1981: The Year of Adam & The Ants ("Kings Of The Wild Frontier") | New British Canon

Few 80s popstars were as eye-catching as Adam Ant. The dazzling calvary jacket, the eyeliner framing ice-blue eyes, the white warrior stripe applied just north of his nose. It's an image that defined MTV as much as Duran Duran’s yacht, A-Ha’s pencil outlines or Dire Straits’ blocky capitalists. But unlike their music television brethren, Adam Ant survived punk batterings, bandmate betrayal and press indifference to realise the marketing power of adding vibrant vision to his band’s pummelling pop sound. This is New British Canon, and this is the story of “Kings of The Wild Frontier”.

#adamant #80spop #MusicDocumentary

Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.

00:00 Introduction
00:41 The Early Days of Adam & The Ants
06:27 Enter Malcolm McLaren
11:49 Creating "Kings of the Wild Frontier"
20:42 The Unreal Ascent of Adam & The Ants
28:23 The Inevitable Decline & Lasting Impact

Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine (  / luarbeats  )
Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present
Luar - Anchor (  / luarbeats  )

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Stand and Deliver: My Autobiography by Adam Ant, 2006, Pan
1000 UK Number One Hits by Jon Kutner & Spencer Leigh, 2005, Omnibus Press
Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s by Lori Majewski & Jonathan Bernstein, 2014, Abrams Image
Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics by Dylan Jones, 2020, Faber
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“Ants Out Of Bondage” Paolo Hewitt, Melody Maker, Jan 1980
“Anti-Hero” Steve Taylor, Smash Hits, Oct 1980
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“Sound and Vision: The Making of Adam Ant” Chris Salewicz, The Face, Apr 1981
“The Sun Kings” Mark Ellen, Smash Hits, Jun 1981
“Optimism… And Lots of Drums” Mark Ellen, Smash Hits, Jun 1981
“Adam Ant stands and delivers” Maureen Cleave, The Observer, Jan 1982
“Adam Ant: True Confessions: Brando, De Niro and Bruce Lee. Lennon-McCartney And Yours Truly” Paul Morley, NME, Jan 1982
“Malcolm McLaren: Innovation Or Exploitation?” Roy Trakin, Musician, Feb 1982
“Adam Ant: Sex Person Without A Cause” John Mendelsohn, Creem, May 1984
“Adam Ant: "When everybody likes you, you're in real trouble… And I got in real trouble" Tom Hibbert, Smash Hits, Sep 1984
“Adam Ant: Metamorphosis of a Narc” Mat Snow, NME, Jul 1985
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“'Anyone over 30 belongs to me - bisexual, male, female, gay, whatever'“ Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, Jan 2002
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“Adam Ant on fame, depression and infamy” Matt Everit, BBC Radio 6 Music, 2011
“Adam Ant: The Mojo Interview” Andrew Perry, Mojo Magazine, Mar 2013
“Adam Ant Interview” Classic Pop, Feb 2014
“‘Heroic, sexy and a warrior bravado’: how Adam and the Ants redefined pop” Alexis Petridis, The Guardian, Oct 2016
”Adam Ant interview: “I’m proud of the fact that we actually got a record like Kings Of The Wild Frontier”” Eileen Shapiro, Classic Pop, 2017
“Adam Ant Interview: ‘You need the time away from the spotlight as well as the time when you’re involved with it.’” John Earls, Classic Pop, Oct 2019
“Adam and the Ants: how the wild tribe revealed pop's theatre of dreams” Alexis Petridis, The Guardian, Feb 2021
“Adam And The Ants: Inside The Court Of Prince Charming” John Earls, Classic Pop, Jul 2021