Music / Manners & Physique

I love it when you tease, and better when you pose / But I can't kiss a lipstick or date a pile of clothes.

Manners & Physique is the fourth studio album by Adam Ant, released in 1990.

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Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Room at the Top" (4:43)
2. "Rough Stuff" (4:40)
3. "If You Keep On" (4:16)
4. "Manners & Physique" (3:30)
5. "Can't Set Rules About Love" (4:43)

Side Two

1. "U.S.S.A." (4:27)
2. "Bright Lights Black Leather" (5:22)
3. "Piccadilly" (4:52)
4. "Young Dumb and Full of It" (3:32)
5. "Anger, Inc." (4:35)

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All that really matters is your manners and tropes

• Born in the Wrong Century: "Room at the Top"
  Made in England, born an bred
  An 18th century brain in a 21st century head
• Face on the Cover: Adam in close-up.
• Fun with Acronyms: "U.S.S.A.", which is an anagram of the U.S.A and the U.S.S.R.
• Genre Shift: Much more on the Pop side of Rock.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Adam's suit on the cover.
• Intercourse with You: "Can't Set Rules About Love"
  Just want to lie next to you
  And appreciate the view
  And hope it lasts forever
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: "Rough Stuff".
  Do it till you're sore
• One-Word Title: "Piccadilly"
• Prayer Pose: Adam does this pose on the album cover.
• Record Producer: André Cymone and Marc Shaiman.
• Shout-Out:
  • Anger, Inc."
  Poor Jack Kerouac
  Riding with the paperback Camus
  (...) No friend of hoodlums anywhere
  Like John Dillinger - number one
  Crime crazy filthiness all rolled into one
  • "Piccadilly"
  They dress like Laurence Harvey
  (...) You'll see Francis Bacon
  He paints good and lovely
  • "Bruce Lee" to Bruce Lee.
  • "U.S.S.A." references Rocky and How the West Was Won.
  Rocky's dead
  That's Rocky 1003
  (...) The film was called: "How the West Was Won"
  • "Young Dumb And Full Of It" references Bonanza
  And be a real Hoss Cartwright on the Ponderosa
• Time Marches On: "Room At The Top"
  Made in England, born an bred
  An 18th century brain in a 21st century head
• Title Track: "Manners And Physique".
  Cause all that really matters is your manners and physique
• Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: "Young, Dumb And Full Of It" praises this mindset.

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