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What artistic life after punk? What is possible for those who, directly in London Town, contributed to the plundering of art, raped the pentagrams, poured acid on certainties, hurled boiling oil on styles, and thoroughly mined the field to then witness the explosion?
Active on the artistic-musical scene since 1975 (even though his first and until then only record was dated 1979), in 1980 Adam Ant realized that, by destroying everything, London punk had practically destroyed itself too, like a kamikaze, a suicide bomber. Even for Ant, things were pretty much the same: McLaren had screwed his Ants to turn them into a pop group, his longtime manager and great friend Jordan (a saleswoman at Westwood's sex shop and punk icon planet-wide) had returned home to the south...
In 1980, Adam reconstructs his band (only in part) and above all convinces himself that the time has come to give free rein to his musical "obsessions": two drummers, Native American rhythms and choirs, pirate chants, screams of warriors charging themselves before the assault...
This record begins in full "new course" style with "Dog Eat Dog", a Native American dance upon which rises an epic guitar riff. Ant's singing sobs in imitation of Indian vocals. He incites the crowd of warriors and prepares them for battle. Between the verses, there is a harsh guitar interlude and low, epic "oohs." Then comes "Antmusic", a very amusing programmatic manifesto, or rather an advertising spot directed at himself... Bright voice, "hop hop" from people doing aerobics, a chorus of guitar strumming, and a flat guitar solo. "Want to have fun? Then unplug that juke box, do us this favor: that music has lost its flavor... So try another taste: Antmusic!"
"Feed Me To The Lions" starts with a great rhythm and an interrogative opening that goes "Too emotional am I?" It can't help but include, for "coherence," choirs that go "ahe uh ahe uh"... Inevitably, to make the song cover-band proof, there's a guitar solo not played by Pirroni but by Lawrence of Arabia. You move to New Mexico and transform into a refined stagecoach raider who pays homage to and quotes Clint Eastwood in a well-executed but idea-poor filler "Los Rancheros" (and those few are highly stereotypical). I prefer "Cowboy" by Jovanotti. "Ant Invasion" is a rock 'n' roll horror: a bass rhythm that "manipulates" the piece under a frightened guitar. The hunt for the giant ant is a delirious theme for a song and anything else. The splendid somewhat medieval special of a brave captain "frozen" with fear is noteworthy; also notable is Adam the dreamer's performance in the entire third verse: a man conquered by terror. A theatrical episode that succeeds, a worthy example of the "new Adamitic course."
The title track launches, after a native choir in the invader's language, a new programmatic manifesto song on a double drum that emulates tribal drums. The singing and bass notes are almost identical and travel (almost) parallel. Anglo-medieval melody on native-tribal rhythm. "Antpeople are the warriors, Antmusic is our banner!" shouts the leader maximo among the screams of his people, and then everyone dances with the wolves until the sun rises: then it will be time to die... Like it or not, the listener on duty, Ant's voice in this piece is that of a punkster like Joe Strummer. Moreover, this piece shows, more than others, how good the (post?-)punk is as a frame to such daring rock experiments.
"The Magnificent Five" resembles "Antmusic," mirroring its stylistic elements but failing to replicate its catchiness. "Don't Be Square (Be There)" seems almost disco; probably, given its form and taste, it dates back to his "previous musical life": filler with the chorus being the title of the last album ("Dirk Wears White Sox," besides being the chorus of this song and the previous album's title, is also the title of a song discarded at the time of the first album, found in its 2004 Deluxe edition: but how can you make an album where you discard the title track?). "Jolly Roger" is practically a "real" song by drunken pirates ready to crush a man's head with the tip of their wooden leg. A nice whistle... This is not at all a combination of punk and Ant's childhood tradition/imaginary: it is practically a total rip-off of a "style," if we can call it that.
"Making History" starts punk among guitars that scratch each other; it becomes a cheerful "summer" tune, and then, finally, loses itself with those usual - and, by the eleventh consecutive song, unbearable - "ohiohioh," which more than a Native American, Adam sounds like a South Tyrolean who has just downed a distillery of grappa. In the end, the piece never takes off, instead fading underground. "The Human Beings" is the convincing final experiment: it begins in line with the new wave production of that time and does nothing but quote the names of some American tribes, one after the other. Human beings would be nothing more than the members (the few left) of those few native tribes. The others? Worms, more or less solitary, that kill and are killed over a meaningless thing called power.
A very long album for the time, featuring a creative mind who had many things to clarify (with the world but perhaps also with himself). Despite the fillers, this record still shines for originality, this time not so much "compositional" but "structural," "planned," of "field choice": epic and/or medieval music, "piracy," drums and Indian chants, all together and all within a pop-rock structure that "stands firm."
An unrepeatable work for its "genuineness" and historical conjunctures, as well as the author's boldness (and indeed the subsequent "Prince Charming," despite attempting to follow the trend, will not measure up to this), which unfortunately and reluctantly triggered an almost absurd fashion trend known as the new romantic movement (a movement to which everything but should say Ant adhered), and which nevertheless condemned Western Europe to leave home with bandanas on their heads (notwithstanding those times didn't have the adequate technology for bulb transplants), to tattoo helm wheels, mermaids, pirate flags, and pink dolphins all over their bodies, to walk with a parrot on their shoulder and watch Portobello on TV because there was the parrot; to wear pirate eye patches, to buy Moschino clothes, to consider Moschino a stylist... But above all, and worst of all, it forced us to see on TV singers like Bertè or Fiordaliso dressing like the Flying Dutchman at various Festivalbar episodes. Just for this, I should take at least one star away from Adam Ant...
But perhaps, since twenty-seven years have passed, I forgive him.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Dog Eat Dog (03:11)
You may not like
The things we do
Only idiots
Ignore the truth
It's easy to
Lay down and hide
Where's the warrior
Without his pride?
We're gonna move real good - yeah right
We're gonna dress so fine - OK
It's
Dog eat dog eat dog eat dog
Eat dog eat dog eat dog eat dog
Leapfrog the dog
And brush me daddy-O
It's easy to
Lay down and hide
Where's the warrior
Without his pride?
You may not like
The things we say
What's the difference
Anyway?
We're gonna move real good - yeah right
We're gonna dress so fine - OK
It's
Dog eat dog eat dog eat dog
Eat dog eat dog eat dog eat dog
Leapfrog the dog
And brush me daddy-O
It makes me proud
So proud of you
I see innocence
Shining through
(repeat 'til end)
© BMG Music Publishing Limited
02 Antmusic (03:39)
Well I'm standing here looking at you
What do I see?
I'm looking straight through
It's so sad
When you're young
To be told
You're having fun
So unplug the jukebox
And do us all a favour
That music's lost its taste
So try another flavour -
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
well I'm standing here what do I see?
a big nothing
threatening me
it's so sad
when you're young
to be told
you're having fun
So unplug the jukebox
And do us all a favour
That music's lost its taste
So try another flavour -
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
(guitarsolo)
So unplug the jukebox
And do us all a favour
That music's lost its taste
So try another flavour -
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
Don't tread on an ant he's done nothing to you
There might come a day
When he's treading on you
Don't tread on an ant you'll end up black and blue
You cut off his head
Legs come looking for you
So unplug the jukebox
And do us all a favour
That music's lost its taste
So try another flavour -
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
So unplug the jukebox
And do us all a favour
That music's lost its taste
So try another flavour -
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
('til fade)
© BMG Music Publishing Limited
03 Feed Me to the Lions (03:00)
too emotional am I?
too emotional am I?
with a spirit soaring
ten miles high
I sing loud words that make me cry
too emotional are we?
too emotional are we?
defying all security
I mean to keep this fire in me
because you're feeding me
to the lions
you're feeding me
to the lions
feeding me
to the lions
too emotional are you?
too emotional are you?
with just one heart
to see you through
a world where facts are so untrue
04 Los Rancheros (03:31)
Oi oi oi!
A few dollars more
They'll hang me high
But still me spirit
Will survive
There's money over there
But not for long
Soon my worries
Will be gone
Rancheros (Clint)
Rancheros (Eastwood)
Rancheros (Clint)
Rancheros
Rancheros (Clint)
Rancheros (Eastwood)
Rancheros (Clint)
Rancheros
And there's a bullet with my name on it
Times-a-coming
When a new breed say
Welcome tomorrow
Instead of yesterday
My times-a-coming
When those despised
Take shelter from the power
Of my Kiowa eyes
Rancheros (Clint)
Rancheros (Eastwood)
Rancheros (Clint)
Rancheros
Rancheros (Clint)
Rancheros (Eastwood)
Rancheros (Clint)
Rancheros
And there's a bullet with my name on it
Oi oi oi!
© BMG Music Publishing Limited
06 Killer in the Home (04:23)
I live the life that I've been left
I leave most things unspoken
But deep inside Geronimo
Is tearing me apart
I've seen him in the streets
And I've seen him in the pictures
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
Now's the time I must digress
From going through the motions
Take my head out of its sling
Free the warrior
I'll fight him in my dreams
And I'll fight him till he kills me
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
I live the life that I've been left
I leave most things unspoken
But deep inside Geronimo
Is tearing me apart
I've seen him in the streets
And I've seen him in the pictures
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
(oh well) They cut you in half with a gun
And they give you a bandaid
(yeah) They gut you in half with a gun
And they give you a bandaid
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
Oh well they cut you in half with a gun
And they give you a bandaid
Yeah they gut you in half with a gun
And they give you a bandaid
Killer, killer, killer...
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
Killer in the home
Killer...
Is the home
© BMG Music Publishing Limited
07 Kings of the Wild Frontier (03:54)
A new Royal Family
A wild nobility
We are the family
I feel beneath the White
There is a red skin suffering
From centuries of taming
"No method in our madness
Just pride about our manner
Antpeople are the warriors
Antmusic is the banner!"
And even when you're healthy
And your colour schemes delight
Down below those dandy clothes
You're just a shade too white
Shade too white!
Shade too white!
I feel beneath the white
There is a red skin suffering
From centuries of taming...
08 The Magnificent Five (03:06)
long ago in London town
a man called Ant sat deeply sighing
he was wondering
which side of the fence he was on
prick up your ears...
time went by and soon
the one was five young hombres
burning fire
they were in no doubt
which side of the fence they were on
prick up your ears (mag-nificent five)...
he who writes in blood
doesn't want to be read
he must be learned by heart
he's got to be learned by heart
they believed in sex and looking good
with their own brand of music
they weren't pandering
so which side of the fence
are you on?
10 Jolly Roger (02:13)
In days of old, when ships were bold
Just like the men who sailed them
and if they showed us disrespect
we'd tie them up and flail them
often men of low degree
and often men of steel
who'd make you walk the plank alone
or haul you 'round the keel
hoist the Jolly Roger!
hoist the Jolly Roger!
hoist the Jolly Roger!
it's your money that we want
and your money we shall have!
of all the pirates on the seas
the worst of them was Blackbeard
so damnable a fiend from hell
he was the one they most feared
any man who sailed with him
was taking quite a chance
he'd hang them from the gallows
just to see if they could dance (ha! ha!)
11 Making History (02:58)
Adam ant/marco pirroni
The murder happy characters have such fun
They murder happy characters one by one
You want a second chance
But you don't get one
And the good guys hate the bad guys
And the bad guys hate the good guys
And we call this making history
And we call this making history
And we call this making history
And we call this making history
The murder happy characters like to creep
They murder little children while they sleep
And leave you on the floor in a big red heap
The murder happy characters say they know
How to keep the crime rate way down low
"just nip it in the bud so it can't grow"
And the good guys hate the bad guys
And the bad guys hate the good guys
And we call this making history
And the good guys hate the bad guys
And the bad guys hate the good guys
And we call this making history
12 The Human Beings (04:15)
Blackfoot-Pawnee-Cheyenne-Crow
Apache
Arapaho
the human beings
goklayeh-ho
13 Press Darlings (04:16)
we are guilty, we are beyond hope
we beg to differ, we are a terminal case
press darlings, press darlings, press darlings
press darlings, press darlings
we depress the press, darlings
we're on the outside, but we're not looking in
we are the vaseline gang, don't play your little games
press darlings, press darlings, press darlings
press darlings, press darlings
we depress the press, darlings
and if evil be the food of genius
there aren't many demons around
if passion ends in fashion
nick kent / bushell is the best-dressed man in town
are we different? - no
we are exactly the same
there are no boxes for us
the ones you love to hate - so read on!
14 Physical (You're So) (04:30)
I want to date you maybe
I want to take you out
I want to wine and dine you-oo
I want to twist and twist and shout
I want you hard in my arms
so soft on my bed
you get the keys to my heart
when you wear that sweet dress
(you know, the short one)
you're so physical, physical for me
you're just too physical, physical, for me
I want your roughouse baby
I want this night in your ear
let me feel you danger
I want to make this feeling clear
I want the touch of your charms
the heat of your breath
I want to say all those things
(those dirty things)
that would be better unsaid
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