Video Killed the Radio Star :: Adam & the Ants :: Stand & Deliver

Stand and Deliver, from the Prince Charming album, hit the U.K. radio charts in 1981. It was sometime in 1984 that Adam and the Ants, and the Prince Charming album, had its impact on me. I was at a newly made friend’s house when I first saw this video, lying on the floor of her bedroom, her television right under a full-size poster of Mr. Ant himself. I remember back then that said friend would sign all her notes, passed to me in the hallway, with Ant as her last name. She and I, and the mutual friend who had introduced us, used to walk through the hallways at school, with our arms linked, singing Stand and deliver, your money or your life; one of us always piping in to make the distinct drum roll sound, as we sang.

Perhaps it was the appeal of the “new romantics”, which is ironically not so different than the scene kids that my oldest daughter associated much of her style to when she was in high school (the ever-revolving door of fashion), that had us girls swooning over Adam. Or, maybe it was the appeal of the pirate lifestyle, the libertine code of conduct, and the undertones of moral rebellion. Stand and Deliver was anarchy with eyeliner, and it was sexy, and appealing, to a group of parochial school girls in the midst of adolescence, and sexual awakenings.

And, it was a really keen song to dance to.

Stand & Deliver :: Adam & the Ants