April where each post has to start with a letter of the alphabet……in order!   I hope you’ll enjoy our alphabetical trip down memory lane to the decade that we just can’t forget – the 80s.

A is for Adam Ant as in Adam and the Ants, Ant Music and Ant Rap.   Yes, we’re heading back to the early 80s today for ex-punk rocker Stuart Goddard who we welcomed into the charts as Adam and the Ants.

Now I can’t actually remember the first Adam and the Ants record I heard on the radio, but I do remember the first time I saw the band on the television.   It was on Top of the Pops and if you grew up in the UK during the 80s this was compulsory viewing on Thursday nights.   The song they performed was Stand and Deliver – I loved it, although I’m not sure if Dick Turpin would’ve liked the camp version of a highwayman that Adam Ant seemed to have portrayed!

I coveted (and finally got) a flouncy shirt similar to the ones that Adam Ant wore along with other New Romantic bands, but I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that I never wore a white stripe across my nose……….my brother on the other hand (sorry little bro I’ve just sold you out).

What was your favourite Adam and the Ants song – let me know below in the comments, I’m not sure which one was my favourite.    Stand and Deliver and Prince Charming are always the first ones that spring to mind, but I think that Ant Rap was one of the first ‘raps’ that I learnt off by heart (apologies to all the rappers out there who are now gasping at my comparing Ant Rap to ‘real’ rap, but I liked it and it’s my blog!)   

Ant Rap was how I remembered the band’s names (at that time anyway) “Marco, Merrick, Terry Lee, Garry Tibbs and Yours Truly, in the naughty north and in the sexy south, we’re all singing I have the mouth……”

Adam and the Ant’s first album was released in 1979, but their biggest album had to be their third one Prince Charming which was released at the end of 1981, then after being nominated for a Grammy in 1982 it seemed that Adam and the Ant’s star had just been extinguished with the band breaking up.

We were all still happy that we weren't losing the music though because Adam Ant released a solo song – Goody Two Shoes.   I think everyone knew the words to that song –

“Goody two, goody two, goody goody two shoes,

Don’t drink, don’t smoke what do you do?

Don’t drink, don’t smoke what do you do?

Subtle innuendos follow

There must be something inside…..”

Adam Ant was going to be around forever, but no!   Almost as soon as his solo career started it stopped and the 80s rolled on without Adam Ant and his merry band of Ants!

Don’t forget to let me know your favourite Adam and the Ants song.

80s Music

I love 80s music, don't you? I can't decide what I prefer more the New Romantic sounds or the Soft Cell techno pop, the darkness of Depeche Mode's Blasphemous Rumours, the pop of Madonna, the dance sounds of both Michael and Janet Jackson, the power ballads, Bruce Springsteen.......I don't know where to start let alone where to finish!

What is 80s Music? is the start of my attempt to bring all of my 80s favorites together, it's a long way from complete, but I'd love your thoughts on it.

Watching all of the celebs bringing back the Wayfarers makes me think of Don Henley - hair slicked back and your wayfarers on (or words to that effect) and then hair slicked back is the girls from Robert Palmer's video.....who started this conversation!

Anyway - what is your favorite 80s song, genre or artist, don't leave me hanging here people!

New Romantics

You can't talk about 80s music without mentioning the New Romantics. The New Romantics was a mainly UK branch of New Wave music that began in 1979/1980 and really set the stage for the advent of MTV later on in the 80s. Bands such as Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Adam and the Ants and more all made up the movement that saw bands provide a complete package as opposed to merely music. Like David Bowie before them the New Romantics worked on their looks and performances as much as they did their sound.....and it seemed to work as 80s music will always be known for the effect the New Romantics had on it.

Let me know who your favorite New Romantic band were.