Eddie Grants "Electric Avenue"

The thought of Shaggy demanding an end to world hunger is slightly oxymoronic.

Now imagine him as Merry from The Lord of the Rings (which he also played!).

The song is only one chord: C# major

(Ned I once saw this in a Chicago hipster bar while my friend Murray confessed that he was cheating on my friend Allison. The next week the same bar was showing a GWAR video. Same diff.)

Song is grebt.

No, GWAR would be more fun, surely. Anyway, music and song and all.

I saw on that electronic music myths thread where Ned mentioned "Don't You Want Me" and "Tainted Love" as his 'roots', well, I'd concur, but right up there with those two bellwethers is this song. I think, even though it came out a year later, this thing sounded even *more* otherworldly to my young ears in 1983.

i think it was also the first "tape" I bought on the basis of a single. I already had Thriller, but you know, that was a cultural phenomenon. But I bought the whole Eddy Grant tape cuz I loved that one song so damn much and couldn't get enough of it. So I went to the MusicLand and got my parents to buy me the tape on Columbia records with those big red letters in that big font on the spine announcing the artist's name: "EDDY GRANT". I was really disappointed in the whole thing! I wanted TEN "Electric Avenue"s ! So it was an early object lesson in the ways of the pop marketplace. But I still love the song to death.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000050I5F.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

EDDY GRANT ROCKIN' OUT THE RED BODYSUIT OMGWTF!?!?!

If you like Troop Force you might like this., July 7, 2001
Reviewer: "mons_mambell" (Fountain Valley, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

I have had this artist's song "Electric Avenue" stuck in my head since the early 80's. I once saw Eddy Grant at the old Hi-Time liquor store in Costa Mesa. He saw me buying a corncob pipe with my friend Alex. He winked at us and yelled "You boys gonna have high time tonight" in an Asian accent, which I thought was odd. He seemed like a nice man.

The Great Reggae Master !!!!, December 23, 2004
Reviewer: CANUT REYES "luciofun" (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

Dont listen to the other Retarded Reviewer from Fountain valley california, Eddie Grant Has Not and Never Will Do DRUGS of Any Type!!!Eddie Believes in Spirituality and Sobriety,,, This is a Great Album and is Not meant for Lying Stoners like the other Moron reviewer,Mons Mabelle??? lol

And "Romancing the Stone" is just as good as song.

"I sailed away to China/In a little rowboat to find ya"

I'd rather stick a bear cub in my butt and throw rocks at its
mother than hear "Break My Stride."

I heard the recent crappy Elec. Ave remix on the ferry from Calais to Dover and thought the same thing.. "they couldn't break this song"

Totally agree, but that's because those two earlier hits were both kinda pedestrian and straightforward, synth-effectswise. Fewer sci-fi whooshes and whatnot. (Not to say that they aren't good songs, understand.)

Speaking of Casey Kasem, I remember another anecdote he related back in '83. Seems that the young (REALLY young, long before the Equals) Eddy Grant and his friends despised that new musik called rock n' roll when it was first stirring up a storm in England. And for whatever reason, maybe as a form of protest, they decided to attend a much-hyped London concert, in their school uniforms, just so they could stand their with folded arms in obvious disapproval. And wouldn't you know, after a few numbers they got swept up in the excitement and had a great time and were rock fans by the time they left the concert hall. What performer was incendiary enough to have made such an impression on Eddy & his friends? BILL HALEY & his Comets! True story. (Casey Kasem said so, and Casey don't lie!)

"Rockin' in the DAY-time!
Rockin' in the night!
Rockin' in the Yuckteepamommy!"

The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association estimates that there are over 7.2 million RVs currently on the road, and about 1 million of these are occupied by full time RVers, meaning drivers without a permanent address. This phenomena underscores a cultural shift away from permanence to a more nomadic lifestyle dependent on a flexible infrastructure of cellular phones and satellite Internet, as well as a growing network of RV parks catering to a mobile populace. The full time RVer is not limited to the stereotypical senior citizen, it is a diverse group of drivers, many employed in normal jobs but preferring the independence, flexibility of a mobile residency.

The effect of this new mobile class is now being felt in the California cities of Venice, Santa Monica, and West Los Angeles, which have become popular magnets for campers seeking the comforts of coastal living. Boasting some of the most expensive real estate in the United States, these coastal cities have priced out most people from purchasing property in the vicinity of the bleach. However, living within blocks of the beach is still a possibility for the average person with an RV. This economic dichotomy has made Los Angeles one of the first cities to have to grapple with the desire of some of its residents to live on the streets full time, in their automobiles. Electric Avenue in Venice is one such street, with free parking available amongst the expensive new artist lofts; it is frequently occupied by up to half a dozen RVs each night.

Good lord, that's amazing!
-- Ned Raggett

What's amazing? Could somebody explain the joke to me? (Pref. slowly and w/no big words!)

It was a home-made Pineapple Mellotron.

-- Speedhump Bungle (noodle vague), Thursday, February 17, 2005 10:46 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Link

prophetic, considering that this song is in pineapple express and all ...

It still rocks the party when I play it out.

there's a line in this song that sounds like
"deep in my heart i abhor ya"
which always seemed like an awesome thing to say, but some lyrics websites say that it's "i'm a warrior"
which one is it?

sounds like "deep in my heart I am warrior"
since he mentions working hard like a soldier in the beginning of the verse

that makes sense, still a badass song

Damn, I always thought it was 'abhor ya' too

sounds wayyyy more like "abhor ya"

for one thing a brit would never pronounce it "war-ya"

Not that Eddy Grant is a Brit.

I've always heard it as "abhor ya" in the same way that he sings "you're a bastard, just like Pharaoh" on "War Party" rather than "you're a bad star."

well I don't know what's on his passport but he's lived here long enough to have more than a hint of britspeak.

He's not saying "bastard"?!

donut OTM btw:

BOY!! B-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-E-E-E-E-E-ERRRRRR

One of my friends live on Electric Avenue, and another lives in a house in Hackney owned by Eddie Grant! What are the chances...

cause you're a passport just like pharaoh

OUT IN THE STREETS

if you're going to go through the trouble rocking all the way down to electric avenue, I don't think you need to take it any higher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc7n45m4VTc

song destroyed

So many 80s videos featured someone standing up only to FALL THROUGH THE WATER FLOOR.

OUT ON THE PLAYGROUND.

And Vienna's Calling.

they used a prophet 5 and a linn lm-1

Grindcore band Anal Cunt covered the beginning of the song on track "Eddy Grant" from their 1994 album Everyone Should Be Killed.