New Wave Outpost Forum

Now seeing how both bands were a part of the New Romantic movement,with Spandau Ballet only being that way on the first two albums only,where as Adam And The Ants were both Glam and New Romantic on the first 2 Epic albums.So it's pretty much like a tie when it comes to both bands,and very shortlived too I may add.But for me this is no toss up or hard at all for me to pick.Adam wins hands down by far.And I think that most fans are going to pick Adam as the winner too.

It really doesn't take much to hate True as a song and very commercial top 40,where as nothing that Adam ever did ever sounded as bad as True did.Granted as much as we fans got really sick of hearing Goody Two Shoes,as a song that still was far better than True was.

That all depends. I've had some rather interesting experiences with a young lady on a couch in my parent's basement with "True" playing in the background when I was 15. I don't know how lucky I would have been with "Goody Two Shoes" blaring away. [}:)]

I see true as one of those guilty pleasure songs. I don't think it's a _bad_ song.. its just ballady and cheesy by todays standards. I generally don't turn it off it comes on. Saw Spandau in concert last year, and they were somewhat unexpectedly awesome.

Adam Rules!....no contest...

[quote]Originally posted by newwavepopman

It really doesn't take much to hate True as a song and very commercial top 40,where as nothing that Adam ever did ever sounded as bad as True did.Granted as much as we fans got really sick of hearing Goody Two Shoes,as a song that still was far better than True was.
[/quote]

Wonderful is a much worse song than True.

True Dat.

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<a href="http://www.djcraig.net/los_angeles_dj">DJ Craig</a>

They are both very hard to digest,but True is just so overplayed on radio to this day even,that I don't care if I ever hear it again or if I do.True even sounds more top 40 when you hear it than Wonderful does.And I never hear Wonderful ever played as an oldie,but if I turn on my local 80's radio station,I can guarantee you that True will be played more than once a day on it,that's how overplayed it is.If I had to take a guess I would say that True is played on the radio every day on my local 80's radio station at least 10 times day,from early morning until midnight,somewhere in that space in time True you will hear about that many times between those hours,and Wonderful you will never hear.

Wonderful is a much worse song than True.
[/quote]

What!! I love True! Great kick drum sound and great cheese. Loved how it was spoofed on Modern Family. Spandau for me.

"You just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music." ~ Sid Vicious

Case in point.This only goes to show that I can't always be right,but also sometimes wrong about things.I thought for sure that there was a whole big huge fanbase for Adam And The Ants even to this day,and not so much for Spandau Ballet except the early years of their career.Everyone I know can't stand the True album and even later albums by them after True as well.

Plus everyone I know hates the song True,because of it being way too commercial and not really being a New Wave song at all.They all seem to like early Spandau,which are the 2 first albums by them,but nothing after them,or at least just a couple of songs here and there from other albums,but not enough within a full album by them.

Wehereas most people that I know tend to like Adam solo(Except for the Wonderful album,with just a song or two,but it never is the song Wonderful they like from the album)but really prefer Adam solo during his Epic years and,most fans all seem to like everything that Adam recorded with The Ants.

This Post was supposed to be about Adam VS Spandau during the early years only,and not during the more recent period of either artist,because most fans know that both artists later material was and is nothing like their early material.So I wanted to be fair on both artists as an overall period of boths career,during their heyday period.Sorry that I wasn't more spacific about them.

either way, Adam Rules!

Looking at the just the introduction of both bands to mass America, Adam and the Ants win it hands down.

When Spandau came out, it was as much about the look (clothes and hair) as it was the songs - this was the height of the 'Blitz' era. "Journeys to Glory" is a nice period-piece from that era, even the aesthetic of the album cover, but it doesn't hold alot of weight. However, "To cut a long story short" is a great period single, and it was a good representation of the band and their stance.

"Kings of the Wild Frontier" by Adam and the Ants was a much bolder statement of purpose - this is where most American new-wave kids first heard Adam. (Plus you kind of had to root for Adam, considering how he'd had his original band stolen from him by McClaren...and Adam had a great sideman in Marco Pirroni). But most importantly, this album is just a lot more fun to listen to. The songs were just plain better on this one.

Although they were around at the same time, Adam and the Ants were not really lumped into the new-romantic scene as I recall (despite the similar fashion sense). Duran and Spandau, at least initially, were more the neck-and-neck rivals (similar to the 'rivalry' of Teardrop Explodes vs Echo and the Bunnymen). Duran and Spandau had the disco feel that was popular with the Blitz kids at the time.
Adam never really had that 'four on the floor' disco beat.

exactly.....Adam was/is the last vestige/punk connection before new wave became code for another hybrid of disco..

I don't see any comparison between the two

Besides Adam was relaesing singles before spandau ballet

I definitely prefer Spandau... and True is a great slice if sophisticated 80's pop.
And on top of that 80's stuff, I also loved Tony's work in the new millennium with European dance musicians like Milk Inc (Sweet Surrender) and with Marc Et Claude (Feel You), his voice is just so great, and those songs are powerful tunes..

Adam and the Ants.... Goody Two Shoes is catchy, yet overplayed, and rather disposable piece of 80's pop in my opinion...

"Goody Two Shoes" is Adam Ant, not Adam & The Ants;
and it's still
far superior to the Deam Martin swill churned out by Spandau Ballet