Last month’s news that Donald Trump had lost his legal fight over using Eddy Grant’s song Electric Avenue without permission, likely delighted several, not least Eddy Grant himself.
Unauthorised use aside, I’m guessing Trump and/or his team took the song only at face value, and were not aware of the historical context of the song and its lyrics. If they had been perhaps they would have made a different, and less costly decision.
For those who don’t know, Electric Avenue is a classic from the annals of Black British history. Released in 1983, the song was an international smash hit around the world, reaching #2 on the UK singles chart, #1 in Canada and #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, helped by its video rotation on MTV.
Grant wrote Electric Avenue in response to the riot that took place in Brixton, a district in South London, in 1981. The title itself refers to a market street in the area, so called because it was the first to be lit by electricity.
In the late 1940s, Caribbean migrants arrived in the UK, on invitation from the British government to help rebuild the ‘motherland’ following the second world war. Many seeking jobs headed to the Brixton labour exchange and, because the area had relativley cheap housing, also settled there.
By the late 1970s, like many of the UK’s inner city areas, Brixton was in a state of disrepair amid high levels of unemployement and poverty. In addition, among the Caribbean community there was growing resentment at the increasing racial tensions, exacerbated by heavy-handed policing and the notorious sus law enforced by the British government.
By April 1981, the simmering hostility between police and Brixton residents exploded in a violent clash which then spread to other predominantly Black inner-city areas of the UK.
Angered by the events and the subsequent reporting by a largely racist and biased media, Grant penned the lyrics to Electric Avenue, intending to call the establishment to account.
“I’d watched the Brixton riots unfold on television. I’d seen the Notting Hill riots starting previously. I wrote down: “Now in the street there is violence”, and the song just flowed from there. I had been talking to politicians and people at a high level about the lack of opportunity for Black people, and I knew what was brewing.
I myself might have been successful, but I could have easily been one of those guys with no hope, and I knew that when people felt they were being left behind, there was a potential for violence. The song was intended as a wake up call”.
The song’s taut, electronic, funky-rock sound, complete with a distorted snare drum roll which sounds like revving motorbikes, gives it this sense of menace and urgency that is still felt today.
The lyrics countered the generalised view of the rioters as being violent thugs upending law and order and instead presented the reality of working class people struggling to the point of being unable to feed their families.
Working so hard like a soldier
Can’t afford a thing on TV
Deep in my heart, I abhor ya
Can’t get food for the kid, good God
Grant understood all too clearly the reality for working-class Black youth in Britain, and regularly addressed these issues in his music. But despite the global popularity of the song, many were completely unaware of the events that had sparked the song’s lyrics – which brings me back to where I began this article.
As October marks Black History Month in the UK, with the theme of ‘reclaiming narratives’, it’s important to continue to recognise the historical context and significance of a song like Electric Avenue. Because as we’ve already seen, it’s message can be too easily ignored or diluted in favour of a catchy beat by those who have a desire to disregard or revise narratives, particularly those pertaining to Black people and Black culture.
Sources:
How we made Eddy Grant’s Electric Avenue, The Guardian
Electric Avenue — Eddy Grant’s response to riots in London made waves around the world, FT.com
Electric Avenue, Wikipedia
Electric Avenue, Genius.com
Just Read It 