Adam & the Ants, pop stardom and Marco Pirroni’s brief spell in the spotlight

Marco Pirroni’s moment in the sun was big, lucrative but incredibly short. It was under a year from Adam & the Ants’ first hit to their last and immediate break-up. Adam, he remembers, was the perfect writing partner – driven, intensely competitive and with “a pathological fear of only being Number 2”. He’s got no regrets, hasn’t had to do day’s work since, and looks back here at …

… being the first band writing songs for the video age

… “you can’t confuse fans buying records with love, it’s nothing personal”

… Telstar, Fireball XL5, Roxy Music and the “moon-stomping hits of Slade”

… playing covers of songs they didn’t like with Siouxsie at the 100 Club: “punk rock and my part in its downfall”

… Adam’s “Shakespearian tirade” at the legal meeting with Rolf Harris when he sued over Prince Charming and War Canoe

… Malcolm McLaren’s jukebox: the Flamin’ Groovies, Alice Cooper, the Troggs, “songs that weren’t very good”

… “we stopped being a punk band or a pop band or a glam band – or any sort of band at all”

… never tour America when you don’t have a bank account.

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