Adam Ant - Punk or New Romantic?

A long interview with Adam Ant in today's Guardian. Apparently, Adam gets annoyed when anyone muddles him up with the early 80s new romantic scene.

"Cos new romantic was nothing to do with Adam and the Ants. The Ants was a punk band, or a post-punk band if anything, and so historically it's inaccurate. New romantic was basically, in my mind, clubbers with too much makeup on with stupid clothes. I never set foot in any of their clubs, so I find it quite distressing to be nobbled into new romantic, cos it was just a load of guys who looked like they'd had a row with their girlfriends' makeup. There was nothing tough about it, nothing dangerous about it, it was soft electro stuff and it just looked a bit wet. And I didn't like being associated with it."

The fact of the matter is that nobody at the time identified themselves as 'New Romantics'.  I remember interviewing Duran Duran once and they got quite tetchy when I suggested they might be New Romantics. The same with Spandau Ballet. Which begs the question - if Adam, Spandau and Duran weren't New Romantics, who was...?

Anyway, you can read The Guardian interview here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/feb/19/adam-ant-sex-style-humour and they also have this new video of Adam performing Stand And Deliver.

Howard Jones, radio star

Howard Jones will be hosting a four-part radio series entitled Electronic 80s with Howard Jones for the UK 80s music radio station Absolute 80s. The hour-long show starts Sunday 4th March at 8pm, with subsequent shows airing on 11th March, 18th March and 25th March.

More info on Absolute 80s.

See also, my recent interview with Howard.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik - 26 years on...

At the time, it was very fashionable to hate Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Serious music journos everywhere dismissed them as manufactured, over-hyped and under-talented. They played the part of a futuristic rock group in a world where image is everything. Maybe they played it too well?

Looking back on them now, it seems to me that they were rather wonderful. They had the music, the image, the attitude. They presented themselves as a pre-packaged product for the modern world - a world in which TV, advertising and instant gratification is the norm. I think they had the misfortune to burst onto the music scene at exactly the wrong time. It was post-punk, post-New Romantic. In 1986 you were either into "serious" bands like The Smiths and U2 or the polished pop of Madonna and Diana Ross. Sigue Sigue Sputnik just didn't fit in. A great shame, really.

Watch this video of their biggest hit - released this month (February) in 1986 and making UK Number 3 in early March. Looking it it now, I keep asking myself: what is there not to like?