Adam Ant Lives In My Ear Again.

As I mentioned in my last post about Poly Styrene's death, I was a into punk rock as a teen and young adult. I was Gothic/punk rock and spent my weekends at the local punk shows in Spokane, WA with my friends. I also would make mix tapes from the local college radio station of punk/new wave songs from the 70s and early 80s to listen to when not listening to the radio.

I was a punk rock girl who never really got into The Sex Pistols or The Ramones. They were not really to my taste though I adored John Lydon with all his snarky rudeness. I just preferred Lydon in Public Image Ltd and PiL's music to The Sex Pistols. I was more a The Clash, X-Ray Spex, The Damned, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Adam and the Ants girl. I enjoyed the rawness of The Clash and X-Ray Spex and the theater of The Damned, Siouxsie (I even did my make-up like she did!), and, especially, Adam and the Ants.

After hearing of Poly Styrene's death, I went on Youtube and rewatched a lot of the videos of that band...which led me to watching Adam Ant videos.



I had been thinking a lot about Adam Ant in the last month and found out he has an autobiography that was released in the UK. I also found out that Adam Ant had struggled with being bipolar for most his life. Something I had no idea of in my young punk days since it was not public knowledge, at least in the US. It seems that Adam Ant talks about this struggle in his autobiography and it makes me want to read it.

Above: The book that can be purchased at Amazon.com

I am in the process of having a friend in the UK get the book for me and send it to me to not have to go through the whole paying too much for it via Amazon or dealing with import/overseas shipping fees. I full of excitement and cannot wait until it is in my hands.

While I was looking at Adam Ant videos at Youtube, I came across a documentary show that aired on Bristish TV about Adam Ant and his struggle with bipolar disorder. It talked about how it affected him throughout the years and was utterly fascinating to watch for me since it never aired in the US.

You can see the first part (The Madness of Prince Charming) here:



I spend all of Tuesday evening watching all 8 parts on Youtube and being incredibly wrapped up in it. It was really interesting to hear all about him and it made me admire Adam Ant even more because he accomplished so much despite being bipolar. The documentary makes me want the book he has written even more.

I have always loved Adam Ant's fashion sense (I mentioned it here in my blog a few years back), his sexy aura he emitted, and his music was just so multi-layered in sound. The videos were so epic in scale at a time when most were just of bands playing in a white room with bad video effects added later.



Remember, this was pre-Duran Duran with their epic videos filmed in Sri Lanka (Hungry Like The Wolf) or movie style. According to The Madness of Prince Charming documentary, Adam Ant fought for the money to produce movie-style videos. I am glad he did because his videos are very memorable.



Over the past month I have downloaded two of his albums to my Itunes so I could have them on my Ipod. They brighten up stressful days, make city bus rides go faster (at least in my mind), and make me want to dance. How can one listen to Goody Two Shoes and not want to dance around the room?

I was happy to see that Adam Ant is going to give touring a go this spring/summer in the UK, as well as be part of a few festivals in the UK. I wish him all the best and wish I could catch one of those concerts...but being low on cash and in the US makes that impossible.

So, I will continue to listen to Adam Ant music on my Ipod and await my copy of his autobiography to show up in my mailbox.