Smalltown boys...

Nostra Dam
Sep 22, 2020
4 min read

Updated: Feb 17

Bronski Beat is an English group formed in 1983 in Brixton and composed of Jimmy Sommerville, Steve Bronski and Larry Stein bachek. All 3 openly gay and proud of being.

It was a year later in 1984 that the fate of the group would change when the intergalactic hit "Smalltown boy" came out, a flagship title which would make a real worldwide hit and which tells the story of a homosexual boy who decides to flee his town and his family.

They repeat the same year with the title “Why ?“, title openly oriented on anti-gay prejudices, and which in turn is a hit. Shortly followed by their first album "The age of consent" which is also popular with the public.

1984 was a particularly prolific year, with a third flagship Single called "It ain’t necessarily so" released, with a much more jazzy-oriented sound that would also experience its heyday.

In 1985 the group joined forces with Marc Almond of Soft Cells to produce the enormous "I feel love", a cover of Donna Summer’s legendary track. Title which offers a new top hit to the group.

The same year the group recorded the track “Run from love”, which produced strong personal and political tensions between the different members of the group, to the point that Sommerville decided to leave the group shortly after.

A departure quickly compensated by the arrival of John Foster, arrival which allows the group to realize the Single "Hit that perfect beat". New title and new success. Single followed by a few "C’mon C’mon" who will also have a nice run in the Charts. Both extracts from the album "Truthdare doubledare" which was released a year later in 1986.

But these two titles will indeed be the last notorious successes of the group.

To discover or rediscover...

Discography (among others ...) :

80s Decade :

Smalltown boy 1984
Why 1984
It ain’t necessarily so 1984
No more war 1984
Junk 1984
Run from 1984
I feel love 1985
Hard rain1985
Hit that perfect beat 1985
C’Mon! C’Mon! 1986
Punishment for love 1986
In my dreams 1986

90s Decade :

I'm gonna run away from you 1990
I luv the nighlife 1995

Tracks :

1984 ... this single title was enough to make them fit One Shot into the musical legend of the 80s. The group signed a first huge title which will undoubtedly remain as one of the most hallucinating titles of the decade. MAS-TER-FUL !

1984 ... a decidedly exceptional year 1984 with a second mega hit in the wake. The track sets fire to all the Dancefloor on the planet and establishes the group as one of the biggest phenomena of the moment

1984 ... after the mega hits Dance, the time has come for the Intimist break which shows all their versatility. A magnificent title to end this year 1984 in style

1984...a title that will not be officially released as a Single but which frankly deserves to be brought back into the spotlight as it should be. It is now done...

1984...same for this one. It must be said that given the few titles ultimately produced by the group it would be a shame not to bring as many of them back to light as possible...

1984...it would have been a shame to miss this one as well. Many of the tracks from their first opus would have frankly deserved to be officially released as Singles...

1985 ... when 2 phenomena of the moment meet for the duration of a song, the result is necessarily up to the task. Especially when they cover one of Donna Summer's biggest hits from 1977...

1985...few titles will be officially extracted from the 2nd opus and it would have been frankly counterproductive not to talk about it as it should be...

1985...an adventure that will soon end for the prodigy Jimmy before he moves on to something else. A little guy with a truly extraordinary talent...

1985 ... new mega hit but without Jimmy Sommerville. The group lost part of its soul and especially of what made all its difference ...

1986 ... a delirium in Afro-Caribbean mode, they will have made us all the little guys. A title which already sounds like the last notorious hit of the group. A shooting star group that will have crossed the 80s at the speed of light ...

1986...another title that was not officially released but that would have deserved to be put a little more in the spotlight. It's done...

1986...a title of obviously interest but which will not have had the opportunity to make people talk more than that about it like many of the group's titles. The thing is fixed now...

1990 ... the group will pass anyway to the following decade. But it is far from the time when he familiarized with the top of the Charts with disconcerting ease ...

1995 ... in EuroDance mode to finish. Unfortunately, that will not change the situation and this year 1995 will indeed be the last for the group ...

Top Bonus : 2021...a particularly successful orchestral version which de facto shows that this emblematic title of the 80s can be declined in many forms...

Top Bonus : 2024...a particularly successful remixed version which de facto shows that this emblematic title of the 80s can be declined in many forms...