Dave's Song of the Day
Electric Avenue – Eddy Grant
Monday song of the day: Today’s song was an early MTV hit because of its catchy tune and music video, but most people were not aware that it was a serious song about a real-life event.
Eddy Grant had been a reggae artist since the mid-1960s, first with The Equals and then as a solo performer. He had had a few hits, particularly in Europe, but his big breakthrough came with the 1982 album
Killer on the Rampage. The album contained the song that would become his biggest hit,
Electric Avenue.
He wrote the song about the 1981 Brixton riots. Brixton was a section of South London with a significant African/Caribbean population, and at the time was experiencing serious economic problems. In April of 1981, there were protests organized in response to high unemployment, poor housing conditions and other problems in the district. The protests turned violent and devolved into riots, with 279 injuries to police and 45 injuries to civilians. Many buildings were damaged, including thirty that were burned.
Electric Avenue refers to an actual street in the market area of Brixton named Electric Avenue. While the song deals with the riots, there was actually very little rioting on Electric Avenue itself. Grant had seen the street sign in Brixton several years earlier and had thought even then that it would make a good song title, so naturally when he wrote about the Brixton riots he remembered the street.
The song starts with the line “Now in the street there is violence” and includes descriptions of the conditions that led to the protests. Despite the serious intent, most listeners just heard a good song and didn’t pay much attention to the words beyond the hook “We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue, and then we’ll take it higher.”
Boosted by a fairly simple video that got heavy airplay in the early days of MTV,
Electric Avenue rose to #2 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. The video was directed by Steve Barron, who directed a number of famous videos in the 1980s, working with artists such as Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Madonna, and ZZ Top, among many others. Most famously, he directed Michael Jackson’s seminal video for
Billie Jean. Coincidentally,
Electric Avenue was nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B song, but lost to
Billie Jean.
Tomorrow: You just show me where you want it
