Kings Of The Wild Frontier

This is fucking horrible - I love it. I'm not sure why I actually like this. The lyrics are stupid, the music is stupid, the name and album art are stupid.. there's even a completely random pirate song for absolutely no reason. The band's not even "Adam & The Ants", there's one guy named "Adam Ant". It makes no sense - that's like The Beatles calling themselves "John & The Lennons". This is what the kids like to call "penis music" and I'm here for it. Yeah I gave this a 4/5 and The White Album a 2/5, what are you going to do about it. I am aware that my brain is completely rotten and that I have tiny goblins building aqueducts in my cerebral cortex.

Why does the album generator hate me?

The range of influences in this album is impressive. I hear Beach Boys, Beatles, punk, African music (particularly Burundi), and glam rock. Adam and the Ants are clearly not overly concerned with mixing these influences or writing idiosyncratic songs, such as 'Jolly Roger,' yet there is a unity to this album that makes it all work. There's a lot to love here. The more I dive into New Wave, the more I'm convinced that it is one of the most forward thinking movements in popular music history.

I really like this one. It's like the Animals meets the Talking Heads, but with a little something special mixed in there. Honestly, I can't iterate why I dug this so much. I just did.

An album I've never heard of from an artist I've never heard of, nice! After reviewing the Belle & Sebastian album, a band formed by two Stuarts, I'm surprised to find that Adam Ant is in fact also named Stuart. There's some sort of British Stuart invasion that needs to be investigated. I appreciate this album's weirdness. It's got a touch of that '80s new wave feel, but it's mostly dwarfed by a more experimental edge. I wish I could say I liked this, but I didn't. Of course, I liked a few songs, and I can tell why someone would like it (I'm guessing Andrew and/or Alden will love this one), but as experimental as it is, it didn't really grab or hold my interest. The '80s pop/droning rock combo is lost on me. I wouldn't say it's a bad album, but I wouldn't say it's good either. Also, did Death Grips sample "Killer in the Home" on "Spread Eagle Cross the Block"? Maybe not, but the three-chord riff sounds similar. Favorite tracks: Dog Eat Dog, Ants Invasion Album art: really cool picture, very menacing. Giving off some Buffalo Bill, "Goodbye Horses" vibes. I like the inexplicably backwards D in "ADAM," especially because the D in "WILD" is not backwards. Watch out folks, this guy's wacky! 2.5/5

Behind the idiosyncratic sounds of early 80s post punk/new wave--which have aged quite well given the revival surge of these sounds occuring in the British scene these days--, behind the experimental drive borrowing a lot of disparate elements here and there, from Glam Rock and Surf Rock to traditional Burundi rythms and Tex Mex / Western Country twangs, behind all those endearing and/or hypnotic details, there's one thing that this record displays that's cruelly missing in a lot of the more obscure cuts sometimes suggested by Dimery's list among well-known landmarks: infectious pop melodies. They're here played with an undeniable sense of fun, and the end result is here a record which is anything but pretentious, and yet manages to impress you from the get-go with its manifold stylistic twists and turns. I was barely aware of who Adam Ant was before his name popped up on this app. From what I hear, his overall discography will be quite hit or miss for me. But it only took one exhilarated spin of this particluar record to make the latter a new late-70s/early-80s favorite of mine, along with the greatest albums of Siouxsie And The Banshees, Wire, The Cure, Bauhaus, Gang Of Four, The Clash, The Damned, This Heat and the likes. An awesome discovery. Whoever in Dimery's team was in charge of that specific scene has great taste. I will thank him forever, along with the creator of this app. Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 853 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory: 81 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 36 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 31

Pop used to be this mad. Why do we now worship such mediocrity. Pirate afrodrum pop punk. What's not to love?

SEX MUSIC FOR ANT PEOPLE! ANT MUSIC FOR SEX PEOPLE!

Met a guy in a bar once who told me he was a famous popstar in the 80s. I didn't really believe him, but he was Adamant...... I only knew Prince charming and stand and deliver prior to this, but this album wasn't what I expected. Was a bit glam rock, which surprised me, that opening track sounded like Hanoi rocks. Probably didn't enjoy it enough to go back but it was far more interesting than I expected. 3.5

Big cowboys and Indians/Western meets glam rock vibes here! Really fun with lots of catchy songs and always gotta appreciate anyone trying to be a bit different!

I always liked Adam Ant without really knowing his music that well. This is a fine display of why I like it and possibly also explains why i never got to know it that well. It is a major thump-a- thon - high energy right at yeah. The easiest to hear lyrics are often amusing. Not too much drama; just good fun. Adam has a way to grab hold of you without being arrogant or obnoxious It's a great party vibe and a band meant to be seen live or heard at parties where you're so fucked up you can't hold a normal conversation anyway so why not spin the Ants.  The last half of the album did seem to start to fade. 

I've been a fan of Adam Ant's pop music since I was a kid, but I hadn't listened to Kings of the Wild Frontier until a few years ago. Ant was one of my first crushes, but I learned to deeply appreciate his work after rewatching Sofia Coppola's film, Marie Antoinette & taking a deep dive during the pandemic. He & his band were tired of the gritty punk scene & wanted to do something colorful and "heoric." In the book, Mad World - An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs that Defined the 1980s, he says he tapped into and studied the Regency dandy, military history, pirates & Native Americans. He grew to deeply appreciate Native Americans and even got a tribe's blessing to wear the Apache war stripe. For him, the stripe represented war against the record companies. He also felt a kinship to the Native Americans & adopted some of their philosophies. (Having a Romani Gypsy grandfather born in a caravan, he understood to be culturally mindful & respectful). It's evident in the lyrics, "I feel beneath the white, there is a redskin suffering from centuries of taming." What a brazen political statement made by an English band. I can't recall any American bands taking these types of stances in their music at the time. The album is interestingly a bit of everything: spaghetti western, pirates, and Burundian drum music. Let's not forget those twangy guitars. It's very entertaining, and his style was like no other. It turns out Michael Jackson asked Ant where he got his jacket, so Ant directed him to Bermans in London. It's a hussar jacket - a theatrical costume. Michael said, "I want an Adam Ant jacket." And that's how his famous red military jacket look was born. Adam Ant deserves FAR more credit than he gets. He & his band are the forefathers of post-punk, and they were incredibly creative & bold. Personally, I love this album. I had hoped to dress as Ant for Halloween (I enjoy gender bending, so a female as Ant would've been rad), but I don't have the time. Maybe next year. And I hope to see him live next year since he canceled Cruel World 2023. If I never see him live, I'll always have his music. 5 fucking stars.

Definitely music

Love this album, busted out the vinyl for this listen

nice, downloaded it

It's so bad I actually really enjoy it These guys shitposted before shitposting was a thing. Truly revolutionary.

Bonkers in the best way possible. A heady mixture of African drumbeats, pop culture references and giddy yelps that helped herald the birth of new wave.

Loved it! Serious Oingo Boingo vibes!

Played this album a thousand times in my bedroom. It's always very interesting when musicians who ate their own world and sing about it like ant music and Dirk wears white socks. It's good, but I'm pretty sure I could have lived the full life without having ever heard this album. However, seeing him live was a formative experience but not how I expected. It was on the don't drink,.don't smoke,.what do you do to her at the Springfield Civic center during hockey season so they had these giant plywood boards down over the ice. The Romantics opened up and they won me over even though I wasn't a fan of the stuff you heard on the radio particularly. Like any self-respecting teenager, I was very committed to getting a tour shirt to wear the next day to school to brag to all my buddies. Unfortunately, the only shirts they had available were of a naked torso of adamant writhing in a very promiscuous way. At that point I decided it was more important to me to be seen amongst my jr high peers as being hip then as being heterosexual. And I've never looked back but it may explain why it took me so long to get a girlfriend....

Overrated album from an overrated band

Bit boring ennit

This album and Dirk and the rest are why I am how I am. I could not love this more, now or then. Get off your knees and hear the insect prayer!

Catching up on last 3 days - Hendrix made me appreciate why people bang on about him so much (he's on another level), Hookworms transported me to a cool electronic plane of smooth, but damned if this isn't the album of the 3 that I'll be playing again and again on repeat. Banging.

Dog Eat Dog has some excellent beat and bass work. This sounds like the sound track for the lost boys in Peter Pan.

Bolshy chanting; boisterous drum blatter and heroic post-punk guitar muscle make this a pop record that bangs its songs into memory while bypassing the usual tropes of the catchy tune. Had fun with this, may return.

Swept up in the silliness 7/10

For this review, I'm sticking to the original LP tracklisting, and not factoring in the B-side tracks and second disc of the super deluxe edition. I hadn't heard of Adam and the Ants before, and that album artwork already gives me quite the impression. This group went through a near complete lineup change before this album, along with a style shift from post-punk to new wave, with the sole consistent member being frontman Adam Ant. Kings of the Wild Frontier gave me similar vibes to The Stranglers concerning the manic energy that Adam and the rest of this group exerted in their songs. From the get-go on "Dog Eat Dog", the Burundi drums kick in as Adam howls and belts his way through, complemented by catchy guitar hooks. It doesn't take long before lyrical themes go off the rails, from talking about the uprising of ant-people to pirates and Native American tribes. It's fun in its lack of cohesion with good riffs and percussion, though this band kept at 100% chaos and doesn't give a break to change up the style, so be aware of that. Give it a spin.

I’ve definitely heard some Adam and the Ants before (Staaaaand and deliver!!) which I’ve enjoyed. Beyond that, I certainly wouldn’t say I’m over familiar, but I like what I’ve heard, and this album led to me liking more. I really enjoyed the tribal sound that came across a lot of the time. The sound is undeniably pop, but the drums would frequently stay on the toms making more of a marching beat than I expected. There are a lot of catchy moments here, making for a fun album.

Still the coolest look in pop, and a unique sound too.

I was vaguely aware of this band when they were active, but I'm not sure I ever heard anything by them, or at least from this album. And now, after listening to the album and watching the (very dated) videos, I'm sorry on some level for having missed out on them, as they seem like a great example of the potential of New Wave that fell apart with subsequent acts like Duran Duran/Pet Shop Boys/New Order. And I really enjoy some aspects of their music, from the double drums (at least on some songs) and some interesting harmonies/backing vocals, and full credit for being much more of a traditional band than relying heavily on keyboards. And those costumes...nothing speaks New Wave like a Musketeer-outfit with all sorts of hair flair and white face paint. My favorites on the album are probably "Antmusic" (largely from the dual-drums into and the fun video and outrageously 80s outfits and dancing), the spaghetti-western-inspired "Los Rancheros", and "Killer in the home". But ultimately, the songs aren't all that interesting either lyrically or musically, at least for my tastes. But kudos to Adam Ant for creating this seminal album from the ashes of Malcolm McClaren having poached all his band members to create Bow Wow Wow.

An iconic, ubiquitous presence when I was a nipper; I've never listened to any of the Ants' albums but have a fond, somewhat hazy memory of the singles, their campy, bright VHS-color distorted videos (as the cover image captures here perfectly) and the faintly menacing Ant subculture of the local scary teenagers ("whatever that means!"). This album was enjoyable but mainly empty calories, apart from the singles. He does have a killer Greatest Hits, of course - "Stand And Deliver" probably my fave

Kind of stupid but also kind of fun

Very 80's. A vibe that reminds me of Bowie just in the slightest I think. 3.5

Meh. Nothing standout at all here except for a few, very stupid lyrics.

Awful, random sounds that vaguely remind me of riffs off other oddly random crappy sounds. The fact that this guy ever had a music career makes me hurt.

Bloody Adam and his bloody ants annoyed me at the time and still do. That might be a bit unfair due to my ex-wife liking them. But as I say I disliked them then when things were rosy between me and my ex (her liking this shit should have been a massive neon lit warning sign) Where my hatred lies is hard to define because I suppose the tracks on this album are up to standard reasonable toe tapping pop songs. Everywhere you went in 1980 you had to endure these songs which came a bit exhausting. That and of course all the “ants” stood in an upright pose with two fingers across their brows looking menacing (not that was possible due to hilarious application of make up) And don’t get me started on those ubiquitous videos on MTV and the like. It was impossible to avoid them. Crashing through glass windows is really dangerous but Adam or should I say Stuart managed to do it regularly and still came back to give us more of his stinking music. There is a happy ending in that they broke up in 1982 so my misery was short lived. That is until today when this album arrived on my list. 1/5 25/8/24

One notable item about this album is the "Jolly Roger" song. A pirate song by a punk/new wave group? Ok... Other than that, not much else to say about this. Should not be on a "must listen" album list for anyone. A final note is making mention of the odd "Lawrence of Arabia Theme" musical quote in song "Feed MeTo The Lions"; not sure if it is intentional or not...

What is this even? I'm not even sure if this still counts as music or if it's just a weirdo sing-songing whatever happens to be going through his head at that moment, supported by an unquestioning backup band. This is just really bad in every way. It's not even weird in an interesting way. Just weird and off-putting.

This is one of those albums that I don’t need to listen to in order to review and rate it, however, I listened to it twice today just because I love it so much. Perhaps the only notable pirate themed new-wave band to make its way out of the 1970’s, it’s really hard to imagine not falling in love with this record. Between Adam Ant’s incredibly dynamic vocals that switch effortlessly between shrieks and smooth tones, the fantastic percussion, and Marco Pirroni’s perfectly overdriven powerchords, there’s really nothing I can find fault with. Full disclosure: this has been one of my favourite albums since I was a small child, so I may be hearing it through rose coloured headphones, but I genuinely believe this record to be objectively great. There’s only a few other new-wave albums I’d put on the same level as this one, and certainly not a single one that surpasses it. It’s this wonderful combination of being incredibly cinematic yet still something you can and want to dance to. Did I mention Adam Ants dancing prowess? If you haven’t seen any of their music videos from this era, you owe it to yourself to watch them. 5*

Forgotten classic

A classic!!

Blackfoot, Pawnee, Cheyenne, Crow, apache, Arapaho!

Awesome

First album I ever bought!!!!!

Great album but one I need to be in the mood for.

I really really liked this.

Excellent, one of the classic sounds of the 80s. The drum rythm is fantastic and the whole album hangs together well

I really don't know the difference between punk and post-punk, but I do know that I'm pilled for both apparently

This one hits right in the feels. I've never listened to this album but I had a friend who was a big fan in Jr. High. I miss her. Great vocals, great drumming. All the songs seem like they were having fun. Good times.

9/10. The attitude is perfect. It's wild, and all over the place, but in a good way. The production is dope. This is such a fun album!!! :)

One of my favorite New Wave albums.

Wild stuff, love the personality on this guy

Except for the radio hit, Antmusic, I hadn't heard this one. And hadn't heard or thought of Adam Ant in decades. This was a blast to go back in time to my grade school years. Post-punk pop, in the vein of Devo, the sound aged surprisingly well.

Two drummers is a great idea for a band that cares more about driven sound than message. The hooks are repetitive and often silly, but that’s extraneous. 4.5

Truely awesome punk album.

Yes ...I liked this album

Didn't know what to expect coming into this knowing only 'Prince Charming' and 'Stand and Deliver' which are both on the next album. 'Dog Eat Dog' opens fast. 'Antmusic' has the catchiest chorus on the whole record. 'Ants Invasion' has a great riff. I absolutely love Adam Ant's voice and random almost yodels and noises he makes. The guitar can get quite heavy at times which was a surprise. Always a fan of music that makes you headbang even though it's not all out rock or heavy metal. Difficult to say why I love this so much. Glam rock meets punk meets pop meets Burundi Beat (Google it). Just 40 mins of really fun, very catchy, a bit over the top and silly music. Absolutely loved it.

An undeniable new wave masterpiece. It's chock full of quirky nuggets of gold and oddball swagger. Adam Ant is like the non-inflammatory version of Morrissey. This album is just a solid good time from end to end. Landmark for the genre.

I've never heard of this group or album, but I loved it.

Great A&Ants album from the early 80s: 5 stars obviously, not a single weak song. Dirk Wears White Sox (probably the best Adam Ant album) and Friend or Foe should also have been on the list.

had a lot of fun listening to this, unexpectedly

New wave, pop punk.

I bought Kings of The Wild Frontier as soon as it came out. I was a fan then and still am. The mixture of the musical themes was fresh, original, and fascinating. There was this heroic and adventurous touch to it. Pirates, gunman, native Americans, the Wild West, and other references in lyrics, music, and appearance of the group placed them in the time after punk and before New Wave in a unique spot. Remember, at that time there was no MTV, just Top of the Pops on BBC. The double drums were a centerpiece of the music, as were the sailor choir like backing vocals. The production was astonishingly good, so no wonder that this got number one in the UK.

Loved this. It was so much better than I thought it would be. I hope I won’t regret later saying it is five stars but I think this is on a pedestal above the previous 4 I gave which was the Stevie wonder one. Highlights included antmusic, los rancheros, ants invasion and the title track. This album will be on the rotation from now on - great fun and encapsulates the sounds of the 80s very well and I’m surprised people don’t talk about this album more. This is exactly the reason why I’ve started this project is to discover gems like this

Leapfrog the dog.

Drums have never sounded better than on this record. The production on them is so good that Michael Jackson himself phoned up Adam Ant to ask how he recorded the drums. The rest of the music is really catchy and unique, nothing else really sounds quite like this record, especially in 1980

This album SLAPS

Good energy!

This music always resonates with me. I love Adam Ant on all of good band configurations. This isn’t his best album in my mind, but damn good.

4++

New wave, pop punk

Kooky, fun, unique - well paced and just right in length. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea but purely subjectively to me - this is an awesome perfect album.

First listen of this thing and I kinda shrugged, this isn’t a ‘deep album’ by any means, this album is like what junkies should be taking instead of cocaine or heroin. Obviously what I’ve said is COMPLETELY out of touch but so is this album and so is Adam ant. That’s what makes it special. It’s almost like the album was made for and by children. It’s also the only album with drums as the strongest instrument that I’m not bored by. I would never go for a song as goofy as feed me to the lions or Jolly Roger but Jolly Roger and its live version were tied as my top song of 2023 on Spotify. The albums made to make you smile like the goofy ‘Clint Eastwood’ backing vocals in los rancheros or the nonsense at the end of the human beings and the ‘murder happy characters’ in making history, they sound like they should be plastered on a cereal box or ceebeebies. I would argue the only song that’s slightly deep is ants invasion and that’s just because of its riff that, yes does sound like an invasion waiting to happen. Oh and the bridge to that song is so cool. I haven’t even mentioned the first two songs, the hits. Ant music is one of the best singles of all time and dog eat dog is brilliant too. As with most tracks it’s the drumming that puts this leagues above other similar albums. Also the first 3 songs of side 2 all kinda have the same vibe I’ve always felt. You have the title track, the MAG-NIFICENT five MAG-NIFICENT, and sex music for ant people ant music for sex people (AKA don’t be square be there). I honestly don’t really know what I’m saying with this review now 5/5

9/10 - All round great album, bit strange at points but i liked it

New wave, pop punk

loved it!

really interesting new-wave hard-rock had a lot of really great stuff in there 9/10

So catchy and filled with raw energy and rambunctious vocals p, absolutely love it! I’d give it a 9.5 out of 10!

Punky, upbeat glam pop, definitely an influence on Supergrass and Franz Ferdinand. Irresistible.

Never heard of these dudes and while the cover art is beyond cursed, I really dug this album.

Brought a smile on my face with a couple songs, which is more than most of the albums have done so I guess 4 is deserved. The music is quite good, something a bit different but still quite similar to stuff I've heard before. No real bangers on the album though. Favorite song would be Jolly Roger.

Classic early 80s pop. Confession time - the first album I bought with my own money. Some of the cultural appropriation hasn't stood the test of time, but as a bridge between Adam's Gonzo Punk roots and intelligent pop, this is a fabulous album. And it's hard not to like any band with two drummers.

Essential (and more importantly FUN) new wave music by the great Adam Ants & his ants. Play loud. Dance naked. Ant people are GO!

Love when people push punk into new weird directions. The drums are a particular highlight on this album

Pretty good new wave

Great accessible 80s punk

This is such an awesome album but I’m sure it’s mostly about nostalgia. Adam and the ants was one of my first pop idols. We must have looked pretty stupid. 8 years olds with white stripes across our noses, feathers in our hair and one of my friends even owned the Adam ant French style military jacket. Like it or loath it, it was a unique style/type of music combination, New Romantic/pop/tribal Definitely belongs in this list. Awesome!

This was really fun, and ridiculous and pretty silly! New to me except Antmusic - I really enjoyed it ant music for sex people :: sex music for ant people

Punk rebellion meets dance floor seduction in this flamboyant ride through the wild new wave frontier.

I was surprised by this one. Catchy stuff, would listen to again!

I seriously do not understand. But I really enjoyed it. It was weird, but...in a fun way?

I came into this not knowing a ton about Adam & The Ants, but I came away at least somewhat of a fan. Really an enjoyable album. Like the sound design a lot.

When the ground falls out from underneath, it would be easier to give up and let outside forces win. That wasn't, fortunately, how Adam Ant operated. With references to topics both in-house and out of the ordinary, the new iteration of the Ants barnstormed through the walls that had closed around it and became the not just the kings of the wild frontier but the kings of the burgeoning new wave counterculture. A boisterous blast of early 80s excellence. Favorites: Dog Eat Dog, Antmusic, Feed Me to the Lions, Ants Invasion, Killers in the Home, Kings of the Wild Frontier, The Magnificent Five, Don't Be Square (Be There), The Human Beings.

Kings of the Wild Frontier is the second studio album from Adam & the Ants. This was a rebuilt "& the Ants;" after the band's first album, everyone but Adam Ant departed to become Bow Wow Wow. This album was far more successful than the band's first effort, both commercially and critically, and became one of the first successful post-punk new wave groups. They made version of glam rock, with catchy melodies and two drummers, making their work rhythmically focused. The album includes some of the band's early hits, including the title track and "Ant Music," the band's self-referential anthem. Their songs feature Adam Ant's confident vocals, with extensive support from background vocals, adding to their glam-rock, campy sound.

This was incredible, so strange but very fun

That's a great punkish, new-waveish album!

Upbeat and fun. I liked listening to this.

I don't know any Adam & The Ants songs, but I do know Adam Ant's "Goody Two Shoes," which I think is pretty fun. Reading up on this band, I'm amazed that Adam & The Ants eventually led to Bow Wow Wow and Culture Club, via Malcolm McLaren. I don't know much about McLaren, other than the fact that he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of London. Regardless, I wouldn't say that I have high hopes for this album, and I'm blaming Haircut 100 for that. Here's hoping I'm wrong! I'm happy to report that I enjoyed this album quite a bit. Before I started this project, I would have said that New Wave was one of my favorite genres, but I've come to realize that I'm pretty picky about the genre. However, Kings Of The Wild Frontier was really unique, making it a really fun experience. "Dog Eat Dog" grabbed my attention right from the start. The percussion immediately reminded me of Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy," which I've now learned is something called Burundi Beat. Is there anything more English than stealing something from Africa and pretending it's yours? Possible cultural theft aside, the Burundi Beat was easily my favorite element of this album. I was shocked that it never wore thin on me, but I think that's because there was plenty of variation in sound throughout the album, and the guitar playing worked really well with this unique style. Also, I think it made the weird vocals a bit less 'exotic' than they would have been had this album relied more on guitars for its musical sound. Speaking of the vocals, I really enjoyed the backing vocals on this album, especially on "Feed Me to the Lions." I dove into a bit more of Adam Ant's solo discography after listening to this album, and I think he sings pretty well, but this album doesn't really showcase his lead vocal talents, which is a shame. This album sounded a bit chaotic at several points, but I felt like that chaos was converted into some great energy, and it worked really well on this album. "Dog Eat Dog," "Antmusic," and "Los Rancheros" were my favorite songs on the album, but there weren't really many tracks that I didn't care for. Overall, this was a really fun and unique album, and it's really made me want to check out more of Adam Ant's solo work.

A few good tunes. I bet they’re fun to watch live.

I was shocked this album was from 1980 instead of 1990. Sounded so much like early grunge from a British band. Not surprised at all that Nine Inch Nails covered a song from this album. I enjoyed it a lot.