Just real quick guys, I wanted to let you know that on April 5, 2013, the English synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark released their new album "English Electric". Although I never listened to it yet, hopefully it's something worth checking out when I have the free time.
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.
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)
Adam Ant - Goody Two-Shoes (1982)
*Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, and http://adam-ant.net/.*
Today I am taking a break from my weekly New Wave posts to bring you guys some exciting news:
The pioneers of the punk rock and new wave era, Depeche Mode will be performing Live on David Letterman tonight.
Quick bio: DM (short for Depeche Mode) are an English electronic band (originally an electronic and new wave band), formed in 1980 is Basildon, Essex. The original group members were Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher, & Vince Clarke. Unfortunately Clarke left the band and Alan Wilder took over after they released their 1981 debut album, "Speak and Spell". Wilder also left by 1995 and Depeche Mode were officially a trio. To sum it up, they formed in 1980, went from being a group of four to a trio, and are still making records today. So far they've made and released twelve albums and their newest album, "Delta Machine", which features their new single "Heaven", is their latest project and it will be out in spring 2013. This will make it thirteen released albums.
According to http://depechemode.tumblr.com, the band will perform on "Live On Letterman" online at cbs.com and VEVO at March 11, 2013 (8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific). Afterwards, they will make a rare U.S. TV appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman" that same night at 11:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS3.
Here are the links to watch the web cast. You may choose either one, although I prefer the use the first one:
For those who read my blog or follow news on Depeche Mode, thank you for watching "Live on Letterman" that night. And if you stayed up late to watch the Late Night Show with David Letterman, thanks just the same. If you missed it however, you may click the link here:
ABCDEFG, here is a post to you from me...Martin Fry and the band ABC.
Artist/Band: ABC
Genre: New Romanticism, New Wave, Synthpop, Sophisti-pop, and Pop Rock
From: Sheffield, England
Years Active: 1980-present
Label(s): EMI, PolyGram, Neutron
Band Members:
Current Members: Martin Fry (currently)
Touring Members:
Matt Backer - lead vocals (1980-present)
Rob Hughes - saxophone - (2008-present)
Andy Carr - bass (2008-present)
Lily Gonzalez - percussion - (2008-present)
Steve Kelly - keyboards (2008-present)
Richard Brook - drums (2009-present)
Former Members:
Mark White - guitar, keyboard (1980-1992)
Stephen Singleton - saxophone - (1980-1984)
Mark Lickley - bass - (1980-1982)
David Robinson - drums - (1980-1982)
David Palmer - drums - (1982, 2004-2009)
Alan Laramee Taylor - bass - (1982, 1985-1987)
Alan Spenner - bass - (1983, died 1991)
Andy Newmark - drums - (1983)
Fiona Russell-Powell - vocals - (1985)
David Yarritu - vocals - (1985)
Glenn Gregory - vocals - (1995-1997)
Keith Lowndes - guitar - (1995-1997)
About: ABC are an English New Wave band that released and charted with ten UK and five US Top 40 singles between 1981 and 1990. The band currently consists of Martin Fry, although the rest of the original band members either passed away or retired. Some are touring members and one-time members, even recurring members (list of members above). They started out as a band called Vice Versa until Martin Fry interviewed them and they offered him to join their group. They released a good number of singles and albums, but went on hiatus until the late 90s and released comeback albums. The band continues to tour and their recent album from 2008 is called Traffic.
Formation: ABC were originally a band called Vice Versa, which formed in 1977 in Sheffield, England. The members who formed the band were Stephen Singleton, Mark White and David Sydenham. They founded their own label, Neutron Records, releasing the EP called Music 4. They had a similarities to The Human League, whom they supported back in 1978. Martin Fry, who at the time wrote the fanzine, Modern Drugs, interviewed the band and shortly later, the band members of Vice Versa asked him to join the band as a synthesizer player. Fry accepted. Soon the band evolved into ABC, with Fry becoming the official lead singer.
Albums: The Lexicon of Love Beauty Stab How to Be a Zillionaire! Alphabet City Up Absolutely Abracadabra Skyscraping The Lexicon of Live Look of Love - The Very Best of ABC
Traffic
Singles:
"Tears Are Not Enough" - UK Top 20 - 1981
"Poison Arrow" - The Lexicon of Love - 1982
"The Look of Love (Part One)" - The Lexicon of Love - 1982
"All of My Heart" - The Lexicon of Love - 1982
"That Was Then But This is Now" - Beauty Stab - 1983
"S.O.S." - Beauty Stab - 1983
"Be Near Me" - How To Be A Zillionaire! - 1985
"(How to Be a) Millionaire" - How To Be A Zillionaire! - 1985
"Vanity Kills" - How To Be A Zillionaire! - 1985
"Ocean Blue" - How To Be A Zillionaire! - 1985
"When Smokey Sings" - Alphabet City - 1987
"The Night You Murdered Love" - Alphabet City - 1987
"King Without a Crown" - Alphabet City - 1987
"One Better World" - Up - 1989
"The Real Thing" - Up - 1989
"The Look of Love '90" - "Absolutely (greatest hits compilation)" - 1990
"Love Conquers All" - Abracadabra - 1991
"Say It" - Abracadabra - 1991
"Rolling Sevens" - Skyscraping - 1997
"Skyscraping" - Skyscraping - 1997
"Stranger Things" - Skyscraping - 1997
"Peace and Tranquility" - Look of Love - The Very Best of ABC - 2001
"Blame" - Look of Love - The Very Best of ABC - 2001
"The Very First Time" - Traffic - 2008
"Ride" - Traffic - 2008
If you wish to read more about the band and Martin Fry, click here:
Other: "The track "So Hip It Hurts" from the album How To Be a Zillionaire was featured in the 1986 film Tough Guys and Fiona Russell Powell, who joined the group from that same album was part of the original line-up of the pre ABC band, Vice Versa." She chickened out of the band's first live gig and the frontman job went to Martin Fry." - Wikipedia.
Here is a commercial (advert if you're British) for the album The Lexicon of Love:
And here is the music video for "The Look of Love":
*Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, and www.abcmartinfry.com*
This week's post is brought to you by the letter A, as in A-ha.
Artist/Band: A-ha Genre: New Wave, pop rock, synthpop From: Oslo, Norway Years Active: 1982-2010, 2011 (Information may change later down the line) Label(s): Warner Bros, Warner Music Group, Polydor, Universal Music Group Band Members:
About: A-ha was a Norwegian pop band who formed in Oslo in 1982 by Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen, and Pål Waaktaar. They became famous during the mid 1980s when musician and producer, John Ratcliff discovered them and they became globally successful years on-wards. What got them to their fame musically was the release of their debut album, Hunting High and Low in 1985, which featured the number one tracks "Take on Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." The album peaked at #1 in Norway, #2 in the U.K. and #15 in the U.S. Billboard album chart. It even earned the band a Grammy Award nomination as Best New Artist, even though they didn't win the award. On the other hand, Hunting High and Low continued to be a huge selling album in the U.K. in 1986. After three more albums, however, In 1994, Memorial Beach, their fifth album failed to be as successful as their earlier ones, the band went on a hiatus. Four years later, following a performance at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, A-ha returned to the studio to record their sixth album, Minor Earth Major Sky, which didn't get released until 2000. It paid off though because it became #1 in Norway and resulted in a new tour. Their seventh studio album, Lifelines, was released in 2002, and their eighth album, Analogue, in 2005, earned a Silver in the U.K. - their most successful album over there since the 1990 release of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. On June 19, 2009, they worked on and released their ninth album, Food of the Mountain, which charted #2 in Norway, #5 in the U.K., and earned a Silver there and a Platinum in Germany. By October 15 of that same year, the band announced that they would officially split after the 2010 Ending on a High Note tour. Thousands of fans from 40 different countries (on six continents - according to Wiki) went to see A-ah live for one more show.
On Tour: 1986-87: Hunting High and Low World Tour in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan 1988-89: Stay On These Roads Tour in Europe, Japan and South America 1991: Walk Under the Sun, Dance Under the Moon Tour in South America and East of the Sun, West of the Moon Tour in Europe 1993-94: Memorial Beach Tour in Europe, Russia, South Africa and Lebanon 2000-01: Minor Earth Major Sky Tour in Japan, Russia, and Europe 2002-04: Lifelines Tour in Europe, Brazil and Russia 2005-07: Analogue/Greatest Hits Tour in Europe, Russia, USA, Senegal, and Chile 2008-09: Foot of the Mountain Tour in Europe, South America, Japan and Russia 2010: Ending on a High Note Tour in Europe, USA, Canada, South America, Japan, and Russia
Albums: 1985:Hunting High and Low - Warner Bros. Records 1986: Scoundrel Days - Warner Bros. Records 1988: Stay on These Roads - Warner Bros. Records 1990: East of the Sun, West of the Moon - Warner Bros. Records 1993: Memorial Beach - Warner Bros. Records 2000: Minor Earth Major Sky - Warner Music Group 2002: Lifelines - Warner Music Group 2005: Analogue - Universal Music Group 2009: Foot of the Mountain - Universal Music Group Other: Did you know that the song "Take on Me" was used as background music for modern TV shows, such as the Simpsons and Family Guy? The music video was even spoofed by MamaTails before his YouTube Poop video, "The Faces of Amy Rose DX" was removed from YouTube. The video featured a scene where Amy Rose tried to reach out for Sonic the Hedgehog, who didn't want to marry her.
It's time for my first post of Underground Alley. Let's start off with an forgotten/obscure American band called 20/20. They originally were a power pop band from the 70s (mod punk rock/disco era).
Artist/Band: 20/20
Genre: Power pop
From: Hollywood California
Years Active: 1977-1983, reunited in the mid-1990s until the mid 2000s
Ron Flynt - bass, vocals Chris Silagyi -keyboards - 1977-1981 Mike Gallo - drums - 1977-1979 Joel Turrisi - drums - 1979-1981 Dean Korth -drums - 1981-1983 Bill Belknap - drums - 1983-1984, 1995-2005 Phil Seymour and Dwight Twilley - From Tulsa, Oklahoma. (In need of more research.)
In the studio:
While they were recording their debut album, Mike was let go from the band (not sure why). They replaced him with a studio drummer to finish to rest of that album (how lame :/) and for their second one, Look Out, they hired Joel Turrisi. For the third album, Sex Trap, however, Turrisi was replaced by Dean Korth. 20/20 then split up by 1979 in the end.
To sum it up, the three main reasons this band isn't well remembered are:
A. They didn't release enough singles or albums.
B. The band broke up at least twice.
C. The drummers were continuously replaced.
Life after break up:
Ron Flynt : Moved to Austin, Texas to open his own recording studio called Jumping Dog Studio & headlined the 2005 Austin music festival with a newly released CD under the Zip record label, featuring the song "Mary's World".
Steve Allen: Moved to Nashville, Tennessee and continued to write and record music at Blue Planet Studio.
Bill Belknap: Musician at Long Branch Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma Chris Silagyi: Became a record producer.
Joel Turrisi: Became an actor for VFG Productions/Panaview in Hollywood, CA and works in other parts of the film and music industry.
Mike Gallo: Formed the bands RadioMusic and Two Moons, signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell.
He evem started his own label, Two Moons, same name as the band he once formed. He is now a recording artist and songwriter at home and is also focused on labeling and publishing.
Dean Korth: Recently became a drummer for the group "The Catalina Scramblers" in Santa Cruz, CA.
Now it's time for the part you've all been waiting for: the list of albums and singles!
List of Singles:
Side-A:
"Giving It All" - 1978
"Tell Me Why" - 1979
"Cheri" - 1979
"Strange Side of Love" - 1981
Side-B:
"Under the Freeway" (B-Side of
"Giving It All" - 1978)
"Yellow Pills" (B-Side of
"Tell Me Why" - 1979)
"Backyard Guys" (B-Side of "Cheri" - 1979)
"People in Your Life"/Child's Play" (B-Side of
"Strange Side of Love" - 1981)
List of Albums:
20/20 - 1979 - Portrait Records
Look Out! - 1981 - Portrait Records
Sex Trap - 1982 - Mainway Records
Sex Trap - 1983 - Enigma Records
20/20/Look Out! - 1995 - Oglio Records (remastered 2-in-1 CD reissue, rare find nowadays)
4 Day Tornado - 1995 - Oglio Records
Interstate - 1998 - Oglio Records
Sex Trap (Japanese Release) - 1999 - Includes "Best of Your Life"
*The 1983 Enigma release of Sex Trap is the wider distribution reissue, which features remixes of the title track and "Fast Car" and the song "Please Please (Listen to Me)" was replaced with a track called "Jack's Got a Problem."
List of the band's recordings that were featured on compilations:
1978: "Giving it All" - The Best of Bomp Volume One (Bomp! Records)
1993: "Song of the Universe" - Yellow Pills Volume One (Big Deal Records)
1993: "Giving it All" and "Yellow Pills" - Shake It Up! - American Power Pop II (1978-80) (Rhino Records)
1995: "Remember the Lightning" - Into the Anxious 80's (Risky Business)
1996: "Drive", "Screaming", and "Under the Freeway" - The Roots of Powerpop (Bomp! Records)
1997: "Day After Day" Come and Get It: A Tribute to Badfinger (Copper Records)
Here is an example of a song from the LP Look Out!:
And an example of a song from the Sex Trap album:
Fun fact: They performed on American Bandstand at least once and Chris Silagyi's sister, Denise (whose YouTube username is djsmontanes) went to see the band perform live in the late 70s/early 80. "My husband refused to dance when they did their set, so I had to dance with my sister." Denise said in a comment to the video "20/20 - Tonight We Fly". "The camera guys would not shoot us cuz we were the same sex! I was so pissed." Dick Clark let them dance together to avoid and controversy but it was not allowed to be shown on TV. You can look for the comment here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSAO6aOwDRU
*Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, Amazon.com and opinions based on what I've learned from reading these sources.*
This week's post consists of a list of all the popular artists and bands of the New Wave era, starting with the letter A. Because there are so many artists/bands listed, I will be posting separate lists from A to Z from time to time. Each week I will cover an artist or group once, for reviewing an album each week gets pretty boring. I may do reviews on albums for later posts if I run out of things TO post, but for now, without anymore hesitation, here is the list for 0-9 and A:
0. 20/20
1. a-ha
2. ABC
3. Adam and the Ants/Adam Ant (solo)
4. The Adventures
5. Afraid of Mice
6. After the Fire
7 .The Alarm
8. Marc Almond
9. Alphaville
10.Altered Images
11.And One
12.Aneka
13.Animal Nightlife
14.Animotion
15.Any Trouble
16.Arcadia
17.The Armoury Show
18.Art of Noise
19.The Assembly
20.Associates
21.Azra
22.Aztec Camera
Expect to find these artists sometime soon. New post every Monday!
