Bronski Beat were unquestionably one of the most important and most distinctive British pop acts of the mid-1980s. Mixing infectious electronic pop with laser-focussed political militancy – particularly around gay activism (all three members were gay) – the trio of Smalltown Boys (Somerville and Bronski moved to London from Glasgow, Steinbachek hailed from Essex) achieved huge and groundbreaking success in a remarkably short period of time.
Bronski Beat were the product of a politically charged underground scene that broke away from London’s growing commercial gay and lesbian scene in 1982. After Somerville recorded a song called Screaming for the documentary, Framed Youth – The Revenge of the Teenage Perverts, flatmates and budding musicians Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek asked him to make music with them.
After making their live debut at 1983’s September in the Pink, a gay and lesbian arts festival held at LGBTQ+ venue Heaven in London, and after a handful of gigs the band was signed to London Records. Their first single, Smalltown Boy, took a personal, heartfelt story and with it created a worldwide smash. From the striking keyboard opening, and singer Jimmy Somerville’s imploring contralto refrain of “Cry, boy, cry”, the song has become the enduring anthem for all marginalized individuals and LGBTQI+ communities around the world.
Their pioneering song reached number three on the pop charts, an incredible feat for a band who’d formed the year prior and had signed to London Records with only nine gigs under their belt. Their follow up single, the angry, strident Why?, was another success hitting number six.
At the end of 1984, the band issued their debut album, The Age of Consent – an album that both defined a generation and challenged the status quo. Smalltown Boy, What and its following singles the further singles It Ain’t Necessarily So (a cover of the George and Ira Gershwin standard) and I Feel Love (a medley centered around Donna Summer’s disco classic and featuring Marc Almond duetting with Somerville) have endured with astonishing resonance, offering home to all listeners dreaming of escape from their familiar surroundings and situations.
In 1985, Somerville left to form The Communards, leaving Bronski and Steinbachek to recruit John Foster (known as Jon Jon) on vocals. Their first single together, the anthemic Hit That Perfect Beat, emulated the success of Smalltown Boy by also reaching number three in the charts. A subsequent album, Truthdare Doubledare, hit the Top 20 in 1986.
40 years later and The Age of Consent and Smalltown Boy remain as prescient and vital as ever, Smalltown Boy exploding on social media and returning to the carts and finding new life with notable recent inclusions on film and TV including Baby Reindeer, the thriller Love Lies Bleeding as well as episodes of Euphoria, It’s a Sin, Élite, White Gold and Narcos: Mexico.
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