Ant--the singer who rose to fame in the early '80s with heavy makeup, goofy pirate shirts and catchy pop melodies--pleaded guilty Tuesday to brawling after he had a meltdown in a London bar and threatened patrons with a starting pistol.
The singer (real name: Stuart Goddard) was let off the hook for three other charges--criminal damage, assault and possession of an imitation firearm.
Ant left London's Old Bailey criminal court Tuesday without making any comment to reporters. He's due back in court October 2 for sentencing.
The incident occurred in January at the Prince of Wales pub in north London. Prosecutors told the court that Ant showed up to the bar wearing a cowboy hat and combat jacket--leading patrons to begin giggling at him and whistling the theme to the Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Reuters reports.
The 47-year-old Ant--who once sang that "ridicule is nothing to be scared of"--reportedly lost his cool and left the bar, returning a short time later with the starting gun, and threatened to shoot the patrons. He also threw a car alternator through the pub window, hitting a local musician, prosecutors said.
Following the blowup, police arrested him and briefly held him at the psychiatric ward of London's Royal Free Hospital for examination. But Ant always maintained that he wasn't crazy.
"They've put me in the Alice in Wonderland ward because they think I'm crazy," he told Britain's Sun tabloid at the time. "They've sectioned me--I've been here all night. The whole thing's a conspiracy and they're just out to get me. I'm not mad."
Goddard and his group, Adam and the Ants, got their start in the late '70s when, after failing to find success as a punk band, the group (with an assist from Sex Pistols impresario Malcolm McLaren) reinvented itself as a glam rock outfit, slapping on makeup and funny suits and scoring a string of hits, including "Stand and Deliver" and "Prince Charming."
Adam ditched the Ants for a solo career, topping the charts with "Goody Two-Shoes" in 1982 before losing his hitmaking touch. An attempt at an acting career never took off and he went back to recording, releasing the would-be comeback album Wonderful in 1995.