CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
ADAM AND THE ANTS: “Kings Off The Wild Frontier” (Epic):: This isn’t rock ’n’ roll, sez here—it’s “sexmusic,” a/k/a “antmusic,” heralding Arapaho (Apache) (Kiowa) (pirate) warrior ideals as a futuristic reaction against Britpunk nihilism.
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
by
Robert Christgau
ADAM AND THE ANTS: “Kings Off The Wild Frontier” (Epic):: This isn’t rock ’n’ roll, sez here—it’s “sexmusic,” a/k/a “antmusic,” heralding Arapaho (Apache) (Kiowa) (pirate) warrior ideals as a futuristic reaction against Britpunk nihilism. The scam has whole subcultures working for it in England, but here it’s the sex and the music that’ll determine whether Adam is David Bowie or Marc Bolan (or Gary Glitter). The sex is your basic line-drawings-of-spike-heels stuff, redolent of Sex, the haberdashery once owned by Adam’s ex-manager. The music, needless to say, is rock ’n’ roll, a clever pop punk amalgam boasting two drummers, lots of chanting, and numerous Hollywood hooks. Especially given Adam’s art-school vocals, I find that the hooks grate, but that may just mean that when it comes to futuristic warriors I prefer Sandinistas. B