"Ant Rap" | ||||
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Single by Adam and the Ants | ||||
from the album Prince Charming | ||||
B-side | "Friends" | |||
Released | 4 December 1981 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:26 | |||
Label | CBS | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Chris Hughes | |||
Adam and the Ants singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Ant Rap" on YouTube |
"Ant Rap" is a song by the British new wave band Adam and the Ants. Written by Adam Ant and Marco Pirroni, the song was remixed from the version on the group's 1981 album Prince Charming . It entered the UK Singles Chart in December 1981 at number 9 before rising to a peak position of number three. [1]
The setting for the music video is Bodiam Castle and features Adam wearing a suit of armour in the style of the movie Excalibur (released the same year, and made by the same armourer, Terry English), then a blue American football uniform with the number 57 on the front. While in his American football strip, he crashes through a door, revealing Marco Pirroni sitting at a grand piano dressed as Liberace. Adam then does a Bruce Lee impersonation while rescuing the princess (played by Lulu) before being seen again in his armour. The video ends with Adam jumping from the top of the castle into the moat (the jump is actually performed by a stuntman). He throws his sword in the moat only to see an armoured hand lift it again from the water. [2]
While widely panned by critics, "Ant Rap" was one of the earliest rap singles to chart in the UK, reaching number 3 on the UK singles chart. [3]
Paul Lester of The Guardian described "Ant Rap" as one of "the weirdest chart [hits] of all time: "Adam Ant is easily dismissed as pop pantomime, but his paeans to insects weren't just lyrically peculiar, they were examples of populist daring at its best, all yelps and Burundi beats - I'd single out his clattering Ant Rap as the weirdest of the weird, with extra points for reaching [number 3] with a song with no verse, no chorus, and a refrain comprising a list of the band members: 'Marco, Merrick, Terry-Lee, Gary Tibbs and yours tru-ly'." [4]
The B-side of the single is a re-recording of "Friends". The band's former label, Do IT, would release an early recording of "Friends" as a single in 1982. [5]
Ant boasts of his success and his ability to dance, and calls out the anarchists of the music scene, affirming he was never concerned with receiving their "credibility".[ citation needed ]
It was fairly common for Ant to record new versions of his pre-1980 compositions for the B-sides of his singles. For this single, an song from 1978 called "Friends" was used. The song had enjoyed a short spell as part of the band's live set in the summer and autumn of 1978; it was recorded for the July 1978 Peel Session and an August 1978 demo at Decca Studios, and was one of three unused tracks from the Dirk Wears White Sox album sessions eventually released on The B-Sides EP in March 1982.
In "Friends", Ant does a considerable amount of name-dropping in an attempt to be guestlisted. Among the people he claims as a friend include Shirley Bassey, late Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe, Michael Jackson, Michael Caine, John Wayne, Stevie Wonder, Eric Fromm and Bryan Ferry. [6]
Kings of the Wild Frontier is the second album by English new wave band Adam and the Ants. It was released in November 1980 by CBS Records International. This album introduced the Burundi beat sound to popular music.
Dirk Wears White Sox is the debut studio album by English new wave band Adam and the Ants. It was released on 30 November 1979 by record label Do It. It was the first number one album on the UK Independent Albums Chart when the chart debuted in Record Week in 1980.
"Stand and Deliver" is a song by British new wave band Adam and the Ants, released as the lead single from their third studio album, Prince Charming (1981). It was the band's first No. 1 hit in the UK. The phrase "stand and deliver — your money or your life", used in the lyrics, is commonly associated with highwaymen in 18th century England.
"Goody Two Shoes" is the debut solo single by Adam Ant, released on 7 May 1982.
Prince Charming is the third album by and final credited to Adam and the Ants, released in November 1981. This album features bass player Gary Tibbs in place of Kevin Mooney, the bassist on Kings of the Wild Frontier. The album included the band's two number one UK hit singles "Stand and Deliver" and "Prince Charming" as well as "Ant Rap".
Friend or Foe is the debut solo album by English singer and musician Adam Ant, released in October 1982 by Epic Records in the United States and Columbia Records elsewhere. The album peaked at number 5 in the UK, Adam Ant's highest charting solo album.
"Prince Charming" was a number-one single in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in September 1981 for Adam and the Ants. Written by Adam Ant and Marco Pirroni, and featuring on the album of the same name, it was Adam and the Ants' second number-one single in a row and was the fifth biggest hit of the year 1981.
Strip is the second solo studio album by Adam Ant, and counting his work with Adam and the Ants, his fifth studio album. It was released in 1983 and a stylistic departure from Ant's previous musical efforts. This record is much less rock-oriented and more grounded in pop and dance. Ant continued his songwriting collaboration with Marco Pirroni for the album. Along with Richard James Burgess and Ant, Pirroni was one of the album’s main producers. The album did not perform as well in Ant's home country as his previous albums and performed modestly in the US. Critics generally reviewed it unfavorably.
The Wolfmen are an English rock music band formed in 2004, and centred on Marco Pirroni and Chris Constantinou.
Antmusic: The Very Best of Adam Ant is a greatest hits compilation album from Adam Ant that covers his early work with Adam and the Ants as well as his solo work.
B-Side Babies is a compilation album by English new wave musician Adam Ant, released by Epic Records in 1994. It is not to be confused with The B-Sides, a 7 inch EP of "Friends" b/w "Kick"/"Physical", released by Do It Records in 1982.
Adam and the Ants were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. The group existed in two incarnations, both fronted by Adam Ant, over the period 1977 to 1982. The first, founded in May 1977 and known simply as The Ants until November of that year, transitioned from the punk rock to the post-punk and new wave era and released one album. The final line-up of this incarnation—Dave Barbarossa, Matthew Ashman, and Leigh Gorman—left the band in January 1980 at the suggestion of manager Malcolm McLaren to form Bow Wow Wow.
"Deutscher Girls" is a song by Adam and the Ants. Included in the 1978 Derek Jarman film Jubilee, in which Adam Ant appears as "The Kid", it was not released as a single until 12 February 1982.
"Cartrouble" is a song by Adam and the Ants, released as a single in March 1980 on Do It Records. It peaked at number 33 on the UK Singles Chart. Though usually stylised as one word, the title has also appeared as two separate words.
"Kings of the Wild Frontier" was the first 7" single by Adam and the Ants to feature the two-drummer Burundi beat for which the band became famous. It was also the first written by Adam Ant & Marco Pirroni, and their first single on CBS Records after leaving Do It Records.
"Dog Eat Dog" is the opening track on the Adam and the Ants album Kings of the Wild Frontier. It was written by Adam Ant & Marco Pirroni, and features the two-drummer Burundi beat for which Adam and the Ants would become famous. Released as a 7" single on 3 October 1980, it was their first top ten hit.
"Friend or Foe" was the title track, and second single from Adam Ant's first solo album. It was released 11 September 1982, exactly one month before the album was released.
"Desperate But Not Serious" is a song by Adam Ant, released on 19 November 1982 as the third single from his first solo album, Friend or Foe. It peaked at number 33 on the UK Singles Chart, and number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. Both the studio version and a live version of "Desperate But Not Serious" appear on the double Adam Ant compilation, Antmusic: The Very Best of Adam Ant.
"Room at the Top" is a song by Adam Ant, and the lead track on his fourth solo album, Manners & Physique. It was released as a single on 5 February 1990, a month prior to the album's release.
"Friends" b/w "Kick"/"Physical", also known as The B-Sides, is an extended play and the final single from Adam and the Ants. All three songs were written by Adam Ant, and were early fan favorites among 'Antpeople'. "Friends" and "Physical" were performed at a John Peel session on 10 July 1978. All three tracks had previously been recorded in 1978 for the Ants' first label Decca Records. "Kick" at RAK Studios in Chalbert Street, London, produced by Snips, "Friends" and "Physical" at Decca's own studio at Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead, produced by Ant himself.