Adam And The Antz – Do It Records – 1979

Posted on June 4, 2008July 16, 2008 by Penguin

Adam and his Antz second 7″ single, recorded by the second Antz line up comprising the musicians that recorded the ‘Dirk Wears White Socks’ LP.

In 1980 this line up also infamously, had Malcolm McClaren (the then manager of the band) get the adorable and dreamy (I am allowed to say that cos I was a year younger than her at 13/14 in 1980) 15 year old Annabella Lwin to join up on vocals to become Bow Wow Wow, leaving Adam on his Jack Jones.

Quite a coup, still Adam got the last laugh becoming a huge world wide star with a completely different band.

Both the new Adam And The Ants (note different spelling now) and Bow Wow Wow had a very similar sound, performed in similar venues, and on similar TV and Radio sessions, and I am still quite amazed to this day that Bow Wow Wow did not overshadow the new Adam And The Ants in world wide popularity in 1980-1981.

Adam and his new Ants released the ‘Kings Of The Wild Frontier’ LP, which is a mighty fine listen. Bow Wow Wow released their first LP/EP release on cassette only format. That format did not qualify as a single in the charts, nor ironically an LP, the fact that there was no LP format meant a lot less sales. Bow Wow Wow lost ground on Adam And The Ants from that point on and were lapped several times before Bow Wow Wow released a proper vinyl LP (plus cassette version) in 1981.

Maybe I should not be so amazed…McClaren and E.M.I. bodging it up again.

Loads more Antz material uploaded, use the search function.

87 comments

Carl
June 9, 2008 at 9:04 am

Val..

Id be more than interested to read about what you have to say about the Ants and why they “did it ” for you..In particular the point about political awakening…I always thought that the Ants steered away from politics especially considering the “times”..and that almost every one else was shouting politics from the rooftop…Or are you meaning on a more personal level ???

On a related theme, I have a couple of live Ant bootlegs , one from Milan 1978 I think that are on tape, I have no means of getting them onto here, being a luddite, but if Penguin, Tony whoever wants to contact me , I will ping them in the post !
Jah Pork Pie
June 10, 2008 at 11:57 am

@Val-> “Personal” politics, rather then “organised” politics?

What Jake had to say about Ruthless’ personal politics in the excerpt from his book was interesting, I thought. Postfeminist image combined with quite a “traditionally feminist” outlook (though of course it was the 70s and feminism wasn’t all that traditional then!).
Jah Pork Pie
June 10, 2008 at 1:01 pm

@Val->”I would love to think that I could add a well-considered and thoughtfully argued critique of all of the above comments, exploring how ideas of style can still be a conduit to an exploration of substance and exactly how, therefore, and why the Ants ‘did it’ for me (personal growth, political awakening, personal liberation, etc, etc) – but no chance – all I can do is stamp my foot and pout.”

I think that’s far too eloquent not to have a lengthy follow-up. Are you teasing us here mate? I look forward to the Ants Überpost!
baron von zubb
June 10, 2008 at 9:34 pm

Pork, I said that? Sounds too intelligent for me. Good on yer.
Stewart
June 14, 2008 at 5:46 pm

OK, I give up! Anyone have a WORKING link to the complete Peel sessions please?!?!
luggy
June 14, 2008 at 7:06 pm

Don’t you know how to use google?!
Fill your boots:

http://rs125.rapidshare.com/files/31822995/The_Peel_Sessions.rar
johng
June 14, 2008 at 10:34 pm

been getting notification emails from here of messages posted ages ago the last few days…….summats gone pearshaped?
Stewart
June 14, 2008 at 10:35 pm

Lol! Cheeky… *Thinks: What’s Google?*

I keep trying that bloody site – you have to enter a code based on how many cats are on the letters, and every time I try it the site tells me I’ve got it wrong! How many badly-drawn cats can there be?!?! Then eventually I managed to download the first part of the download, and when I tried to download the second part (which you need as well, apparently) it told me I couldn’t have it! But – *sighs* – I suppose I’ll try again, if you’re absolutely SURE it still works… 🙂
johng
June 14, 2008 at 10:41 pm

had the same problem with the link as well……….
Penguin • Post Author •
June 14, 2008 at 11:00 pm

johng Says:

June 14th, 2008 at 10:34 pm edit

been getting notification emails from here of messages posted ages ago the last few days…….summats gone pearshaped?

Whats this johng? You talking about KYPP site or the luggy one? If it is the KYPP site then we need to talk.
johng
June 14, 2008 at 11:13 pm

yeah,had a few from kypp last few days
Penguin • Post Author •
June 14, 2008 at 11:22 pm

Umm, may be related to the download problem. I have alerted Gerard and Tony to investigate this issue. I thought admin people only got notifications by email. Awaiting reply from the guy’s to clarify. Will contact you direct if I need to, not on this thread.
Thanks.
johng
June 14, 2008 at 11:30 pm

we get notified of replies when we tick the box at the bottom of the page telling us about replies to posts,thats what i meant,just had 2 or 3 in the last couple of days,one from november,other 2 from the last week or so that i’d already had…
Penguin • Post Author •
June 14, 2008 at 11:38 pm

Oh…OK john, I get you now, thought you meant you get all comments sent to you. The most comment notifications I got in my inbox for one day was 68.
luggy
June 15, 2008 at 12:21 am

Here’s a link for the 1st Peel session:

http://insessiontonight.com/?p=19

Includes two songs deemed too risque for the commercial release of the Peel Sessions, ‘Deutscher Girls’ & ‘Puerto-Rican’.
I’ll upload my copy of the album tomorrow as there’s now problems with the link above (unless someone tracks it down somewhere else).
Stewart
June 15, 2008 at 12:40 am

Hi Luggy! Yeah, found that – it’s why I want the rest of the sessions now too!
Problem is, once I start looking for stuff all these old bands come out of the sunken recess that is my brain and I think: yeah, want that, and that, and that, and that… there’s just too many old classic tracks that I don’t have any more and not enough time…
But i still want those Peel sessions… lol
luggy
June 15, 2008 at 10:53 am

Stewart, I’m having trouble uploading to filesharing sites today. I’ve chucked it on Soulseek, my username there is lugme.
If you haven’t used it yet, you can download it here:

http://www.slsknet.org/

I’ll stay connected to it today.
Steve
June 15, 2008 at 5:07 pm

Cough cough:

http://www.guitars101.com/forums/f90/adam-and-the-antz-who-taught-you-to-vol-1-a-72527.html

http://www.guitars101.com/forums/f90/adam-and-the-antz-who-taught-you-to-vol-2-a-72790.html
Stewart
June 15, 2008 at 6:55 pm

Hi luggy! Thank you very much – I really appreciate the gesture 🙂 I downloaded the software and got it working but I couldn’t find you on it – so I’ve just bought the official release for some outlandish price instead. I really must go and do something useful with my life instead of surfing this site…
But, again, thankyou 🙂 x
Stewart
June 16, 2008 at 1:08 pm

Steve – that’s a fantastic link too! Thankyou! For anyone else interested, I’m still working my way through the site but so far I’ve found stuff by the Pogues, the Banshees, Talking Heads, the Clash, Magazine, Public Image and Tom Waits. Wooo-eeee! Reliving my childhood or what!!!! 😮
Jah Pork Pie
June 16, 2008 at 4:57 pm

@Stewart->Think I’ve mentioned it before on this site, but on isohunt there’s a really good torrent with loads of old punk stuff on, it’s 5.1GB and is just called “Punk” at http://isohunt.com/download/14655327/slaughter+and+the+dogs.torrent

Unfortunately nobody is seeding it at the moment but I think there’s nearly 90% of it there so it’s well worth a look.

Adverts
Automatics
Chelsea
Cortinas
Damned
Drones
Generation X
Heartbreakers
Pistols (inc Bootlegs)
Slaughter and The Dogs
Vibrators

…are all featured. I’ve got nearly 90% of it so if there’s anything that anybody really wants and can’t get then let me know and I’ll mail it to you if I’ve got it.