"Friend or Foe" was the title track, and second

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from

Adam Ant Stuart Leslie Goddard, better known as Adam Ant (born 3 November 1954), is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK top ten ...

's first solo album. It was released 11 September 1982, exactly one month before the album was released.

Single

Compared to its predecessor, "

Goody Two Shoes ''The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes'' is a children's story published by John Newbery in London in 1765. The story popularized the phrase " goody two-shoes" as a descriptor for an excessively virtuous person or do-gooder. Plot ''Goody Tw ...

," (number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and number twelve on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in the US), "Friend or Foe" was received poorly by "Antpeople." It peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart, and was not released as a single in the U.S.

Credits

"Friend or Foe" was written by Adam Ant and

Marco Pirroni Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni (born 27 April 1959, London, England) frequently credited simply as Marco, is a British guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with Adam Ant, Sinéad O'Connor, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many ...

. The track features Adam on vocals and

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, Marco on

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, Geoff Daly on

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, Martin Drover on

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and Bogdan Wiczling on

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

. An alternate version with Chris "Merrick" Hughes on drums appears on ''Antbox''. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

, which received heavy rotation on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, was directed by Adam.

Juanito the Bandito

It was fairly common for Ant to record new versions of his pre-1980 compositions for the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of his singles. For this single, an old Ant song from 1977 called Juanito the Bandito was used. The song was first recorded as a home demo in Muswell Hill in May 1977. It was first performed live in January 1978, with one of the earliest renditions being at the widely bootlegged 12 January 1978 concert at the

Marquee Club The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed whe ...

. The song continued to be performed live sporadically until September 1979 and a full band demo was recorded at Decca Studios in August 1978. This particular version was recorded in 1982. The song was subsequently played solo by Ant at a 1987 fan convention and as a duet with

Will Crewdson Will Crewdson is a London-based guitarist/writer/producer best known for his work with the UK band Rachel Stamp, US singer Johnette Napolitano and Adam Ant. Career Rachel Stamp Crewdson spent 10 years touring and recording with the rock band ...

on a 2010 internet radio session.

References

{{authority control 1982 singles Adam Ant songs Songs written by Adam Ant 1982 songs Songs written by Marco Pirroni