In a new interview, Marco Pirroni, guitarist and songwriter for Adam and the Ants, looks back on the whirlwind of Antmania, the band's sudden rise to global stardom, and the bizarre encounters that came with it. Pirroni, now 67, is promoting his memoir, Your Money or Your Life: From Punk to Prince Charming, which details his life in music.
The Birth of a Phenomenon
Pirroni joined Adam Ant in early 1980, and together they crafted the band's landmark second album, Kings of the Wild Frontier, released in November 1980. The album, mostly written in Pirroni's bedroom in his parents' Harrow home, was a cacophony of twangy guitars, yodelling, and communal chanting, underpinned by a pioneering two-drummer Burundi beat. The band's look—a charging tribe of warriors fronted by a pirouetting pirate in feathers and frills—was influenced by Malcolm McLaren, who suggested the Burundi beat and Native American imagery.
The impact was immediate and era-defining: Kings of the Wild Frontier was No 1 in the album charts for 12 weeks, and the band's narrative videos, storyboarded by Ant, laid foundations for MTV in the US in 1981. Pirroni remembers the absurdity of it all, from meeting Princess Margaret ('completely paralytic, breathing on you') to dining with Liza Minnelli and hanging out backstage with Liberace. He recalls a moment in a Tokyo hotel suite, looking over the city and asking Adam, 'How did we get here?'—just 18 months after they'd been in his bedroom in Harrow.
The Rapid Descent
The descent was equally rapid. By late 1981, the band had three managers, and Ant's erratic personality was increasingly problematic. Pirroni describes Ant as 'extremely difficult,' prone to paranoia and chart-success obsession. By age 22, Pirroni was disillusioned, hating performing and exasperated by infighting. The end came in January 1982, after a cynical quip from Ant: 'No one cares what we sound like, they just want to see me dance about.' Pirroni thought, 'Well, fuck it, what am I doing here then?'
Despite the split in March 1982, their relationship endured through the 80s and 90s, with Pirroni working with Sinéad O'Connor and Siobhan Fahey. Pirroni was with Ant the day of his 2002 altercation in a Kentish Town pub, where Ant wielded a starting pistol at revellers who mocked his cowboy outfit. Ant was later charged with affray and sectioned. Pirroni notes that Ant's disciplined lifestyle in the 80s was a reaction to his alcoholic father, but 'he controlled it. Until the mania took over.'
Life After the Ants
Pirroni, who now lives in rural Derbyshire, lost contact with Ant years ago and is no longer interested in creating music. 'Records now are like a plastic animal you give away with cornflakes,' he says. 'I'm not going back on the road. You'd have to pay me millions.' When told that his music was magic to teenagers, he confesses, 'I find that really hard to accept... If I think that our album affected them in the same way as Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure affected me, then I'm scared.'
Your Money or Your Life: From Punk to Prince Charming by Marco Pirroni is published by New Modern on 10 September.
