[2][3] The second version of Adam and the Ants included guitarist Marco Pirroni and drummer-and-producer Chris Hughes and was noted for its use of Burundi drums.

[4] With their music videos receiving airplay on MTV and Ant appearing as a guest VJ on the station, they are associated in the United States with the Second British Invasion.

While looking to form a new band, Ant befriended some influential figures in the burgeoning London punk scene, most notably Jordan, who worked in Malcolm McLaren's and Vivienne Westwood's SEX boutique.

Square was replaced by Mark Ryan, and this line-up began to play regular gigs starting with the Institute of Contemporary Arts cafe on 10 May 1977[8] and taking in support slots around London.

In early June, Flanagan was replaced with Dave "Barbe" Barbarossa, and this line-up recorded the songs "Plastic Surgery" and "Beat My Guest" at Chappell Studios in London.

[2] Ant starred as Kid in the film Jubilee (1978) while the band appeared with the stand-in drummer Kenny Morris from Siouxie and the Banshees.

[9] Towards the end of the year, difficulties with management resulted in Ryan being fired and replaced with Johnny Bivouac,[10] while the band's name was extended to Adam and the Ants.

Touring extensively around the UK, often with Siouxsie and the Banshees, Adam and the Ants were unpopular with much of the British music press, who disliked their fetishistic lyrics and imagery.

[11] In response, the group formed a strong – and at times ideological – rapport with amateur punk fanzines such as Ripped and Torn, which gave them more favourable coverage.

[2] Al Spicer described this first incarnation of the band as "a fairly standard black-leather, sour-puss punk image, with songs that had a habit of building slowly towards a full-volume 'sturm-und-drang' climax".

[1] Adam and the Ants made their radio debut on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show when they recorded a session on 23 January 1978 that included the songs "Deutscher Girls", "It Doesn't Matter", "Puerto Rican" and "Lou" – the latter of which featured the group's manager Jordan on lead vocals,[15] as she regularly did during live performances until 14 May 1978, when she left the band after a gig at Roundhouse.

This line-up continued to demo new material, and on 10 July 1978, they recorded a second Peel Session that featured the songs "Zerox", "Physical", "Friends", and "Cleopatra".

In November 1978, the band recorded a planned second single[17] of "Zerox" and "Kick" at RAK Studios in London produced by Stephen "Snips" Parsons.

[2] After two sell-out shows at Electric Ballroom, Ant sacked Ashman and Warren,[21] the latter of whom joined The Monochrome Set in early October.

[2] It signalled a style change by adapting Burundi-style African drumming and an image that mixed Native American make-up with pirate-style, colourful costumes.

[1] While reforming the band, Ant and Pirroni, with future Culture Club drummer Jon Moss, re-recorded the Dirk Wears White Sox track "Cartrouble Part 2" as a contract-fulfilling single for Do It.

[25] Ant and Pirroni signed a publishing deal with EMI, and worked with Hughes and the rest of the band on new material at Matrix Studios in London.

[2] Stuart took these to prospective record companies while the band embarked on a 14-day Ant-Invasion Tour of the UK, which culminated in a show at Empire Ballroom.

[2][27] In November 1980, the album Kings of the Wild Frontier was released and became a hit in the United Kingdom,[2] putting Adam and the Ants at the forefront of the New Romantic movement, and the band completed a 32-day UK tour.

[44] In 2004, the albums Dirk Wears White Sox, Kings of the Wild Frontier, and Prince Charming were digitally remastered and re-released with previously unreleased demo songs as bonus material.

[46][47] Ant and his regular band subsequently performed the album for four nights at Islington Assembly Hall in November 2014 and on a full UK tour in Spring 2015.

[1] Together with their music videos and flamboyant stage presence, Adam and the Ants had significant mainstream success that was dubbed "Antmania" in the British press.

[1] Simon Reynolds called Antmania a combination of "heroic imagery, sexmusic and tribalism" while highlighting the early influence of Malcom McLaren.

[14] Paul Evans of Rolling Stone's album guide described the band as "leering, self-mythologising ... loopy faux-teen fun" and Ant as a "the campiest figurehead of the New Romantic moment".

[50] The band seized the opportunities provided by music videos on the new channel MTV to develop a theatrical, charismatic, and heroic persona.

On 8 May 2006, Hyper released their debut album We Control, which includes a cover of "Antmusic" with Leeroy Thornhill of The Prodigy on lead vocals.

[55] In 2011, CBBC programme Horrible Histories featured the song "Dick Turpin", which is a pastiche on Adam and the Ants' "Stand and Deliver".