500 Singles - Numbers 4 and 5 - Adam & The Ants - Stand and deliver, Young Parisians

You have to have some sympathy for Adam Ant, the punk upstart who sought guidance from punk’s best known svengali, Malcolm McClaren, who promptly conspired with his group, The Ants, to sack their lead singer and become, essentially, Bow Wow Wow. Adam and his new Ants came out fighting though and for a brief period during the early 1980s became an act that were simultaneously mainstream and potentially disturbing at the same time. (Imagine 1 Direction being painfully open about their love of S&M and including tracks like ‘Mile High Club’ and ‘S.E.X.’ on their albums and you’ve got some idea of the balance of acceptability and danger that Adam had at the time). Adam’s rise was stratospheric, but his time at the top of pop’s tree was reasonably brief with not much to write home about outside his releases (and re-releases) in 1980 and 1981; Adam and the boys’ Christmas single in 1981 is one of the most excruciating ‘white people rapping’ songs you’re ever likely to hear, but if you were around at the time you’re highly unlikely to forget, courtesy of this single, that the group at the time consisted of ‘Marco, Merrick, Terry Lee, Gary Tibbs and Yours Truly’.

Andrew and I saw the ‘Prince Charming Revue’ at Newcastle City Hall and it was a memorable spectacle, walking the plank between punk, glam rock, theatre and pantomime. Sometimes it fell off.

 

Thanks for reading and, don't forget, my Kindle book is still available by clicking on this nifty little link;

The Great Cassette Experiment - The Joy Of Cassettes