WWW.RIDESIDE.NET

Posted by MF DU on 2008-02-10 13:36:15 +0000

This is right up there with Seals and Crofts and 'I'd Really Love To See You Tonight' by Dan England & John Ford Coley. Anyone ever see that movie with Gena Davis and Samuel L Jackson 'Long Kiss Goodnight' where the England / Coley tune comes on and Mr. Bad Motherfucker is muttering the words under his breath? Pretty tight shit. God bless VH1 classics.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-11 12:40:58 +0000

Wow. I was very disappointed, upon clicking through, that I'd confused this song with another one. More specifically, this one: Yes, that's Eddy Grant's first band (he's the one shouting "OKAY! ALRIGHT!"). Yes, this Eddy Grant: This is incidentally one of my favorite childhood songs, my first exposure to the word "abhor", and the impetus for learning about the African diaspora experience in London. Electric Avenue was, at the time it was named, in the heart of a heavily industrial sector of London (called Brixton, as in "the guns of"). They later built a prison in Brixton, and possibly consequently for a long time it was unofficially the only part of London where landlords would rent to non-whites. My long-suffering mother took me there when I was 15 so I could get my picture taken next to the Electic Avenue street sign and check out the open-air Carribbean-style food market. This was the same trip she accompanied me to Abbey Road Studios (cue photo of me on the crosswalk), and the former BBC building where Monty Python did most of their writing (again, photo op). This is to say nothing of going with me to Paul McCartney's London office only to have me panic and refuse to go inside, so she went in for me and came back out with a stack of pre-autographed booty. The woman was a saint.

Posted by mahatma chani on 2008-02-11 13:34:13 +0000

Hmm... never knew this was a political song. Loved it as a kid, myself.

Posted by MF DU on 2008-02-11 15:58:49 +0000

Not that I mind, but just curious: How did this thread go from a paean to the glory of 70's soft rock to a thread extolling the virtues of early 80's political MTV kick-assery?

Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2008-02-11 16:27:30 +0000

I can put us back on track: Rita Coolidge - We're All Alone (heard it again this weekend on Florida Gulf Coast radio). Maybe more easy listening than soft rock, but it's a fine line when you're talking about the 70s. Love it!

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-11 16:46:29 +0000

Sorry, MF DU. My bad.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-11 16:50:00 +0000

TheFullCleveland is my hero.

Posted by MF DU on 2008-02-11 17:10:31 +0000

Don't apologize, I'm just amused.

Posted by deejayhubris on 2008-02-11 18:00:46 +0000

Bread

Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2008-02-11 23:29:33 +0000

I completely loooooove Bread! Some of the smoothest, softest rock around. (Everything I Own - 1972)

Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2008-02-11 23:45:37 +0000

I think this is one of those tunes that got it into my head that beyond my bland suburban childhood there was shit going down everywhere. Or in Jamaica, at least, I was sure he was singing about life in Jamaica. During my Teele Square Years I couldn't walk to or from home without thinking about "Electric Avenue," since I lived one street away from there.

Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2008-02-11 23:52:59 +0000

I'm thrilled that you're diggin' it as much as I am. And that vintage Eddie Grant was terrific!

Posted by tommy on 2008-02-12 11:15:45 +0000

I'm not even joking. I actually thought it had something to do with the road we used to take to get to Whalom Park.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-12 11:21:36 +0000

You just made my day, Tommy.

Posted by virtue on 2008-02-12 11:33:45 +0000

Because the discursive practices of my youth privileged the non white in determining musical authenticity, and authenticity, i.e., originality, was privileged in my construction of self, I preferred this: Which is to say, I preferred my soft rock with a steady, mellow backbeat. And that my awareness of the fact that a lot of the ska/reggae songs were covers was not a major factor in my discursive practices.

Posted by G lib on 2008-02-12 13:01:51 +0000

Admit it, Lack-Of-Virtue, You just liked the prototype spandex outfit on that hot guy.

Posted by G lib on 2008-02-12 13:10:01 +0000

I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sheltered. This all seems so obvious to me as an adult, but I had no idea the guy was even black. I thought that electric avenue was the kind of thing that John Travolta danced on in Saturday Night Fever. Needless to say, I had never seen the movie-- I'd only seen pictures.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-12 14:35:10 +0000

It certainly helped to have an English mother and a rock/r&b-obsessed father. Thanks to Dad we were the first family I knew with MTV, and Mum happened to be watching with me when Electric Avenue first came on. I've never seen Saturday Night Fever either - by the time I was old enough to rent it, someone had told me someone gets raped in it, and - as you know - I was a skittish little budding Morrissey devotee. John Hughes productions were much more my speed.

Posted by mahatma chani on 2008-02-12 14:49:34 +0000

No bullshit, that film's awesome.

Posted by G lib on 2008-02-12 15:40:03 +0000

It really is. I rented it in late nineties/ early aughts for the kitch value after seeing "Perfect" with John and Jaime Lee Curtis on late night TV. I was completely floored by how good the movie actually was. I think I was shaking and crying by the end, and I'm not that much of a cry baby. (shut up, Chippy!)

Posted by mahatma chani on 2008-02-12 17:01:01 +0000

I'm right there with you. Alex and I were gonna watch it for kitsch value too, but then were stunned at the acting clinic we got instead.

Posted by virtue on 2008-02-12 17:39:32 +0000

I certainly did dig the white one piece proto spandex jumpsuit, but alas, my first encounter with it was this morning. Had I known the singer was the sort of person who wore white jump suits in my teens, however, it probably would have irrevocably altered my world view. Remember, I got into ska (and reggae, to a much lesser extent), via the specials, the clash and the bosstones, and white jump suits were *not* part of what I understood to be acceptable attire for musicians. It probably helped that none of the stuff I listened to really even had music videos (or, at least, I never saw them), so unless a band got press in rolling stone/spin, I was free to imagine what they looked like. The only specials video I've seen is the one for "Free Nelson Mandela," and that's only because Rap City closed with it every episode for a goodly while.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-12 17:45:36 +0000

Aw, Virtue - if I'd known earlier, we could've broken out Huzb's Two Tone tour videos while you were in town. He is *obsessed*. When're you comin' back?

Posted by G lib on 2008-02-12 17:49:04 +0000

I was PWN3D.

Posted by MF DU on 2008-02-12 18:16:46 +0000

I'm going to have to go ahead and nominate this 'Player' thread as an early candidate for "rideside thread of the Year 2008" assuming there will be no RSN poster / writer strike which would preclude an awards ceremony.

Posted by virtue on 2008-02-12 19:08:22 +0000

Um, as soon as I can? Just got to save up the dough and the vacation time! I really am very fond of Amsterdam. This year, however, it looks like my travels will be limited to new england and Australia. Things could certainly be worse.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-12 19:31:45 +0000

My dear MF DU, your above post has triggered a long-forgotten movie quote which is now stuck in my head on 'repeat'. "What's happening? Ummm, I'm gonna need you to go ahead and come in tomorrow. So if you could be here around nine, that would be great. Mmmm'k? Oh, oh, and I almost forgot. Ahhh... I'm gonna also need you to come in on Sunday too. We, ummm, lost some people this week and uhhh... we need to sorta play catch up. Thanks."

Posted by MF DU on 2008-02-13 03:47:23 +0000

Can someone please explain the dress shirt phenomenon of one color for the shirt and another color for the collar? Who thinks this looks good?

Posted by tgl on 2008-02-13 03:56:27 +0000

Bob Kraft and ... nope, nobody else.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-13 07:24:13 +0000

Apparently it was created so people with "white collar" jobs could maintain their superior status whilst wearing trendy colors like the plebs (who'd wear colored shirts, hence the "blue collar").

Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2008-02-13 12:46:25 +0000

My old boss, too.

Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2008-02-13 12:46:57 +0000

He's Dutch.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-13 16:09:37 +0000

My personal favorite of the genre is this: The first time I saw the video was a little over a year ago. And the effect, after roughly 30 years of imagining the vocalists to be suave and desirable, was terrifying. But I still can't tear my burning eyes away from the screen!

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-13 16:14:17 +0000

Ah, the Dutch sense of fashion. Men biking to work in denim sportscoats emblazoned with nonsensical English catchphrases, high-collared shirts with frills along the buttons, 3/4-length orange cordoroy trousers, white socks, and brown shoes. It's rather endearing, in a twisted way...

Posted by tgl on 2008-02-13 17:09:20 +0000

YOU ARE ALL DUTCH.

Posted by G lib on 2008-02-13 17:43:47 +0000

The best 30 seconds or so starts around 1:45. And boy, is it good or what!

Posted by dyedon8 on 2008-02-13 17:50:54 +0000

Gah!

Posted by respectless on 2008-02-13 21:04:51 +0000

i wanna play too...

Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2009-04-30 14:44:17 +0000

Saw a documentary at the IFFB about the guy who wrote this tune - Of All The Things. It chronicles his comeback tour...in the Phillipines. Totally worth seeing when it comes out on DVD, or if it's still in theaters locally.