The still-beating pulse of Adam Ant
Are you into Adam Ant? Dig Ant Music? A believer that he was the inventor of New Wave .. of all that was once good in this world (and could be again)?
Good. Then let's hope you're one of the lucky few who have tickets to a sold-out appearance by Adam on Sept. 24 at London's Bloomsbury Theatre. He'll be reading from his autobiography -- "Stand & Deliver" -- and perform a few acoustic tunes (at least six, according to sources).
Ant fans without tickets can still revel in the recent remastering and re-release of most of his classic albums, including "Dirk Wears White Sox," "Kings of the Wild Frontier" and "Prince Charming."
The Ant himself -- aka Stuart Leslie Goddard -- has had a tough go this decade.
In 2001, he gave an interview to the Mirror's Christine Smith, where he talked about how things had taken a turn downward:
"People weren't buying as many records. My record company did not want me. I went through three record companies, went on tour at the wrong time. It destroyed me. It is not nice when people come up saying: 'Didn't you used to be Adam Ant?' I do have a pulse, you know."
He was on the brink of touring in 2002 when he was diagnosed with manic depression. His autobiography covers his epic journey, with one reviewer calling it "a whirlwind story of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, suicide attempts and deranged stalkers."
We'd expect nothing less from Ant.
Relive the music, movies and culture of the greatest decade ever with Times online editor Steve Spears. A teen during the decade, Steve is obsessed with everything from Duran Duran to Journey, John Hughes to John Cusack, and parachute pants to Reaganomics.
E-mail Steve Spears:
I couldn't let this pass without commenting. I am a huge Adam Ant fan. Kings of The Wild Frontier is one of the seminal albums of the New Wave era and is still one of my all time top 20 favorite albums. This is a great album through and through. I know I "bang the monkey" for a Devo podcast quite often, but it might be a good idea for an Adam Ant podcast as well. (after you do the Devo podcast of course!)
Posted by: Douglas Arthur | August 08, 2007 at 07:49 AM
I'm still holding out hope for the Devo or Adam Ant phone interview first!
Are we not men?!?
Posted by: Spears | August 08, 2007 at 07:52 AM
That is open for debate. :)
Be Happy or Not.
Wear Gaudy Colors or avaoid a display. Its all the same.
Duty Now!
Posted by: Douglas Arthur | August 08, 2007 at 07:59 AM
We're through being cool! :)
Posted by: bassnote | August 08, 2007 at 12:29 PM
Being a teen in the early 80's in New Orleans, I got to see Adam Ant in concert and he was fantastic! Lots of energy and of course awesome "Antmusic". The opening act was INXS and they were not so good. In fact, nearly the whole theatre got up and walked out as they were playing. I had never experienced that before or since. It's too bad he's not taking the whole fame game very well, a very unique talent gone to waste.
Posted by: Tom | August 09, 2007 at 04:20 PM
Awesome article. I loved Adam Ant in the 1980s. That for the great blog!
Posted by: Queen of the Girl Geeks | August 11, 2007 at 07:51 AM