479. Adam and the Ants – Stand & Deliver! (1981)

The Intro

Adam and the Ants captivated children of the 80s – myself included. Adam Ant was my first ever musical hero, and where my love of music began. Here’s how a new wave band with niche appeal became a sensation and shot to number 1 for the first time with Stand and Deliver!.

Before

Adam Ant was born Stuart Leslie Goddard in Marylebone, London on 3 November 1954. Goddard’s grandfather on his mother’s side was Romanichal, which planted the seed of protecting minorities that would become a common theme in Goddard’s music.

His parents divorced when he was seven, and his mother worked as a domestic cleaner to make ends meet. In 1967, she briefly cleaned Paul McCartney’s house, and her son later vividly recalled going round there after school.

Goddard was educated at Robinsfield Infants School, where he got into trouble by throwing a brick through the headmaster’s office on two consecutive days. Ironically, this proved to be a wise move, as he was placed under the supervision of a teacher who encouraged his creative side.

At Barrow Hill Junior School, Goddard enjoyed boxing and cricket. He passed his A-plus and went to St Marylebone Grammar School, an all-boys school, where he became a prefect and gained three A-levels. Next was Hornsey College of Art, where he studied graphic design. But before he could complete his BA, he was swayed by a growing love of music, and he dropped out.

Goddard joined the pub rock band Bazooka Joe in 1975 as their bassist. Although the band also featured John Ellis, who became one of The Vibrators, they are most famous for being the headliners of the first ever Sex Pistols gig, at Central St Martins College of Art and Design on 6 November. Goddard was fascinated by the Pistols, while the rest of Bazooka Joe disagreed so strongly, he decided to leave the group and an idea began to form.

Under his new guise, Ant (named ‘Adam’ after the first man and ‘Ant’ after a creature that would survive a nuclear explosion) formed the B-Sides, featuring lead guitarist Lester Square and Andy Warren. On 23 April 1977, with drummer Paul Flanagan, they became The Ants, holding their first band meeting at a Siouxsie and the Banshees gig at the Roxy in Covent Garden. Ant was in the right place at the right time, as the punk scene was exploding, and he became close friends with Jordan, who worked at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s SEX boutique. She soon became his band’s manager.

Square only lasted a month before leaving to concentrate on his course at art school, though he later formed The Monochrome Set. He was replaced by Mark Ryan, and The Ants began performing regularly around London. Flanagan was replaced in early June by Dave ‘Barbe’ Barbarossa, and The Ants entered a studio for the first time, recording Deutscher Girls and Beat My Guest. These two songs featured in Derek Jarman’s drama Jubilee (1978), in which Ant made his acting debut as The Kid. The Ants sacked Ryan, replaced him with Johnny Bivouac, and became Adam and the Ants.

The leather-clad, post-punk Adam and the Ants had a penchant for controversial fetishist imagery, and were unpopular with the music press, but they gained a cult following. 1978 was a big year, as they made their radio debut, recording a session for John Peel in January. Jordan featured on vocals for their final track Lou, which she used to do regularly at their gigs, but she quit as their manager in May and a day later, Bivouac left the band, to be replaced by Matthew Ashman.

Adam and the Ants recorded a second Peel session in July and at the end of the month they signed a two-single deal with Decca Records. Young Parisians was released in October, but plans for a follow-up were shelved by Decca.

A third Peel session was recorded in March 1979, and the band signed with independent label Do It Records. Second single Zerox was released in July and a month later they began recording their debut album, written and produced by Ant. Soon after, he sacked Ashman and Warren, and the latter joined The Monochrome Set, but Ashman was allowed back. Warren was replaced by Lee Gorman. The LP, Dirk Wears White Sox ( a reference to actor Dirk Bogarde), was released in November. It’s an interesting album, but don’t expect any of the brilliant pop that was around the corner. It did however make it to number 1 on the fledgling UK Independent Albums Chart that launched in early January 1980.

Ant asked Malcolm McLaren to take over as manager of the band, and the former Sex Pistols manager proved to inadvertently have a positive effect on Ant’s career. How? By dropping him and stealing his band. By the end of January, McLaren had persuaded Ashman, Gorman and Barbe to jump ship and join his new group, Bow Wow Wow. Their lead singer was 13-year-old Annabella Lwin, who was briefly joined by George O’Dowd before he became better known as Boy George. Whether Ant

Undeterred, Ant went looking for new Ants. Marco Pirroni, who had been one of Siouxsie’s Banshees, became the new guitarist. They were briefly joined by future Culture Club drummer Jon Moss (using the name Terry 1+2) to remake Dirk Wears White Sox opener Cartrouble as a contractual obligation for Do It, with Pirroni also on bass. The single was produced by Chris Hughes, who Ant subsequently asked to become his new drummer.

Kevin Mooney picked up bass duties, and unusually, there were now two drummers as Terry Lee Miall also joined the band. Ant was to co-write the new material with Pirroni and they signed a publishing deal with EMI. They worked on new material at Matrix Studios and went on the Ant Invasion tour while Ant took the new material to prospective record companies.

The change in direction was startling. Ant and Pirroni used Hughes (now known as Merrick) and Miall to create Burundi-style African drumming to underpin a new sound that was a commercial yet unique mix of pop and new wave. They ditched the leathers and instead of a monochrome look they added tons of colour, dressing as pirates with Native American make-up, and looking and sounding not unlike Johnny Kidd and the Pirates.

Whether these ideas were stolen from McLaren (as their former manager claimed) or vice versa, Ant, who was always incredibly handsome and charismatic, now looked and sounded like a real pop star. It wouldn’t take long to persuade the public he was, either.

Kings of the Wild Frontier was their next single, and what a call to arms it was. Over that soon to become familiar Burundi beat and Pirroni’s rockabilly guitar, Ant began his mission statement by chanting ‘A new Royal family, a wild nobility, we are the family’. He also sang about Native American suffering and declared ‘Antpeople are the warriors, Antmusic is our banner!’ Tremendous stuff, that somehow only scraped into the charts at 48 that summer.

In October came their next single, Dog Eat Dog, which streamlined the formula into a more chart-friendly format. This song, about bands in competition with one another and inspired by a phrase used by Margaret Thatcher, deservedly went all the way to number four.

The following month saw the release of their first hit LP. Kings of the Wild Frontier proved Adam and the Ants weren’t going to be a one-hit wonder. Released as the New Romantic movement was exploding, it contained another mission statement in Antmusic, which peaked at number two in January 1981, being held off the top spot by Imagine in the wake of John Lennon’s death.

Adam and the Ants were so popular, Decca and Do It rushed to plunder their earlier material for a cash grab. Incredibly, Young Parisians climbed to nine. In February the band performed on The Royal Variety Show in a spellbinding performance that caused Ant to shout at Mooney at the close for seemingly going off script. It would be Mooney’s last performance with the Ants, and Gary Tibbs, who had starred in Breaking Glass (1980), took his place. A re-release of the single Kings of the Wild Frontier soared to two.

The band set to work on what was to be the final Adam and the Ants album. Prince Charming’s lead single was to be Stand and Deliver!, in which Ant adopted a new image as ‘the dandy highwayman that you’re too scared to mention’. Ant was a history buff and loved the Georgian era of bawdy flamboyance. He saw it as a perfect vehicle for ‘looking flash and grabbing your attention. And it definitely worked.

Inspiration may have come from several places, including the film The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), the Monty Python’s Flying Circus 1973 sketch ‘Dennis Moore’, Carry on Dick (1974) – the final entry in the series to star Sid James – and the London Weekend Television series Dick Turpin, that was running on ITV at the time.

Review

It was inevitable that Stand and Deliver! should become Ant’s first number 1, after several near misses. The drums are toned down from previous singles, now providing an exciting underpinning to pure brilliant pop, and Pirroni’s guitar is more modern than the rockabilly sounds of what came before.

There’s memorable vocal hook after hook here, too. If it’s not the opening line, or the triumphant chorus, or the ‘HUH’ after the drums in the chorus, it’s the nonsensical but suitably camp ‘Fa diddley qua qua’ as the song draws to a close.

While you can argue Adam and the Ants were too retro or rock to be New Romantics, this song fits the template, as Ant bemoans the lack of colour and fantasy in pop music. The Blitz Kids may have preferred more electronic sounding music, but they’d have totally agreed with lines like ‘The way you look you’ll qualify for next year’s old-age pension’. And the idea of using fashion as a weapon – ‘Not a bullet or a knife’ will have greatly appealed. It certainly did to little young me, and boys across the country. Ant was already cool, but mutating into a Dick Turpin-style character was bloody genius. In the early 80s I thought Sid James in Carry on Dick was cool. Ant as similar? Simply mind-blowing.

To change from edgy S&M stylings to cartoon childhood heroics is quite a transformation, but Ant more than pulled it off. As a child, he was just amazing. Incredibly handsome, charismatic, flamboyant and fun, Ant was a cartoon hero brought to life. I may have missed out on Beatlemania and Flower Power, glam rock and punk, but I feel proud to have been a young boy when Ant was at the height of his fame.

In theory I was too young – I was only two when this was number 1. But I can remember leaping from chair to settee in our living room to Adam and the Ants’ videos, and there’s a photo of me proudly holding an Ants’ single. So the band must have already split by the time I was in love with them, so brief was their fame. But listening to this and watching the video now, it’s clear that Adam and the Ants could only ever be huge for a short time – in a similar way to early T Rex. But what a time!

Ashes to Ashes may have heralded the start of the rise of music videos in the 80s, but with Stand and Deliver!, Ant grabs the torch and gallops away with it. Ant worked with director Mike Mansfield to create ‘a Hollywood movie in three minutes’, and they certainly succeeded. Ant is going round holding up mirrors to his victims – including a man who looks scarily similar to Boycie from Only Fools and Horses, which started this same year. The video, which also features Ant’s then-girlfriend Amanda Donohoe, climaxes with our hero about to be hanged before escaping with the rest of the Ants, and then ends with a topless Ant staring at himself in the mirror, alone. What did this mean? Was it Ant contemplating his own lyrics? Was it his true self, behind the mock heroics? Or was it just a chance to look hot and make his female fans swoon? Whatever it was, it hinted at the title track of their last LP, and next number 1.

After

Stand and Deliver! was an instant smash, debuting at number 1 and staying there for five weeks. It was the third biggest-selling single of 1981, and solidified Ant as a household name that year.

The Outro

20 years later, a troubled Ant made a well-meaning but ill-advised new version of his first number 1, called Save the Gorilla. Ant was trying to raise awareness of the plight of mountain gorillas in Central Africa, and the production is decent enough, but an overweight Ant trying to squeeze his new lyrics into one of his classics just seemed a bit silly. Pirroni helped to block its release.

The Info

Written by

Adam Ant & Marco Pirroni

Producer

Chris Hughes

Weeks at number 1

5 (9 May-12 June)

Trivia

Births

13 May: Labour Party MP Luciana Berger
15 May: Equestrienne Zara Phillips
16 May: Actor Joseph Morgan/Actor Jim Sturgess
17 May: Footballer Leon Osman
20 May: 5ive pop star Sean Conlon
22 May: Comedian Sara Pascoe
26 May: Broadcaster James Wong
29 May: Rugby union player Rochelle Clark
9 June: Backstroke swimmer Helen Don-Duncan/Scottish football plater Alex Neil/Musician Anoushka Shankar
11 June: Scottish field hockey goalkeeper Alistair McGregor

Deaths

9 May: Footballer Ralph Allen/Socialite Doris Harcourt
10 May: Conservative Party MP Geoffrey Stevens
15 May: Liberal Party MP Margery Corbett Ashby
17 May: Classical scholar WKC Guthrie
18 May: Novelist Verity Bargate
19 May: Ornithologist Collingwood Ingram
23 May: Radio producer Rayner Heppenstall
24 May: Actor Jack Warner
27 May: Scientist Kit Pedler/Philologist Anne Pennington
28 May: Archaeologist John Bryan Ward-Perkins
29 May: Organist John Dykes Bower
31 May: Economist Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth
10 June: Welsh journalist Sir Trevor Evans

Meanwhile…

9 May: The 100th FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium ends as a 1-1 draw between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. 

11 May: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats debuts at New London Theatre.

12 May: 25-year-old Francis Hughes becomes the second IRA hunger striker to die in Northern Ireland.

13 May: The New Cross fire inquest returns an open verdict on the thirteen people who died as a result of their injuries in the New Cross fire.

14 May: Spurs are victorious in the FA Cup final replay with a 3-2 win. It’s the sixth time they’ve won the trophy.

15 May: The Brixton riots inquiry opens.

19 May: Peter Sutcliffe is found guilty of 13 charges of murder, and a further seven attempted murders.

21 May: The IRA hunger strike claims two more deaths – Raymond McCreesh (24) and Patrick O’Hara (23).

22 May: Peter Sutcliffe is sentenced to life imprisonment.

27 May: Liverpool FC becomes the first British team to win the European Cup for the third time, defeating Real Madrid 1-0 at Parc des Princes in Paris.

30 May: More than 100,000 people march to Trafalgar Square in London for the Trade Union Congress’s (TUC’s) March For Jobs.

3 June: Sherman wins the Epsom Derby.

11 June: Queen Elizabeth II opens the NatWest Tower.

312. The Pipes and Drums and the Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers & Greys) Bandmaster W.O.I.CI. Herbert. Pipe Major W.O.II. J. Pryde – Amazing Grace (1972)

The Intro

There are many baffling number 1s scattered through the years of the singles chart. This must be one of the biggest mysteries. Not only did The Pipes and Drums and the Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards topple Without You from number 1 with their instrumental cover of the Christian hymn Amazing Grace – it became the biggest seller of 1972.

Before

One of the oldest known songs to reach the top spot, Amazing Grace dates back to 1772, when the words were first written by English poet and clergyman John Newton. He grew up a wayward soul, narrowly avoiding death several times and each time hoping to repent and become closer to God, before reverting to his old ways. He was pressed into the Royal Navy, but would take advantage of chances to overstay his leave, and he deserted to visit a lover. Because of this, he was traded as crew to a slave ship, and began a career in slave trading. How very unholy. Newton had a taste of his own medicine however. After falling out with crew members and writing obscene poems about the ship’s captain, he would be chained up like the slaves on the ship.

In 1748, the ship Greyhound was hit by a terrible storm and nearly capsized. Newton, who had been reading religious texts beforehand, exclaimed ‘Lord have mercy upon us!’. When the Greyhound was finally safe, Newton pondered if, indeed, God had saved them. Not that this was enough to convert him instantly – Newton married his lover, but remained in the slave trade for a while.

In 1756 the Newtons were living in Liverpool, and he became obsessed with religion. Eight years later Newton was offered the curacy of the small village of Olney in Buckinghamshire. He befriended a gifted writer, William Cowper, and became interested in writing hymns. The duo decided to present a new poem or hymn at each weekly prayer meeting. Newton wrote the lyrics in late 1772 and they were likely first read on New Year’s Day 1773. A collection of their work, Olney Hymns, was bound and published anonymously in 1779. ‘1 Chronicles 17:16–17, Faith’s Review and Expectation’ was the name of the hymn that began with ‘Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)’.

Olney Hymns became very popular in Britain with evangelicals, although Amazing Grace wasn’t among the ones widely used. It was in the early-19th-century religious revival of communal singing in the US that it caught on. Nobody knows what, if any, music the hymn was set to initially, but the first known instance had it set to the tune Hephzibah by English composer John Husband in 1808. There were 20 differing versions until 1835 when American composer William Walker assigned Newton’s words to the song New Britain. His tunebook Southern Harmony, published in 1847, was a huge seller, and this became the definitive Amazing Grace, of which there are over a thousand recorded versions, including this one.

The first known recorded version was an a cappella performance by the Sacred Harp Choir in 1922. It was US gospel singer Mahalia Jackson’s 1947 recording that revived Amazing Grace in the 20th century and turned it into, ironically, a song used by African Americans to express their joy at being delivered from slavery. From there it became ever more popular for political reasons during the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War.

Folk singer Judy Collins (strangely credited for the song on the original vinyl by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards) witnessed the song’s power on a civil rights march in 1964 and began performing it regularly. She recorded it a cappella for her 1970 album Whales & Nightingales and claimed it helped her through her alcohol dependency. It became a big hit, reaching number five in the UK.

And somehow this song that was used as a means of protest against war made its way to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. This cavalry regiment of the British Army was formed on 2 July at Holyrood, Edinburgh. Some time after, the pipes and drums recorded an LP, arranged by Stuart Fairbarn, based on Collins’ version. According to a 1972 article by The New York Times, late-night DJs picked this track from the album The Amazing Sound of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and it grew in popularity, which must surely have come as a surprise even at the time.

Review

Clearly, there must have been a love for bagpipes in the UK in the 70s, as this number 1 can’t help but bring to mind the fact that Mull of Kintyre, five years later, became one of the biggest-sellers of all time. Why was this? I can find no point of reference upon investigation. This wasn’t the theme for a TV show or film, for example. I wonder if, in the light of The Troubles, the English felt closer to the Scottish? Was the news of all the violence in Northern Ireland making people turn to Scottish culture? Quite possibly – but if so, how do you explain the fact it also went to number 1 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa?

Personally speaking, I’m ok with bagpipes, which can be somewhat divisive. I like the droning quality they bring to music. My favourite use is when they appear unexpectedly on Parliament’s beautiful cover of Ruth Copeland’s The Silent Boatman. And who doesn’t love Amazing Grace? Difficult song to get wrong, and it’s tastefully done, with Pipe Major Tony Crease’s solo mirroring Collins’ voice. But after two listens, I’m no clearer to understanding just how this became the year’s biggest single.

After

Despite its huge success in 1972, the Pipe Major at the time was summoned to Edinburgh Castle for a telling off for demeaning the bagpipes. As the money rolled in, there must have been a softening of the rules as, The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards have released many albums since, including a remake of this song.

The Outro

The irony of reading how a song by a slave trader became so important to black people as the Black Lives Matter movement rages on around me hasn’t escaped me. I wonder if this song will soon be #cancelled along with the statues of racists, or whether it will escape the understandable anger due to its ubiquitous use in the black community.

The Info

Written by

Traditional

Producer

Pete Kerr

Weeks at number 1

5 (15 April-19 May) *BEST-SELLING SINGLE OF THE YEAR*

Trivia

Births

16 April: Motorcycle racer John McGuinness
17 April: Racewalker Vicky Lupton
22 April:
Actress Sarah Patterson
2 May: Footballer Paul Adcock
3 May: Broadcast journalist Katya Adler
5 May: Olympic rower James Cracknell

Deaths

11 May: Poet EV Rieu

Meanwhile…

19 April: Lord Chief Justice Lord Widgery exonerated the British troops who opened fire on Bloody Sunday of blame, saying the demonstration had been illegal.

30 April: The Brighton Belle Pullman car train made its final journey from London to Brighton.

3 May: In the first ever UEFA Cup final, Tottenham Hotspur beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 in the first leg at the Molineux in Wolverhampton.

6 May: Leeds United won the FA Cup for first time, defeating 1971 winners Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley Stadium.

8 May: Derby County won the Football League’s First Division title for the first time.

12 May: The Crown Court, established by the Courts Act 1971, replaced the Assize and Quarter Sessions in England and Wales. Also this day, property qualifications requiring jurors to be householders were abolished.  

17 May: Spurs completed a 3-2 aggregate win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at White Hart Lane to win the first UEFA Cup.

18 May: Queen Elizabeth II met her ill uncle, Edward, Duke of Windsor for the last time, at his Paris home.