Adam & The Ants: "Kings of the Wild Frontier"

7 August 1980

"A record packed with activity and sounding like a new wave Indian war dance."

— Deanne Pearson

Between Deanne Pearson giving her thumbs up to "Kings of the Wild Frontier" in August, 1980 and Dave Rimmer making "Strip" his Single of the Fortnight right at the end of 1983, Adam Ant was on fire. He guided the Ants to seven Top 10 hits, including a pair of number ones, and then went solo and had three more big hits, with another chart topper added for good measure. Three number ones and ten Top 10 hits isn't exactly unprecedented but it's still very impressive and there weren't many people doing better. But both "Kings of the Wild Frontier" and "Strip" initially missed the Top 40; flops that bookend their imperial period.

Like virtually everyone of the time, Adam Ant came out of punk. He wasn't a punk in the conventional sense but that's probably for the best since orthodox punks tended to produce the least impressive music. Yet, his interest in fetish gear and S 'n' M lyrics had been a firm part of punk's early days being associated with Malcolm McLaren, Vivian Westwood and their famed London shop known as Sex. Siouxsie Sioux had managed to get away with looking like a dominatrix because that was what was expected of her; male punks were supposed to puke on stage, flash V signs and be ready for a scrap with the audience. Simon Price contends that The Ants were considered to be a "joke" in punk circles and at least part of this may simply be down to their desire to dress up like gimps and hardcore sex fiends.

'Dress up' is the optimal term here. Though they developed a loyal following, they weren't getting anywhere special in the late seventies and their record label Decca decided to drop them. They signed to an indie but not much changed. Then, McLaren swooped in and nicked the Ants away from Adam to form Bowwowwow. Deciding to go forward with a new line-up, Ant decided to change up their image and the Dandy Highwayman was born, albeit one that also incorporated Native American face paints into his image. Veteran 'Antpeople', as their fanbase had become known, reacted badly to this change because while dressing like Dick Turpin is clearly stupid, leather fetishwear is for real. Everybody knows that.

Boring old charges of selling out aside, his most loyal original followers must have known there was a fetching pop star hiding in there somewhere. Like Marc Bolan a decade earlier, you wonder what took him so long to figure this all out. Not especially handsome, he nonetheless had a face that a camera couldn't turn away from. Glam rockers were always able to cut a presence on stage and Ant is very much from this tradition.

The only thing lacking in this attractive package is quality music. I'm willing to acknowledge that Deanne Pearson isn't wrong about everything she has to say about "Kings of the Wild Frontier" only it sounds poorly recorded, the bass-heavy new wave sound has been done to death and Ant is a very workmanlike vocalist. (Did he ever need to be a good singer? Probably not but it still never helped his boring records) The single is one of his last with a real "punk" sound and, thus, could be a much more "authentic" document but, as I already suggested above, I tend to think it was all artificial.

So, what did people see in "Kings of the Wild Frontier" as a record free of Adam Ant's poses? Well, not much at first. Upon this release in August of 1980, it only peaked as high as 48 and wouldn't make it into the Top 10 for several months once the ball really got rolling. The foot stomping chorus that could've come straight out of a Slade song should've had instant appeal with kids in the UK of the time but it drifted away before the majority of them had the chance to give it a listen. With the likes of ABBA, Blondie and The Jam dominating the charts, there may not have been room for Ant even if he was trying to force his way in. Notably, it wasn't until that autumn that things began to change. "The Tide Is High" and "Super Trouper" were both dutifully taken to number one but without that same thrill of old. Paul Weller and his mates were done releasing singles from Sound Affects and were looking to go in another direction. The Police were on the rise by then but they were a bit older; Bucks Fizz had won Eurovision but they were appealing to a less discerning pop fan. Adam & The Ants suddenly had a void they were happy to fill.

As I've said before, you probably had to be there to fully appreciate Adam Ant's genius. I'm sure that seeing him strutting his stuff on Top of the Pops doing "Stand and Deliver" was a sight to behold that had the kids yammering away in awe the following morning on playgrounds all over Britain. I'm equally sure that critics — who otherwise may not have taken him seriously — appreciated having a media-friendly star who could sell magazines after years of punks giving flippant interviews. I'll even acknowledge his importance as a bridge from punk to the New Romantics and as the template of the pop star for the eighties (surely Boy George, the compelling figurehead in a band with three other members who were all much better looking, was paying attention). An important figure and a character that demanded attention; so much going for him. A pity I've never liked any of his actual music.

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Also Reviewed This Fortnight

David Bowie: "Ashes to Ashes"

Pearson infamously dismissed Dame David's latest single as a "strange choice for a single" and "not a hit". Imagine her surprise, then, when it shot to the top of the charts a little over two weeks after this issue of Smash Hits was published. It's tempting to belittle her lack of foresight but how was she to know? "Heroes" only got to 24 in the charts and it's a killer record, so how could she have predicted a number one from this one? And, hey, I lack taste as far as Adam Ant's discography is concerned so why shouldn't she fail to see what an astonishing single "Ashes to Ashes" is? Whatever, it ended up topping the charts for a fortnight and is still the Bowie record I'm most interesting in going back to. Impressionistic, sparse, immensely creative, sort of catchy but not quite the kind of thing you might sing along with, highly individual: all the elements that made him so special and very much missed. "Ashes to Ashes" is a monster and should easily have been this issue's Single of the Fortnight.

Adam Ant: "Strip"

8 December 1983

"Strange to relate, I rather enjoyed this one. Phil Collins does a nice production job with a jerky beat and minimal strings while Mr Ant sings the praises of taking one's clothes off. In fact, he positively encourages the practice."

— Dave Rimmer

I didn't make a lot of rules for myself when I was in the midst of getting this blog started about fifteen months ago but one that I have really tried to stick to is to never dismiss a song because I reckon it to be "dated". As I believe I've already mentioned, saying music hasn't aged well is usually impossible to prove, serves little purpose and is kind of a cop out argument. Okay, so an eighties record has fairlight synths and a LinnDrum machine on it and thereby it's dated — except for when it isn't. More importantly, I often find it's a point I make when I have absolutely nothing else to contribute in terms of criticism.

I'm going to toe ever-so close to breaking this rule of mine here, however, with my claim that you had to be there to appreciate Adam Ant. I'm sure that his fans in the early eighties still love his music to this day but I'm equally confident that they struggle mightily with passing this appreciation on to their children or other impressionable youths. I'm fairly confident that had I been born (a) ten years earlier and (b) in Britain I would have been a committed Antmaniac or, failing that, I would have at least understood just what everyone else saw in them. But I was born (a) in 1977 and (b) in Canada (where "Goody Two Shoes" was a Top 5 hit in the early part of 1983 but I was too busy prancing around our basement family room to the sounds of Sesame Street Disco to pay any attention to the charts) so his appeal goes right over my head. His hit singles aren't particularly exciting (some are downright boring), he isn't a great vocalist and I'm not sure I even find him an especially fetching frontman. (Although many a YouTube comment would indicate otherwise, is comparing the singer's swagger to Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow really even much of a compliment anymore?)

So, his records don't do much for me but that doesn't mean I don't hold our Adam in some esteem. His abrupt decision to turn his punk S&M Ants into a shameless cosplay pop outfit alone deserves praise from those of us who rolls their eyes at the mention of self-righteous complaints of indie folk who've "sold out". Here, he's all about flaunting seasonal conventions. Last week, we encountered Paul Young's ode to the virtues of poverty "Love of the Common People". Joining him were the likes of The Flying Pickets ("a pretty song", as Jools Holland describes it), The Thompson Twins ("a big hit": it probably didn't hurt that ver Hits chose to have it reviewed in two consecutive issues), Slade ("no hint of the old Slade") and ABBA with the  annoyingly self-congratulatory "Thank You for the Music". A fortnight forward and Dave Rimmer was tasked with sifting through slush from UB40 ("crisp but quiet"), Rod Stewart ("a typically dippy love song") and bouncy yet plodding hack work from Billy Joel. Yes, the race for the Christmas Number One was on and smooch-tastic weepies and/or slick pop-rock looked to be the best bets for the coveted spot.

Bless him, Adam Ant chose a different direction for his take on a holiday favourite. While the post-punk snotty attitude had largely been drained from his sound by this point — no doubt aided by having the in-demand Phil Collins doing production/session work as well as a guest backing vocal from ABBA's Anni-Frid Lyngstad — Ant couldn't help but be a giant perv, a quality he couldn't quite shake despite long ditching the fetish gear. That his nibs would've enjoyed a fair amount of rumpo with ver ladies is something he hardly kept secret in his videos but this one takes it one step further. While he and his belle never quite get round to removing all their clothes (had this vid been made a decade later we might well have been "treated" to a buttock or even a deft VCR-paused areola sunrise) all indications are it won't be long they're starkers. Not exactly what the public had in mind for an Antxmas and good on him for doing so. But while the lyrics and visuals are suggestive, the record itself isn't up to much and nowhere close to as sexy as he must've been hoping.

Having recently been a teen idol, Ant's fans had by now departed for Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet and Wham! and weren't going to have anything to do with "Strip". Slightly older listeners may have stayed out of loyalty but clearly not enough as it only managed the Christmas Number Forty-One spot. The Dandy Highwayman's days as a top flight pop prince were done but at least his streak ended with a flourish of activity, gunning for something which he couldn't quite pull off. And it's not like it was ever all that good so it's not like it's aged badly or anything.

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Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Dislocation Dance: "Show Me"

Rimmer's not overly impressed and I'm sure this was a none-too-special record back in the heyday of tidy eighties indie pop but it's a blinding banger to these ears in 2019. (I never said I may not describe a single as having 'aged well' did I?) Those Chic-esque chugging guitars were by this point more of a hallmark of the Rough Trade sound than their disco/funk roots and it wasn't as if having an angsty female vocalist was especially novel by this time. Still, "Show Me" is catchy and engaging and a welcome reminder that future James member Andy Diagram is a don of pop trumpet playing. There aren't a whole lot of other pop trumpet masters out there but I'm sure they go the jazz and/or classical routes because they know they'll never measure up.