Ultimate 80s Music: Holy Jubilee! It's Adam and the Ants

This week, I'll be covering the British rock band, Adam and the Ants, followed by Adam Ant as a soloist. Because there is so much information about this band, I will explain the basic information about them and send you links to do more research.

I became instantly prepared to make this last week but the post was delayed a due to lack of organization and time.

But nonetheless, here it is!

About Adam Ant

Name: Stuart Leslie Goddard

Born: November 3, 1954

About: Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of the group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist. He scored 10 UK top ten hits from 1980-1983, including three number 1 hits. Ant was also popular in the United States, and once voted the sexiest man in America by the MTV viewers. He was also an actor, appearing in over two dozen films and television episodes from 1985-2003. As of 2010, Ant had returned to the music business by performing live regularly in London and beyond, recording and releasing a new album and with three full-length UK national tours, a US national tour and a short Australian tour, all now completed.

Early Life and Childhood: Adam (Stuart Goddard) was born an only child in Marylebone, London. He is on Romani descent. His maternal grandfather, Walter Albany Smith, was Romanichal. His home had two rooms in De Walden buildings, St John's Wood. In other words, he lived in a two-room house, apartment, or building in general. It was good enough to get by, no luxuries, but plenty of food. His dad, Leslie Goddard, worked as a chauffer and his mum, Betty Kathleen Smith, was a domestic cleaner, briefly working for Beatle Paul McCartney. His parents divorced when Stuart was only seven years old. His first school was Robinsfield Infants School, where he once threw a brick through one of the head-teacher's office windows. (Man he was such a bad boy.) As a result, he was put under the supervision of teacher Joanna Saloman who encouraged him to develop his artistic ability. He continued to attend Robinsfield and later got accepted into St Marylebone Grammer School (which I think is middle school or high school) where he later became an A student. Goddard attended Hornsey College of Art to study graphic design and for a time was a student of Peter Webb. He later dropped out of Hornsey to get into the music business.

For more information on his solo career, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Ant

About Adam & The Ants

Artist/Band: Adam and the Ants

Genre: Post-punk, New Wave, New Romanticism

From: London, England

Years Active: 1977-1980, 1980-1982

Label(s): CBS, Do It, Decca

Band Members:

Original:

Adam Ant (Stuart Leslie Goddard),
Andy Warren - bass guitar
Paul Flanagan - drums
Lester Square - guitar

Official:

Adam Ant - vocals and guitar
Matthew Ashman - guitar
Andy Warren - bass guitar
Dave Barbe - drums

Rest of the former members:

Mark Ryan
Dave Barbarossa
Johnny Bivouac
Leigh Gorman
Marco Pirroni
Kevin Mooney
Terry Lee Miall
Chris 'Merrick' Hughes
Gary Tibbs

Band members of his solo career:

Dual drummers: Bogdan Wiczling and Barry Watts,
Guitarist: Cha Burns,
Bassist: Chris Constantinou
Trumpeter: Tony Hughes
Saxophonists: Stewart van Blandamer and Steve Farr

About:

Adam and the Ants were a British rock band from the late 1970s through the early 1980s.

Adam Ant played bass in the pub rock group, Bazooka Joe, which became known as the band that headlined when the Sex Pistols played their first concert on November 6, 1975 at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. After seeing this, Adam quit the band to form his own band, called the B-Sides.
The B-Sides practiced regularly over the following months, but since they lacked a drummer, they could never play live at a concert. Meanwhile, Adam had befriended Pamela Rooke aka Jordon, who worked with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's SEX boutique shop (don't ask what it means). The Ants formed in early 1977 consisting of Lester Square, Andy Warren, and Paul Flannagan.
Lester left to finish art school and later formed the Monochrome Set just days after the Ants performed their first gig on May 5, 1977 at a bedroom in Muswell Hill. Mark Ryan replaced him on guitar and played at gigs like the one at the ICA in London on May 10, 1977. In early June, Flanagan left the band and was replaced with Dave Barbarossa and the resulting members recorded "Plastic Surgery" and featured in the film Jubilee as the band of Adam's character Kid, until Ryan was replaced by Johnny Bivouac in October 1977.

The original group members of Adam and the Ants, who formed the band became notable as a cult band from the punk rock era to post-punk and New Wave era. They were also noted for their "sexualised" stage performances on tour and the use of Burundi drums. Members Dave Barbarossa, Matthew Ashman and Leigh Gorman left the band in January 1980 to form the group Bow Wow Wow. Guitarist Marco Pirroni and drummer/record producer Chris Hughes were active in February 1980 until they left in March 1982. The band, regardless of band line-up change, was successful, thanks to lead singer and songwriter Adam Ant. John Peel show, January 23, 1978, the band recorded a live version of the song "Lou" featuring their manager, Jordon on vocals. The next day, The Ants re-recorded "Deutscher Girls" and overdubbed a guitar solo onto the re-recording of "Plastic Surgery" for the Jubilee soundtrack album, released of April of that year. The two tracks mentioned were featured on the group's vinyl debut. Touring in the UK, they proved to be very unpopular with much of the British music press who disliked their fetishistic lyrics and imagery. To get back, the Ants formed a rapport with punk fanzines like "Ripped and Torn", which gave them more courage and strength to keep trying. They struggled to find a record deal because of their unpopularity, but they eventually were signed to Decca by 1978. After releasing their first single, "Young Parisians", Decca let the Ants go and they later signed a deal with Do it and CBS and had success releasing albums, mentioned below this paragraph. In early 1982, the band received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best New Artist" and by March 1982, the band felt like they lacked enthusiasm and so Adam Ant disbanded the group.
After Adam Ant disbanded his band, he went solo, taking his song writing partner Pirroni with him. Merrick also stayed briefly as a drummer/producer for the UK release of his first single "Goody Two Shoes" and demos for (what was at the time an upcoming album) Friend or Foe, before moving on to other production work while Miall and Tibb's contracts expired.

Albums with the Ants:

Dirk Wears White Sox (1979)
Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980)
Prince Charming (1981)

Singles the band released:

"Lou" - John Peel Session, 1978
"Deutscher Girls" - Jubilee, 1978
"Plastic Surgery" - Jubilee, 1978
"Young Parisians" - Single, 1979
"Zerox" - Single/Dirk Wears White Sox?, 1979
"Cartrouble Pt. 2" - Single/Dirk Wears White Sox?, 1980
"Kings of the Wild Frontier" - Kings of the Wild Frontier, 1980
"Dog Eat Dog" - Kings of the Wild Frontier, 1980
"Antmusic" - Kings of the Wild Frontier, 1980
"Stand and Deliver" - Single/Prince Charming, 1981
"Prince Charming" - Prince Charming, 1981
"Ant Rap" - Prince Charming, 1981

After hearing the John Peel session track version of "Deutscher Girls" on Marc Riley's show on BBC Radio 6 Music on March 18, 2013, I couldn't wait to post these video:

Adam and the Ants - Stand and Deliver (1981)