A long time ago there was a band named Adam And The Ants. I know SOME of you folks out there in blog land remember 'em... especially some of my UK compatriots (they DID have 11 top ten hits, y'know). Anyway kids, they were huge for a couple of years before the inevitable crash and burn. And, THEY DIDN'T SUCK! Songs like "Antmusic", "Stand And Deliver", "Beat My Guest" and "Goody Two Shoes" were pretty cool. The whole pirate motif and poly-rhythmic drumming was pretty whacked out for the early 80's. And chicks dug em and they weren't disco.
I was gonna write a whole history of the band, but this one is available; and I'm white n lazy.
But a couple of quick memories of the band. The first one is that if you view the video clip below, please note that I was at the taping of this show. The young and impressionable punk rock Nazz was brought to the taping of the Tom Snyder Tomorrow show in New York City by his erstwhile new wave pal Neil (who danced in the aisles during the performance). My dim (it WAS like 90 years ago, after all) memories of the show indicate that I thought the whole thing was kinda silly, but kinda cool too.
Memory #2 was the following summer (or two summers). We went to see Adam And His Insects at an outdoor show in New York City and it rained for awhile. I balled up my soaking wet bandana and threw it at the stage... nailing guitarist Marco Pirroni right in the old puss.
Rock n roll.
The young Nazz is somewhere out in the crowd.
Toonage:
Adam And The Ants - Young Parisians
Adam And The Ants - Ant Music
Adam And The Ants - Prince Charming
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9 comments:
Alright, I'll admit they were better than I remembered them.
Ha! Great story. I, too, dug em, but had to hide the fact from older, hardcore dudes knew - remember, BLACK FLAG killed ants on contact.
Can Nazz be seen in this vid? And more importantly, does he have a waffley hairdo?
"BLACK FLAG kills ants on contact."
I used to LOVE that!
Try as I might, I cannot see myself on my crappy lo-res pc monitor. The missus is currently mocking me and telling me I am a loser because I am freeze framing the vid in the failed attempt to locate the young, waif-like Nazz.
Not a fan but I do enjoy Beat My Guest. And I think Dog Eat Dog.
right with you on this one Nazz... big Ants fan here... have you picked up that 'b-side babies' comilation album? SO good... their b-sides were as good if not better than the A's!
Met Mr Ant in the late 80's and a jolly nice fellow he was too. His autobiog is well worth a read if you've not seen it.
Finally, check out the The Wolfmen, which includes Marco and Chris from the Ants (other Ants have been known to do the odd bit of mixing for em too). They have a really great sound, and the first album is a stormer.
Happy New Decade Nazz!
P
Ahh .. you bring back memories. grade 12 .. going to a halloween party with my hair in thin braids, wearing a ww2 cdn army wool jacket, northern cree muclucks .. you get the drift.
Marco Pirroni is a kickass guitarist, esp. on "Beat My Guest", "Zerox Machine" and that one Sinead O'Connor song "Mandinka" (which is kinda Ants-like). I second the recommendation of the Wolfmen: check out their cover of "Needle in the Camel's Eye".
Loved that Kings of the Wild Frontier album as wee lad, too late to deny it now.
Kings Of The Wild Frontier is still on heavy rotation! And his first "solo" album, Friend Or Foe, was fairly underrated, in my humble opinion.
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