I remember this album coming out there at a time when it felt like something was about to change. There was increased violence, the government was clamping down even more, and many sensed a shift was about to happen. 1985-86 were pretty bad, but by 1989 it felt like things were moving in a different direction.
My dad was running a river adventure business at the time, and we played this album over and over and over and over again in the car as we drove up and down the country (and, weirdly, Stevie Wonder's soundtrack for "The Woman in Red"). "Township jive" was the name we heard (us whites anyway) given to black popular music that was gaining ground outside of the black "townships"—essentially urban reservations for the black population, Soweto etc. Those on the left knew Juluka/Savuka's music and so Graceland fit right in.
I remember this album coming out there at a time when it felt like something was about to change. There was increased violence, the government was clamping down even more, and many sensed a shift was about to happen. 1985-86 were pretty bad, but by 1989 it felt like things were moving in a different direction.
My dad was running a river adventure business at the time, and we played this album over and over and over and over again in the car as we drove up and down the country (and, weirdly, Stevie Wonder's soundtrack for "The Woman in Red"). "Township jive" was the name we heard (us whites anyway) given to black popular music that was gaining ground outside of the black "townships"—essentially urban reservations for the black population, Soweto etc. Those on the left knew Juluka/Savuka's music and so Graceland fit right in.