Thursday, February 23, 2017

Song of the Day: 'Stand and Deliver' by Adam and the Ants


Had a hoot at the Adam Ant "Kings of the Wild Frontier" show last night at Webster Hall. My partner in crime (Greg) and I are both casual fans -- anyone who doesn't think "Ant Music" is the best song of all time is suspect in my book -- but I found myself appreciating the singer/songwriter on a deeper level with the focus on material coming from albums before his campier solo days. "Car Trouble" reminded me of a vintage Jam song, "Zerøx" showed how the Sex Pistols refocused Ant's musical aspirations, and it made perfect sense to me when Greg informed me that Nine Inch Nails had done a cover of "Physical (You're So)," a thought that would have hitherto seemed preposterous. (You wouldn't hear any guitar-driven bands cover "Strip"!) Still, it was MTV that made Adam a star in the U.S., so I probably shouldn't have been as surprised as I was that it was "Stand and Deliver" that brought the crowd to its knees, a seminal video single from the music channel's earliest and arguably most wonderful days. The excitement elicited a reprise call-back/singalong with the crowd, which made the more muted reaction to "Goody Two Shoes" seem all the more strange. ("Desperate But Not Serious" hit all the right notes for me.) Last night's re-scheduled New York show was the tour's final stop. But Wikipedia shows Ant -- who has battled mental illness for years -- has been touring pretty regularly for the past few years, so be sure to catch him while you can. 






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