Adam & The Ants

Adam & The Ants were a British rock band, active from 1977 to 1982, noted for their high camp and overtly sexualised stage performances and use of Burundi drums. One line-up of musicians left the band in January 1980 at the suggestion of then-de facto manager Malcolm McLaren, to form the instrumentalist personnel of Bow Wow Wow. The next incarnation of Adam & The Ants, featuring guitarist Marco Pirroni (previously of Rema Rema) and drummer/record producer Chris Hughes, lasted from February 1980 to March 1982 and achieved major commercial success. A few months after disbanding the band, Adam Ant launched a solo career, retaining Pirroni as co-writer, and enjoyed immediate success with a third UK No. 1 hit single … (read more at Wikipedia.)

Links to Peel
Adam & The Ants did three sessions for the Peel show before breaking through to a mainstream pop audience in autumn 1980. In the BBC radio documentary It's Alive, Peel producer John Walters recalled seeing the band for the first time and being impressed most by the vocal performance of the band's early female manager, Jordan, who sang one song ('Lou') during the set:

"I’d seen the name and out of curiosity went to the Royal College of Art, here they were doing a Saturday night dance. Not many people there, and Adam was, well, all right, but a bit art school for my taste. Suddenly Jordan came on – painted face, hair standing up about a foot in the air – and began to shriek. I thought, “Get that girl into the studio and let her shriek to the nation!”"

In The Peel Sessions, Ken Garner relates how Walters went backstage after the first half to arrange the session date with Jordan, having previously met her at the Croydon Greyhound in October 1977 when Siouxsie & The Banshees and the Slits were on the bill, and the pair were locked in the dressing room when Adam inadvertently slammed the door shut as he went on stage (leading to innuendo along the lines of "oh, so that's how you get on the Peel Show".)

Peel regularly played the band's early records, including three songs from their independent debut LP "Dirk Wears White Sox" on 27 November 1979, but featured only occasional tracks after they were signed by CBS, although both sides of the chart breakthrough 'Dog Eat Dog" single were played on release and earlier sessions were subsequently repeated. In 1987, Walters and Peel discussed Adam's success as a pop star in the fourth programme of the Peeling Back The Years series:

"JP: It would be arrogant I think of us too at the same time to expect them [musicians] to remain in poverty and suffering because of some sort of obscure artistic yearning of ours."

"JW: That sounds like a cue for Adam Ant. … When he moved onto the pirate makeup and filling very large halls with screaming girls and all that diddlee-qua-qua stuff…"

"JP: I liked the diddlee-qua-qua. I was always very keen on that."

"JW: Well, I mean, he became a number one selling artist. Did you feel any resentment? Did you feel, “There’s another chap who has cashed in on being on this programme”?"

"JP: Really not at all, no. I mean, it’s one of those things that people always assume you do feel. … But just that you were in a position to give people who were doing work that you felt…"

"JW: Just give them some exposure."

"JP: Yeah."

Festive Fifty Entries

 * 1980 Festive Fifty: Kings of the Wild Frontier #30
 * 1980 Festive Fifty: Dog Eat Dog #53

Sessions
Three sessions. Official releases:
 * All tracks except ‘Deutscher Girls’ and ‘Puerto-Rican’ (both from session #1) released on Peel Sessions LP/CD, 1990 (Strange Fruit SFRLP115 / SFRCD115)
 * “It Doesn't Matter “ from #1 released on Various Artists: Winters of Discontent: The Peel Sessions 77-83 CD, 1991 (Strange Fruit, SFRCD 204) 
 * All tracks released on The Complete Radio 1 Sessions / Live at the BBC CD, 1996/2001 (Strange Fruit SFRSCD099 / Fuel 2000, 302 061 150 2)
 * “Deutscher Girls” from #1 released on Various Artists: Movement: BBC Radio 1 Peel Sessions 1977-1979 2xCD, 2011 (EMI ‎– CDPEEL 7779)

1. Recorded 1978-01-23. First broadcast 30 January 1978. Repeated 09 July 1980, 31 May 1982
 * Deutscher Girls / Puerto-Rican / It Doesn't Matter / Lou

2. Recorded 1978-07-10. First broadcast 17 July 1978. Repeated 04 August 1978, 19 September 1978 (Peel has also just received a postcard from Adam & The Ants (from Belgium), 29 December 1980.
 * You're So Physical / Cleopatra / Friends / I'm A Xerox

3. Recorded 1979-03-26. First broadcast 02 April 1979. Repeated 09 May 1979.
 * Table Talk / Liggotage / Animals And Men / Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face)

Other Shows Played
(JP: “Well, I rather care for that, I must confess.”)
 * 1979
 * 11 October 1978: Young Parisians (single) Decca
 * 12 October 1978: (JP: “A marriage of Adam & The Ants and Decca Records seems a most peculiar thing, and here’s the first consequence of that marriage.”) Young Parisians (single) Decca
 * 18 October 1978: Lady (single – Young Parisians b-side) Decca
 * 01 November 1978: Young Parisians (7”) Decca


 * 1979
 * 12 July 1979: Whip In My Valise (7" b side - Zerox) Do It
 * 24 July 1979: Zerox (single) Do It (Peel missed the chance to go and see Adam & The Ants in Bradford at the weekend – “which was rather foolish of me.”)
 * 26 July 1979: Xerox (single) Do It (JP plays top three singles in the alternative chart of Sounds magazine without interruption, starting from Adam & The Ants (at #1).
 * 09 August 1979: Zerox (7") Do It
 * 27 November 1979: The Idea (LP - Dirk Wears White Sox) Do It
 * 27 November 1979: Digital Tenderness (LP - Dirk Wears White Sox) Do It (JP: "While it was going on, Reidy told me what he thinks it means. Filthy brute!")
 * 27 November 1979: Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face) (LP - Dirk Wears White Sox) Do It
 * 04 December 1979: Cartrouble (Parts 1 & 2) (LP - Dirk Wears White Sox) Do It
 * 06 December 1979: (JP: "I never knew that Adam had ever met Kenny Dalglish, but apparently this is the case...") Day I Met God (LP - Dirk Wears White Sox) Do It
 * 12 December 1979: The Idea (LP - Dirk Wears White Sox) Do It


 * 1980
 * 03 March 1980: Cartrouble (7") Do It
 * 12 March 1980: Cartrouble (single) Do-It
 * 20 March 1980: Kick (single - Cartrouble b-side) Do It
 * 31 March 1980: Kick! (7" – Cartrouble) Do It
 * 25 June 1980: Kings Of The Wild Frontier (7") CBS
 * 07 July 1980: Kings Of The Wild Frontier (single)
 * 14 August 1980: Press Darlings (7" b-side - Kings Of The Wild Frontier) CBS
 * 27 August 1980: Cartrouble (7”) Do It
 * 23 September 1980: Kings Of The Wild Frontier (7") CBS
 * 25 September 1980: Dog Eat Dog (7") CBS
 * 25 September 1980: Physical (You're So) (single b-side - Dog Eat Dog) CBS
 * 24 December 1980: Kings of the Wild Frontier (LP - Kings of the Wild Frontier) Epic FF#30


 * 1981
 * 16 February 1981: A.N.T.S. (flexi) Flexipop Magazine
 * 25 February 1981: A.N.T.S (7" flexi) Flexipop
 * 27 April 1981: Beat My Guest (7” – Stand & Deliver!) CBS
 * 04 May 1981: Stand And Deliver
 * 15 September 1981: Prince Charming (7 inch) CBS (Peel fades this early, as he has an ulterior motive, to play the similar “War Canoe” by Rolf Harris)


 * TOTP
 * 25 December 1981 (TOTP): brief interview
 * 30 September 1982 (TOTP): Friend Or Foe (9)
 * 25 December 1982 (TOTP): Goody Two Shoes
 * 05 May 1983 (TOTP): Goody Two Shoes (clip)
 * 10 November 1983 (TOTP): Puss ‘N Boots (5) (video)


 * Other
 * Peeling Back The Years: Deutscher Girls (single)