| Kings of the Wild Frontier | |
| Cover: | KingsoftheWildFrontier.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Adam and the Ants |
| Album: | Kings of the Wild Frontier |
| B-Side: | Press Darlings |
| Released: | 25 July 1980 |
| Length: | 3:53 |
| Label: | CBS |
| Producer: | Chris Hughes |
| Prev Title: | Cartrouble |
| Prev Year: | 1980 |
| Next Title: | Dog Eat Dog |
| Next Year: | 1980 |
"Kings of the Wild Frontier" is a 1980 song by the British new wave group Adam and the Ants. Written by Adam Ant & Marco Pirroni, it was the title track of the band's second second album and was also their first release for CBS Records after leaving the small independent label Do It Records.[1]
Although it was not the first pop song to do so, this was the first time the band employed the use of the two-drummer Burundi beat which then became one of their stylistic hallmarks.
Originally released on July 25th 1980, and backed by the non-album title "Press Darlings", the single peaked at number 48 on the UK Singles Chart. Following the breakthrough success of "Dog Eat Dog" (UK #4) and 'Antmusic' (UK #2), the single was re-released in February 1981, peaking at number 2 in the UK singles chart.[2]
"The extent of its success surprised us," Pirroni recalled. "We'd written the music as a soundtrack to the visuals – very Eighties. I took that cowboy guitar twang from Ennio Morricone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly soundtrack. I was trying to get everything I liked into that record. And it worked."[3]
Adam's ever-changing line-up of Ants included, on this song, Perroni on guitar, Kevin Mooney on bass guitar and, on drums, both Chris Hughes (under the pseudonym "Merrick") and Terry Lee Maill.
The song was included on the album of the same name released on 3rd November 1980. When the album was released in the US, the track "Making History" was dropped in favour of "Press Darlings" and "Physical (You're So)."[4]
The Guardian said the song was "one of history's flat-out weirdest bids for screamy teen stardom: the lyrics beckon new fans in – "a wild nobility, we are the family" – set to a cacophony of thunderous drums, shouting, whooping, feedback and Duane Eddy-style guitar. It is unbelievably exciting."[5]