Antmusic

"Antmusic"
Single by Adam and the Ants
from the album Kings of the Wild Frontier
B-side "Fall In"
Released 28 November 1980
Format Vinyl record (7")
Genre New wave, glam rock, post-punk
Length 3:15
Label Epic (UK); CBS (AUS)
Songwriter(s) Adam Ant, Marco Pirroni
Producer(s) Chris Hughes
Adam and the Ants singles chronology
"Dog Eat Dog"
(1980)		 "Antmusic"
(1980)		 "Stand and Deliver"
(1980)

"Dog Eat Dog"
(1980)		 "Antmusic"
(1980)		 "Stand and Deliver"
(1980)

"Antmusic" is a song by Adam and the Ants, released as the third single in the UK in 1980 from the album Kings of the Wild Frontier (released 3 November 1980).[1]

The first single from Kings of the Wild Frontier was the title track, making number 48 (although it re-entered the charts in early 1981 peaking at number 2). The follow-up "Dog Eat Dog" made number 4 on the UK Singles Chart.[1] "Antmusic" peaked at No. 2 in the UK[1] in January 1981, being held off the top by the re-release of John Lennon's "Imagine" after his murder in New York City on 8 December 1980.

The music video to "Antmusic" featured the group playing in a discothèque with a giant juke box, and persuading the young audience to turn away from disco music and dance to the new-styled 'Ant-Music'. The music video was directed by Steve Barron.

The single spent five weeks at No. 1 in Australia, and earned the band platinum certification for sales of over 100,000. Adam and the Ants toured Australia in 1981 and appeared on influential TV pop show Countdown.

The song was featured in the 2015 film Ant-Man.

Although some overseas singles include the 3:36 album version, the original UK vinyl 7" single is 3:15. This short version has never appeared on CD to date.[2]

Fall In

It was fairly common for Ant to record new versions his pre-1980 compositions for the B-side of his singles. For this single, an old Ant song dating back to pre-Ants band The B-Sides in 1976 called Fall In was used. The song was co-written by Ant and Lester Square and originally entitled Fall Out, until The Police released a song by that same name in May 1977. A recording has surfaced of the song being performed by the Ants at a private preview show in a Muswell Hill bedroom on 5 May 1977.[3] Following Square's departure, Ant added new lyrics referencing the band's regular rehearsal space at the Screen On The Green cinema in Muswell Hill. The resulting version was first recorded as a home demo in Putney in July 1977 and a full band demo was recorded at Decca Studios in August 1978. The version on the Antmusic B-side was recorded in 1980 during sessions for the Kings album at Rockfield Studios. The song has been a frequent feature of Ant's live setlists both with the Ants and solo, from 1977 to the present day. Live versions have been released on the 1994 live album Antmusic: The Very Best of Adam Ant: Disc Two and in excerpt form on the 2014 documentary The Blueblack Hussar directed by Jack Bond. The 1978 Decca Studios version appears in full as closing credit music on the 2015 DVD live video album Dirk Live at the Apollo.

Square's later band The Monochrome Set also continued to perform a version of the song, with new lyrics, under the title Fallout. The song appeared as a B side to the 1979 single "He's Frank" (Slight Return) as well as a 1979 Peel Session. Another joint Ant/Square composition, Fat Fun which had similar shared ownership between the two bands (albeit again with differing lyrics) was also recorded by the Ants at Rockfield, but was not released until 2000 on the Antbox boxset. The Monochrome Set's version of Fat Fun can be heard on the compilation Volume, Contrast, Brilliance....

Covers

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Adam Ant and the Ants". Rolling Stone.
  2. ↑ "Antmusic - UK 7" Single".
  3. ↑ The Ants - Fallout - Muswell Hill Bedroom 5 May 1977
  4. ↑ "Antmusic - Hypnolovewheel". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
Preceded by
"Counting the Beat" by The Swingers		 Australian Kent Music Report number-one single
23 March 1981 – 20 April 1981 		Succeeded by
"9 to 5 (Morning Train)" by Sheena Easton
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.