The Adicts - History

History

The band debuted with the 1979 EP Lunch with The Adicts, the first release on the Dining Out label. In 1980 the band recorded the songs "Sympathy" and "Sheer Enjoyment" for an intended single, but they weren't released until the 1984 compilation album This Is Your Life. The band released their debut album, Songs of Praise, in 1981 on their own Dwed Wecords, funded by the band's then-manager Geordie Davison. In 1982, the album was re-released on Fall Out Records, who also issued their first single "Viva la Revolution", which became one of the band's most iconic songs. That same year, the band began their relationship with Razor Records and released their second album, Sound of Music, featuring the single "Chinese Takeaway".

In 1983 the band released "Bad Boy", their highest-charting single. The success of that single led to the band signing with Warner Bros. Records offshoot Sire Records. At this time, the band changed their name to ADX at the behest of Sire, as the name The Adicts was considered to have too much of a negative connotation. The relationship with Sire only lasted for two singles, "Tokyo" (produced by Vapors frontman David Fenton]] in 1984 and a cover of Marlene Dietrich's "Falling in Love Again" in 1985. 1985 also saw the release of their third album, Smart Alex, on Razor Records, which featured previous singles "Bad Boy" and "Tokyo". The band's third release of the year was the Bar Room Bop EP, this time returning to Fall Out Records. Their fourth album, 1986's Fifth Overture, was initially released only in Germany, and did not see release in their home country until the following year.

The band then entered a period of inactivity, only releasing the live albums Live and Loud!!, recorded in 1981 and released in 1987, and Rockers into Orbit, recorded in 1986 and released in 1990. The band's next studio album finally appeared in 1992, when the US label Cleopatra Records released Twenty-Seven, which wasn't released in the UK until a year later on Anagram Records. 1993 also saw Cleopatra reissuing the band's first three albums, giving those discs their first release in the US.

Another period of inactivity ensued, this time lasting until 2002. That year the band's first album in a decade,Rise and Shine was released on Captain Oi! Records, who also released expanded reissues of all of the band's previous albums with the exception of Songs of Praise. Two years later the Rollercoaster album was released on the US label SOS Records; it has never been officially released in the UK. Over the next couple of years, SOS released their own expanded reissues of Sound of Music, Smart Alex, Twenty-Seven and Rise and Shine. The Adicts' next album was a newly recorded version of their debut Songs of Praise, which was released in 2008 on the European label People Like You Records. A year later, the band released Life Goes On through the same label. In 2012, All the Young Droogs was released on DC-Jam Records.