1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 473. Adam And The Ants – Kings Of The Wild Frontier (1980)

 

Adam Ant (Stuart Goddard) brought a very distinctive sound to early Eighties music, mostly thanks to the dual Burundi-style drumming that comes with most of the tracks. That, and a visual style that is also instantly recognisable even 45 years later (Yes, I know! It really has been that long). The white face stripe, which like KISS’s make-up can be reduced to a simplified icon and still be recognisable, the dress-up box mix of military/gypsy flamboyance that stands out even amid the New Romantic style of the time. The dress-up theme extends to pirates in the jokey sea shanty Jolly Roger (not one of the stronger tracks on the album). 

Fortunately most of the songs are pretty good. The big single, Antmusic, is kind of a manifesto, the drum intro copied by many an Eighties schoolchild using pencils, much to the annoyance of parents and teachers. The sing-speak interjection that “Don’t tread on an ant, they’ve done nothing to you. There may come a time when he’s treadin’ on you”. And the chorus that claims that “Antmusic’s here to stay”. Well, it sort of was. It’s lasted, even though there was only a brief burst at the time.  

And what is “Ant Music”? As the song Don’t Be Square (Be There) says, “Antmusic for sex people, sex music for ant people” and that it’s all “All good clean fun (whatever that means)”, which is added in the camp tones of Kenny Everett in his character of Cupid Stunt.  

There’s a strong emphasis on Westerns and the Old West, from the twangy spaghetti Western sounds of Los Rancheros (which references “For a few dollars more, they’ll hang me high”), the Magnificent Five (with a classic rock/rockabilly feel), references to Geronimo in Killer In The Home and Davy Crockett in Kings Of The Wild Frontier, even taking up a serious stance on the rights of indigenous people in The Human Beings, a combined celebration of, and lament for, Native American cultures. 

So although the references are all over the place, that’s part of the joy. It’s a bit of pop culture that’s managed to last. The late Seventies/early Eighties were a bit of a grim time economically, and musical artists either embrace that and highlight the grimness or, in the case of Adam & The Ants, go a bit Weimar Republic and just have some flamboyant fun. There’s room for both.