Adam and Diana on M25

[luke]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0MrHvgwKBw The first comment says Michael Jackson insisted he be on the show! Kind of weird seeing Diana stick her butt out--very unlike her. Though I must say if you look at it as just having fun I think it's ok!

[jobeterob]

[Hotspurman]

I saw the post and initially thought you meant they were stuck in traffic...

[scanspeak]

Surely the worst cover of any Motown song ever in the history of the world, including karaoke bars.

[roger]

Surely the worst cover of any Motown song ever in the history of the world, including karaoke bars.

Well, I think I have heard worse, but I can't think for the life of me why he was invited to be on the show.

Of couse "Mr Ant" [[real name Stuart Leslie Goddard) named himself after the Adamant urinal, so what did they expect??

There are some very impressive pictures of some Adamant urinals in a pub in Liverpool in this link ..



http://www.mcclellandmedia.com/urinals.html

Roger

[johnny_raven]

Roger:

The resemblance is uncanny! :-)

[redlabs]

i think Diana saved thi sperformance. her surprise dance moves were the only good thing about it

[Roberta75]

I saw the post and initially thought you meant they were stuck in traffic...

LOL. Now that's funny. I take it the M25 is like our 405 freeway, jammed all day.

[marv2]

Waste! I still say she should have given that time to more from Martha Reeves or Mary Wells or to let David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks sing! That was garbage then and it's worse than that now when I look at it. The audience was dead to him!

[marybrewster]

The highlight of this performance was Adam's button flying off his jacket. Rumor has it Richard Pryor was egging Shantel Baker to step on it, like a Supremes earring.

[luke]

lol hotspurman-I see what u mean!! I agree with redlabs. Diana made it fun and the crowd loved her coming out. Nice moment of spontaneity.

[Constantin]

Surely the worst cover of any Motown song ever in the history of the world, including karaoke bars.

So true; this cover is totally atrocious. Adam Ant should have thanked Ross for being so gracious, nice and fun during the few seconds when she appeared.*

[luke]

It wasnt Motown but it was in the style of the times--punkish, modish...dont get the venom. How about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxwCvgXzTLU

[ejluther]

Fun cover!

[Constantin]

It wasnt Motown but it was in the style of the times--punkish, modish...dont get the venom. How about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxwCvgXzTLU

Waw, much better! Style and personality: Adam Ant is so fake in comparison. Donnie Elbert's [[1971) and Amii Stewart's [[1981) versions are good too, each in a different style.

[captainjames]

LOL
That is the first time I saw the button fly across the floor
~~~~~~~~~~and Diana really did help that performance.

[144man]

Surely the worst cover of any Motown song ever in the history of the world, including karaoke bars.

No! Peter Jay & the Jaywalkers' version of "Where Did Our Love Go" is even worse.

[BayouMotownMan]

Actually everyone backstage was commenting on Ants performance and the audience was totally unresponsive. Her bump and grind did get the positive reaction from the audience that dePasse desparately needed during that ill-planned segment

[Jimi LaLumia]

Adam was a huge MTV star at the time and drew the kids that watched his videos non stop;
and he went on despite an injured knee which greatly hindered his performance; Ant still has a large worldwide following and will be touring this year, so everyone needs to get over themselves..it is was it is,and Adam took a huge chance playing to a bunch of old people who were[[and obviously still are) out of touch with glam,punk, and the resulting 'new wave' that made Motown look like yesterday's papers at that moment to the first MTV generation

[smark21]

Well if you read the comments on the youtube page, most of them seemed to enjoy Adam Ant's performance. MOst of them were probably high school age when the show came on. So was I. I remember the next day at school, the only performances that were talked about were Michael Jackson's Billie Jean and Adam Ant. The rest of the artists were considered "old".

One more thought about Ant at M25: I believe in the other ongoing M25 thread, there's a quote from Boy George saying he turned down the offer. I suspect Ant wasn't the first choice of a contemporary act to be on the show. I wonder if Soft Cell was asked as they were the new wave band to have a hit with Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go. Last month, when I went to a cabaret revue of the music of Diana Ross and The Supremes, the band played the Soft Cell version of Where Did Our Love Go, paired with Tainted Love.

[motony]

I thought Ant brought comic releif to the program, a touch of satire and as Jimi says he was HUGE on MTV Suzanne DePasse could care less about Motown Record Corp. of Detroit.

[motony]

sorry I meant she couldn't care less & showed it.

[marybrewster]

Actually everyone backstage was commenting on Ants performance and the audience was totally unresponsive.

I dunno; looks like Claudette in the front row is enjoying his performance!

[marybrewster]

A better question is: why doesn't Adam's face coloring match his hands color? LOL. The "George Hamilton" of the MTV set?

[roger]

Adam was a huge MTV star at the time and drew the kids that watched his videos non stop;
and he went on despite an injured knee which greatly hindered his performance; Ant still has a large worldwide following and will be touring this year, so everyone needs to get over themselves..it is was it is,and Adam took a huge chance playing to a bunch of old people who were[[and obviously still are) out of touch with glam,punk, and the resulting 'new wave' that made Motown look like yesterday's papers at that moment to the first MTV generation

I don't think Motown 25 was ever shown in Britain Jimi, and I don't think MTV had yet been launched in Britain when it aired in the US [[spring/summer 1983?) but I do remember that it was considered very strange when it was reported that ADAM ANT was on the show.

Personally I thought it strange as I didn't consider he had any connection with Motown [[being someone who has never really been in touch with Glam/Punk/New Wave .. I do like a few recordings that fit into that category but generally I'll stick with Soul/Funk/R&B/Disco/Jazz/Reggae etc. etc. thank you very much) . But also I found it strange as in Britain Mr Ant was well past his peak in 1983, he had been a huge pop phenomenon in 1980/81/82, with 3 #1 hits and a further 6 Top-10 entries but his most recent UK release had flopped and he was only to have 1 more sizable UK hit "Puss 'n Boots" after Motown 25.

To me it just seemed that his record company were trying to "break him in America" and had somehow got him on Motown 25. From a British perspective they also seemed to be behind the times, by mid 1983 there were a whole host of new UK acts available who just seemed a whole lot more suitable .. DEPECHE MODE/SPANDAU BALLET/ABC/CULTURE CLUB/DURAN DURAN all spring to mind and some of those were actually creating music that had much more of a Motown influence than anything I'd ever heard by Mr Ant.

Interesting that you say he was big on MTV, that I can understand as I always thought of him as more of a visual phenomenon rather than as a musical one. Those videos must have been the ones that got shown on "Top Of The Pops" etc. and his appeal always seemed to me more about what he was wearing and how impressive his cheekbones looked rather than old-fashioned notions such as melody or song structure. Plus he also seemed to be a good vehicle to promote sales of Vivianne Westwood's bondage trousers of course!!

Roger

[captainjames]

Thanks Roger
Like him, love him or Hate his whole performance was strange to say the least. I remember watching him sing this and thinking please let this end. Actually, at first I had no idea what he was singing because he was jumping all over the place.