Zerox
1979 single by Client
"Zerox" (stylised as Zerøx) is an Adam and the Ants' stand-alone single written by Adam Ant. It was later included on the 1983 CBS reissue of the band's debut album Dirk Wears White Sox and as part of the bonus material on the 2004 Columbia Records Remaster. The line-up on this track include Dave Barbarossa on drums, Matthew Ashman on guitar & Andy Warren on bass guitar with Ant playing some percussion on the song's coda. The track has been included on the compilations Antics in the Forbidden Zone, Antmusic: The Very Best of Adam Ant, The Very Best Of Adam And The Ants, Antbox, The Essential Adam Ant & Stand & Deliver: The Very Best of Adam & the Ants.
The cover portrays Image in Motion (1913), a photograph by the Italian Futurist Anton Bragaglia, with the name of the band and the song superimposed over it.
Lyrics
The title is a reference to the Xerox photocopier. Whereas Xerox machines are used to make paper copies of documents and other visual images, it is used as a metaphor for plagiarism in the song's lyrics (example: I'm never bored, I'll steal your chord).
The title also reference's David Bowie's description of himself as "a human Xerox Machine". On some early versions of the song, Ant can be heard singing "David Bowie's a Xerox machine" on the coda. In one such version, a demo recorded August 1978 at Decca Records's Broadhurst Gardens studio, this line is sung in a similar high pitched tone to that employed on Bowie's early single "The Laughing Gnome".
“Zerox” enters the record as 1979 single by Client. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Zerox, single and Client can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Zerox” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Zerox, single and Client provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8069653. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1983, 2004, 1913 and 1978.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Zerox”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Zerox primary sources, Zerox archive and Zerox research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Zerox”?
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Zerox” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.