ADAM ANT - ADAM ANT LIBERATED BY PUNK

ADAM ANT LIBERATED BY PUNK

Veteran rocker ADAM ANT was liberated by punk music in the 1970s because the symptoms of his mental illness suddenly became positives. The British singer, real name STUART LESLIE GODDARD, was eventually diagnosed with bi-polar disorder in 2002 following decades of emotional instability. And punk music allowed Goddard to leave his old identity behind following an overdose in 1976, and reinvent himself as Adam Ant at a time when it was fashionable not to be completely sane. He says, "In a way, punk could drive you mad, what with all that gobbing (spitting) while you were on stage - I don't miss that at all! "But punk was also very liberating in that sense. There were no boundaries. "Punk celebrated a lot of things that are associated with mental illness - self-harm, violence, identity confusion - and turned them into positive attributes. "If you didn't like your own name - if it wasn't dramatic or glamorous enough - you could change it and become a different person. "That was very liberating. After an overdose in 1976, a name change made perfect sense. It didn't make sense to call myself Stuart anymore."