Electric Avenue (song)
"Electric Avenue" is a song by Eddy Grant, from his 1982 album Killer on the Rampage. It was released as a single in 1982, and went on to be very popular, reaching #2 on both United States and United Kingdom singles charts. The song's lyrics refer to the 1981 Brixton riot, the title referring to Electric Avenue, a market street in the Brixton area of London, England.
The song has been covered by several other artists since its release.
It is often sampled in commercials and other media, such as advertisements for Montgomery Ward, the opening sequence of Pineapple Express, the opening to one episode of Everybody Hates Chris, and a montage on The Simpsons episode, "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes". In the Family Guy episode "And the Wiener Is...", the high school marching band plays the song during halftime. LSU first baseman Sean Ochinko uses this song as his intro for each plate appearance. The ending of issue #17 of Deadpool (vol. 2) features a scene where the titular character sings part of the song while on a mission. It is also featured in Jackass 3D in the stunt Electric Avenue.
The B-Side to this song is a Non-LP track entitled "Time Warp."
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.[1]
Other versions
- Canadian rapcore band Raggadeath covered the song on their self-titled 1997 album.
- The Christian rock band Tait covered the song on their album, Lose This Life.
- Refugee Camp All Stars (featuring Pras Michel, former member of The Fugees) covered the song in 1997 for the original soundtrack of the movie Money Talks. This cover was titled "Avenues", featuring Reggae artist Ky-Mani Marley. Their version peaked at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- Los Rabanes covered the song on their album "Kamikaze", using their own lyrics in Spanish.
- Rapper C-Rayz Walz covered the song on his 2007 album Monster Maker.
- House duo Firefox sampled the song for their single "Pull My Trigger".
- Servotron covered this album on a 7-inch record release with the B-Side of Finest Work Song.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic performed a concert-only[2] parody this song called "Flatbush Avenue". The recording was never released on any of his albums.[3]
- Grindcore band Anal Cunt covered the beginning of the song on track "Eddy Grant" from their 1994 album Everyone Should Be Killed.
- Velvet, a Swedish singer sampled it on her (2006) album "Finally". Velvet's version is called "Rock Down To (Electric Avenue)"
- Skindred released a cover of the song on their third studio album Shark Bites and Dog Fights.
- A version with Wyclef Jean, Pras, and Ky-Mani Marley, featuring the chorus of the original, and verses from each contributor.
- Swedish rock band Vains of Jenna released their cover on the studio album Reversed Tripped (2011).
- The song "Special Request" on PlayStation Home sampled the recurring beat from "Electric Avenue".
- Powerman 5000 covered the song on their 2011 album Copies, Clones & Replicants
References
External links
- Music video at MTV.com (Windows Media format)