A Deeper Look: Electric Avenue

Goose's versions of Electric Avenue shine a light on the 1982 song about turmoil in Brixton, England

Feb 09, 2024

It’s late June, 2019. You’re in Bond, Colorado. Why are you in Bond, more specifically at Rancho Del Rio, a rafting spot on the Colorado River, for three days of music at the Beanstalk Festival*, about halfway between popular ski towns Steamboat Springs and Beaver Creek in the Rocky Mountains?

Likely you’re there to catch headliners Magic Beans, or just take in some music in the mountains, combine a walk or a raft down the Colorado River, and have a great weekend. Or, maybe you’re already onto a band named Goose, which is on the precipice of being at the top of the bill, although for this festival at least, it would be easy to overlook them altogether. If you’ve been with this band from the beginning, perhaps you followed them up from their show the night before in Buena Vista, another beautiful Colorado mountain town. Perhaps you saw them play down in the Front Range a few nights prior, in Boulder and Fort Collins.

Even likelier, you heard buzz building throughout the day on June 29, hearing that this certain band from Connecticut was going on stage again, performing another short set. They’d play five sets on June 29. On the fourth set of the day, after opening with two of their more well-known songs, something magical happens: a slow, spot-on transition into a song many must have recognized but not quite pinpointed, with that faint, trademark synthesized “da da da da” on keyboards. You turn to your friend and ask, “Is Goose going into Electric Avenue?” Then, after more cues come in, Rick sings: “Down in the street there is violence.” The energy in the room increases until the place is shaking.

For many, this might have been the moment a star was born.

Take a listen. It’s an incredible rendition of the Eddy Grant classic.

Goose - > Electric Avenue

Goose has played Electric Avenue 33 times. It’s not their rarest song. It’s up there. You’re lucky to hear it more than once on a tour. They played it 14 times in 2019 alone. Lately, it has been coming out of Wysteria Lane. Lane into Avenue. Fun stuff. Electric Avenue is that classic slow-tempo, danceable Goose, the very best version, some might say.

We made some inspired art out of this fun transition. Click below to see more.

Perhaps the most memorable version of Electric Avenue took place over two separate nights. On March 3, 2023, in a Florida swamp, Goose ended a thrilling set at the Okeechobee Music Festival with Electric Avenue and with a frenzy of sublime jamming. Then, at their next show, on March 8 in Port Chester, New York, they picked right back up with the jam, merging right back into Electric Avenue. It was mesmerizing.

The Electric Avenue in Fort Collins, Colorado, to close out the band’s 2023 fall tour, is also one for the books. I’ll never forget how it all went down, standing there in a Colorado State University field, with the band working their way through some technical issues during Wysteria Lane. They were in an improvisation, to where, no one was quite sure, because while it was all happening the crew was working on microphone issues. Then, getting it sorted out, Goose segued into Electric Avenue, turning in one of the most professional sessions you could ever imagine.

It’s a performance that original songwriter Eddy Grant would have appreciated, I am sure.

Down On The Streets, There Is Violence

Eddy Grant was born in 1948 in what is now Guyana, in northern South America, on the Atlantic Ocean. Electric Avenue was released in 1982, about 16 years after Guyana gained independence from Britain. Grant moved to England in 1960. Not surprisingly, there is an expat-feel to his Electric Avenue, with influences that are at once tropical, funk, and that excellent 80s synthesizer vibe.

The song appeared on Grant’s album, Killer on The Rampage, and became a huge hit in the USA and England, reaching number two on the US Billboard charts. It was nominated for a 1983 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. It lost to one of the greatest R&B songs ever recorded, Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. It would have been hard to not hear it on the radio at the time. Electric Avenue has the feel of a song to head out on the town to.

It has much more political leanings, however.

Electric Avenue is a street located in Brixton, in London, noted for being the first street lit by electric lights in England in the 1880s. It was also the site of a 1981 riot between police and the expat population, largely Caribbean. The riots are a big inspiration for the song. The Brixton Riots of April 10, 11, and 12 of 1981 were fomenting for months. Hundreds were injured. In the song Electric Avenue, Grant sums up the conditions. He sings:

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Workin' so hard like a soldier
Can't afford a thing on TV
Deep in my heart I am warrior
Can't get food for them kid
Good God we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue

Notable Electric Avenue Covers

Who else has covered Electric Avenue? It’s a highly coveted song. It’s ripe for reggae covers and the odd jam band cover. Shaggy, not surprisingly, does a heck of a version. It’s done in a hip-hop style a lot. Electronica as well. Peter Black, an all-everything DJ, does one of the best covers. You can hear the dancehall vibe in almost all versions, which makes Goose’s renditions so fun and refreshing at the same time. Here is Black’s version, which gained popularity in the clubs in 2001.