Adam Ant — Apollo 9

JUL 01 1984 · 12:00

Adam Ant — Apollo 9 (1984) Director: Daniel Kleinman Era: Mid-80s New Wave / Post-Punk Solo Era (1984) - Adam Ant's transitional 'Rockers in Space' phase, bridging flamboyant new wave theatricality with synth-pop production values and space-age camp spectacle during the height of MTV's cultural dominance. High curatorial value as a confirmed-director artefact from the peak MTV new wave era, documenting both a significant transitional moment in Adam Ant's solo career and an early work by Daniel Kleinman — one of the most decorated British directors of the 1980s music video boom and the definitive James Bond title sequence designer. The video preserves a specific and well-documented intersection of art-school pop direction, space-age cultural iconography, and CBS Records UK production infrastructure in 1984, making it a rich primary source for multiple research threads in British pop and screen history. Context: Released in September 1984, 'Apollo 9' represented Adam Ant's pivot toward what was described as a 'rockers in space' aesthetic, a deliberate rebranding that fused his established new wave theatricality with space-age imagery at a moment when NASA iconography and science fiction held strong popular-cultural currency in the wake of the Space Shuttle programme. The video arrived during the apex of MTV's influence on pop music consumption in both the UK and US, when visually inventive promo clips were as commercially critical as radio play. The single peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, sustaining Ant's solo commercial presence following his departure from the Adam and the Ants format. The video's comedic, camp energy and high-energy editing reflect the broader British pop video production culture of the period, characterised by art-school directors like Kleinman bringing fine arts and illustration sensibilities to the nascent medium. Director notes: Confirmed via IMDb (tt10793236) and corroborated by the film/music blog 'Through the Shattered Lens' (unobtainium13.com), both directly crediting Daniel Kleinman as director of the 1984 Adam Ant 'Apollo 9' music video. The video was produced in the United Kingdom in 1984 and released to coincide with the single's UK chart run, where 'Apollo 9' peaked at number 13 on 6 October 1984. The video was later included in the 1990 VHS compilation 'Adam Ant: Antics in the Forbidden Zone'. The production reflects Kleinman's early-career emphasis on theatrical staging and emerging post-production optical effects, consistent with his broader 1984-1987 MTV-nominated body of work. Notably, Kleinman and Adam Ant shared a prior personal connection: Kleinman co-founded the 1970s band Bazooka Joe, which at one point included Adam Ant among its rotating membership, making this a collaboration between two former bandmates.