Released 19821983 (US) Length 3:48 | ||
Label PortraitParlophoneEMI | ||
“Electric Avenue” is a song written, recorded and produced by Eddy Grant, who released it from 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 1983's biggest hits of the year. The song's title refers to an area historically known as Electric Avenue; this is a reference to the first place electricity lit the streets in the area of Brixton, South of London. This is an area known in the modern times for its high population of Caribbean immigrants and high unemployment. As the 1980s were beginning, tensions grew in the area until the street violence now known as the 1981 Brixton riot erupted. Grant, horrified and enraged, wrote and composed the song in response; a year afterwards, the song was playing over the airwaves.
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Grant initially released it as a single in 1982, and reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1983, CBS decided to launch the single in the U.S., where it spent five weeks at No. 2 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 charts and hit No. 1 in Cash Box Magazine. (It was kept out of the top spot on Billboard's Hot 100 by a combination of two songs, "Flashdance... What a Feeling" by Irene Cara and 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 chart it went to No. 18, and on the dance charts, it peaked at No. 6. It was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best R&B Song of 1983, but lost to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean."
The song is featured in the films Valley Girl, Pineapple Express, Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, and Jackass 3D. It is also featured in Season 1, Episode 14 of the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun, the twentieth season premiere of The Simpsons: "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes," and the popular sports podcast Pardon My Take.
Music video
The video was the crucial element for this song to go mainstream in America. The song was already a hit in the UK. When MTV ran music videos on its network, the producers put the song into rotation to add some racial diversity. MTV, at the time, was being criticized, by famous musicians like David Bowie, for not having black artists on the network. After "Billie Jean" aired and was successful, soon MTV was scrambling to get other black artists into their rotation. Once "Electric Avenue" aired, it did not take long for the song to climb up to the no. 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
Other release information
The original B-Side to this song was a non-LP track titled "Time Warp." 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.
Electric Avenue was re-released in 2001. The single featured the "Ringbang Remix," and reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in June 2001, as well as reaching number 16 on the US dance chart.
The Ringbang Remix was also featured on Now That's What I Call Music! 49 as track 1 of disc 2.
Refugee Camp All-Stars version
Refugee Camp All-Stars covered the song in 1997 for the original soundtrack of the movie Money Talks. This cover was titled "Avenues" and featured reggae artist Ky-Mani Marley. Their version peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100.