Bow Wow Wow - "I Want Candy" (forgotten song)

Earlier this week Danette and I saw Adam Ant at the Norva.  Danette was more of a fan of Adam and the Ants/Adam Ant than I ever was and Adam is looking a little worse for the wear, but it was a fun show regardless.

It does remind me that I've been meaning to blog about Bow Wow Wow for a while; the connection being that Bow Wow Wow was formed when band manager Malcom McLaren (of Sex Pistols fame) convinced the Ants to leave Adam and form their own band with Annabella Lwin as the lead singer. 

That was probably a bad decision since although Bow Wow Wow had some success in the UK, their biggest hit in the US was their 1982 cover of the song "I Want Candy", released in 1965 by The Strangeloves.  "I Want Candy" is probably the most well-known example of the "Bo Diddley Beat" (bomp, ba-bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp).  Many (most?) artists have used this beat at some point in their career (here's a good list of  examples) and you have to ask yourself: given the primal effectiveness of the Bo Diddley Beat, why do we even have other beats?

Bow Wow Wow: "I Want Candy"
The Stangeloves: "I Want Candy"
Bo Diddley: "Bo Diddley", "Hey, Bo Diddley"