XTC Vs. Adam Ant
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| song name | XTC vs. Adam Ant |
| artist | They Might Be Giants |
| releases | Factory Showroom, The Complete Factory Showroom Sessions, John Henry + Factory Showroom |
| year | 1996 |
| first played | March 23, 1995 (149 known performances) |
| run time | 3:37 |
| sung by | John Flansburgh |
Trivia/Info
This song is about an imaginary rivalry between these two seminal but totally distinct early '80s rock icons. It is also definitive proof TMBG is still hopelessly trapped in a world of pop culture references. We recorded a song for the XTC tribute record last year, and while we were tracking it we had to record some backwards vocal for a psychedelic section. Since it didn't really matter what we said we recited a bunch of bands contemporary with the lads from Swindon, including Adam Ant. The contrast between the two seemed striking and while doing a bit of press to promote that tribute album, we cooked up this song.
- John Linnell on the song's subject matter in a 1997 interview:
It's like this battle in Chinese mythology, how these two forces clash without ever finding permanence. That's what this battle between XTC and Adam Ant is. Most people assume we're on the side of XTC, but the point of the song has to do with two different approaches: One being about the clothes and the other being about the ideas. One is form and the other is content. In art, you can't have one without the other. It's always both. There is no winner.
- On October 11, 2010, this song was included in a feature in the A.V. Club, "28 Songs That Mention Other Songs By Name":
This track from 1996’s Factory Showroom finds the two Johns moving past their usual whimsical absurdism into full-blown silliness, as they set up a theoretical duel to the death between two titans of the British new wave. “Beatle-based pop vs. New Romantic”—even Bow Wow Wow’s Annabella Lwin can’t decide. Although it’s unclear what the consequences are, it’s quite a titanic struggle: “Just when you think it’s finished, with XTC on top, ‘Ant Music,’ like a phoenix, flies back up the charts.”
- On June 24, 2002, Washingtonpost.com hosted a moderated chat with Flansburgh, in which fan questions were chosen to be answered. When asked about the meaning of the song, Flansburgh said, "The point of the song is they are both good for different reasons- who is rock more? Buddy Holly or Little Richard? We need them both!"
- Bow Wow Wow were formed in 1980 when Adam and the Ants were broken up by former Sex Pistols producer Malcolm McLaren, and he joined the former Ants with 13 year-old singer Annabella Lwin (who presumably can't make up her mind after being fired by her band in 1983). Adam Ant (a.k.a. Stuart Leslie Goddard) continued on as a solo act.
Song Themes
Death, Fade Out, History, Letters Of The Alphabet, Music, Mythology, Time
Videos
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