Adam and the Ants’ ‘Prince Charming’ turns 45 on 6 November
Adam and the Ants’ “Prince Charming” turns 45 on 6 November. CBS Records released the album on 6 November 1981, produced by Chris Hughes.
Adam and the Ants, "Prince Charming" (CBS Records, 1981)
Adam and the Ants’ “Prince Charming” turns 45 this year. The English new wave band released the album through CBS Records on 6 November 1981, the follow-up to its UK number-one “Kings of the Wild Frontier” from the previous year.
Chris Hughes, who also played drums in the band, produced “Prince Charming.” The original LP and cassette carried ten tracks across two sides: “Scorpios,” “Picasso Visita El Planeta De Los Simios,” “Prince Charming,” “Five Guns West” and “That Voodoo!” opened side one, followed by “Stand and Deliver,” “Mile High Club,” “Ant Rap,” “Mowhok” and “S.E.X.” on side two. The album reached number two on the UK Albums Chart, held off the top spot for three weeks.
Three singles came from the album cycle. “Stand and Deliver,” issued 1 May 1981, became the band’s first UK number one and stayed there for five weeks. The title track “Prince Charming” followed on 4 September 1981, also reaching number one, for four weeks. “Ant Rap” came last, released 4 December 1981 and peaking at number three after a remix the following January.
The album is available to stream on Spotify as a remastered edition that adds six demo recordings to the original ten-track sequence.
About Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants formed in London in May 1977 around Stuart Leslie Goddard, who performed as Adam Ant, with guitarist Lester Square, bassist Andy Warren and drummer Paul Flanagan. The group used the name The Ants before settling on Adam and the Ants that November. Square left to finish an art course and was replaced by Mark Ryan, who was later succeeded by Johnny Bivouac, while Dave Barbarossa took over on drums from Flanagan.
Early singles appeared on Decca (“Young Parisians,” October 1978) and Do It Records (“Zerox,” July 1979), and the band contributed to the “Jubilee” film soundtrack in 1978. The debut album, “Dirk Wears White Sox,” followed in 1979 and reached number one on the UK Independent Albums Chart, recorded by a lineup of Adam Ant, Matthew Ashman, Leigh Gorman and Barbarossa. In January 1980, manager Malcolm McLaren persuaded Ashman, Gorman and Barbarossa to leave and form Bow Wow Wow, leaving Adam Ant as the only remaining member.
A new lineup took shape from February 1980: guitarist Marco Pirroni, who became Adam Ant’s principal co-writer, bassist Kevin Mooney, and drummers Terry Lee Miall and Chris Hughes. Mooney was replaced by Gary Tibbs in February 1981. The band signed to CBS Records in July 1980 and built its sound around Burundi-style tribal drumming, paired with pirate and Native American-influenced costumes and makeup associated with the New Romantic movement. “Kings of the Wild Frontier,” released in November 1980, reached number one on the UK Albums Chart in January 1981 behind the singles “Antmusic,” “Dog Eat Dog” and the title track.
“Prince Charming” followed on 6 November 1981, peaked at number two in the UK, and was promoted with the Prince Charming Revue tour through Austria and Japan that September. The band earned a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 1982, and Adam Ant and Pirroni won an Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year for “Stand and Deliver.” Adam Ant disbanded the group in March 1982 and continued working with Pirroni on a solo career that opened with the UK number-one single “Goody Two Shoes.” “Prince Charming,” the band’s last album before the split, turns 45 on 6 November.
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