Ridicule is nothing to be scared of.

Depeche Mode will always be my first love, but Adam an the Ants will always hold a very special place in my heart. For me, no other artist captured the ridiculousness—no, reveled in the in ridiculousness— of pop music in the 1980s like Stuart Goddard (aka Adam Ant). A lot of bands were part of the ridiculousness, but more often than not, save for an ever-present current of irony and dark humor, they all seemed deadly serious about it. Adam Ant not only embraced the campiness of music at the time, he elevated it to an art while at the same time going “Can you believe I’m getting away with this?”. From his ‘dandy highwayman’ in ‘Stand and Deliver’ who chastises his would-be victims for their complete lack of fashion sense to his Cinderella persona in ‘Prince Charming’ who struts and poses when finally able to go to the ball, it’s evident that he relishes the excess and artifice of pop music, but it’s also evident that he understands that, really, it’s all pretty ridiculous when you stop and think about it.

But then, as the latter song says: ‘Ridicule is nothing to be scared of’! In the hyper-style-consciousness of the 80s pop scene, such a proclamation borders on revolutionary.

So without further ado, here’s a sample of some of my favorite dance dance revolutionary tracks from the dandiest of highwaymen:

‘Friend or Foe’ (Tap dancing, a midriff baring shirt, a pantomime cow and sailor suits. How can you not love it?)

Goody Two Shoes (A catchy meditation on sexual politics and scandal!)

Fun fact: One year for Halloween I wanted to dress up as Adam Ant. Unfortunately it fell through, and I went as a witch instead. Hey, look, it’s a lot harder to find Napoleonic-era rifleman’s jacket replicas in Orlando than you’d think.