Electric Avenue (song)

"Electric Avenue" is a song written, recorded and produced by Guyanese-British singer and songwriter Eddy Grant, who released it on his 1982 album Killer on the Rampage. In the United States, with the help of the MTV video he shot for it, it was one of the biggest hits of 1983. The song refers to Electric Avenue in London, and to the 1981 Brixton riot in the Brixton district of the city.

For other uses, see Electric Avenue (disambiguation).
"Electric Avenue"
UK cover
Single by Eddy Grant
from the album Killer on the Rampage
B-side"Walking on Sunshine"
ReleasedApril 18, 1983
Recorded1982
Studio
Genre
Length3:12 (radio edit)
3:47 (album version)
6:20 (extended version)
Label
Songwriter(s)Eddy Grant
Producer(s)Eddy Grant
Audio sample
"Electric Avenue"
  • file
  • help
Music video
"Electric Avenue" on YouTube

Composition

The title of the song refers to Electric Avenue in the south London district of Brixton, the first market street to be lit by electricity. According to Grant he first became aware of the existence of the street during a stint acting at the Black Theatre of Brixton.[1] The area is now known for its high population of Caribbean immigrants. At the beginning of the 1980s, as identified by the Scarman Report, tensions over unemployment, racism and poverty exacerbated by racist policing culminated in the street events now known as the 1981 Brixton riot. Grant, horrified and enraged, wrote and composed a song in response to these events. Shortly after, Grant left the UK to live in Barbados, and his most recent batch of songs was lost during baggage transit. 'Electric Avenue' was one of the songs he wrote immediately afterwards to make up for the lost material.[1]

Music video

Filmed in Barbados,[1] the song's music video helped it to gain popularity in the United States. In the early years of MTV, the network ran music videos almost exclusively by white artists and was criticized by famous musicians, such as David Bowie, for not having black artists on the network.[6] After Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" aired and was highly successful, MTV scrambled to get other black artists into their rotation. Once "Electric Avenue"'s video aired, it did not take long for the song to climb up to the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.[7]

Other release information

The original B-Side to this song was a non-LP track titled "Time Warp," itself a stripped-down instrumental of "Nobody's Got Time," originally released in 1980. The 45 sold more than one million copies in the United States, earning a platinum certification. It was later re-issued with "I Don't Want to Dance" as the flip side.

In 2001, Peter Black remixed "Electric Avenue" as the "Ringbang Remix", which was released on 28 May 2001.[8][9] The single featured and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart in June 2001,[10] as well as number 16 on the US Dance Chart.[11]

Reception

Grant initially released it as a single in 1983, and reached No. two on the UK Singles Chart. In 1983, Portrait/CBS decided to launch the single in the US, where it spent five weeks at number two on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 charts[12] and hit number one on Cash Box Magazine's chart. (It was kept out of the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 by two different songs: first by "Flashdance... What a Feeling" by Irene Cara and then by that year's song of the summer, "Every Breath You Take" by the Police.) "Electric Avenue" was a hit on two other US charts: on the soul/R&B chart it went to No. 18,[13] and on the dance charts, it peaked at No. 6.[14] It was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best R&B Song of 1983,[15] but lost to "Billie Jean".

The song was used on adverts for UK electricals brand Currys from 2007 to 2009.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts
Chart (1983) Rank
Australia (Kent Music Report)[41][42] 20
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[43] 46
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[44] 6
Germany (Official German Charts)[45] 63
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[46] 76
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[47] 37
US Billboard Hot 100[48] 22
US Cash Box[49] 9
Chart (2001) Rank
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[50] 122
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[51] 99

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[52] Platinum 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[53] Silver 250,000^
United States (RIAA)[54] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Refugee Camp All-Stars version
"Avenues"
Single by Refugee Camp All-Stars featuring Pras and Ky-Mani Marley
Released1997
Length
  • 3:56 (single version)
  • 3:59 (album version)
LabelMotor Music
Songwriter(s)Eddy Grant
Producer(s)

In 1997, Refugee Camp All-Stars covered the song for the original soundtrack of the movie Money Talks. This cover was titled "Avenues" and featured reggae artist Ky-Mani Marley.

Charts
Chart (1997) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Flanders)[55] 7
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[56] 32
Germany (Official German Charts)[57] 51
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[58] 10
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[59] 14
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[60] 12
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[61] 4
Norway (VG-lista)[62] 2
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[63] 7
US Billboard Hot 100[64] 35

Year-end charts
Chart (1997) Position
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[65] 86
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[66] 69
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[67] 22

Usage in politics

The premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, Doug Ford, declared "Electric Avenue" to be Ontario's new "theme song" and then danced to the song during a visit to Oshawa on May 12, 2023, following a conference where he announced the creation of two new electric GO Transit buses for Oshawa and the Greater Toronto Area.[68] The new buses opened for passengers to ride as of the following Monday.[69]

US President Donald Trump, while running for re-election in 2020, Tweeted out a 55 second commercial which used the song as background. Grant sued for copyright infringement as a result. As of 2023, the lawsuit is still active.[70][71]

Like all other Grant songs, "Electric Avenue" is not available on music streaming platforms, as Grant has refused to allow his music onto streaming sites because of his dislike of how the platforms pay artists. The only streaming versions of the song available are cover versions.[72]

See also

References
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  2. Greene, Jo-Ann. "Eddy Grant – Killer on the Rampage". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  3. Galil, Leor (May 4, 2016). "Chief Keef meets CeeLo and Eddy Grant on 'Violence (Army)'". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  4. Anthony, Todd (January 5, 1994). "Soca Up the Sun". Miami New Times. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  5. Breihan, Tom (July 15, 2020). "The Number Ones: Irene Cara's "Flashdance… What A Feeling". Stereogum. Retrieved July 27, 2023. Eddy Grant's harsh, bleepy new-wave reggae banger "Electric Avenue" peaked at #2...
  6. Izadi, Elahe (12 January 2016). "How David Bowie confronted MTV for ignoring black artists in the early 1980s". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  7. Denisoff, R. Serge (1988). Inside MTV. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-88738-864-4.
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  10. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  11. "Eddy Grant – Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 19 June 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  12. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 263.
  13. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 235.
  14. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 113.
  15. "Michael Jackson Tops Grammy Nominations". Detroit Free Press. 11 January 1984. p. 5B.
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