Adam Ant “Strip” b/w “Yours, Yours, Yours” 1984. As the summer days begin to wane and soon there will be “times like this the great heaven knows that we wish we had not so many clothes,” I decided to pull Adam Ant’s cheeky hit single from his ‘83 album Strip that reached #41 in the UK and #42 in the US. (And I learned, a bit to my chagrin, that Phil Collins both produced and played drums on the track.) Today’s date, August 31st, also happens to be when I saw Adam Ant perform at Turner Hall in Milwaukee in 2013. Or perhaps it was in October 2012. I can’t remember. Anyway, he went full-pirate for the performance.

We had a ball at the show, but I am not sure that Adam Ant was in the best shape. I found a (rather poor) video of the 2012 performance of “Strip” from Turner Hall and the song is, well, not that good. Thankfully his stripping is limited to his pirate jacket, though he does tease at his belt a few times. Here is “Strip” from the 2013 show, which is a bit better: his voice is stronger, he does his own speaking part in the middle of the song and his jacket removal is a bit less forced.