At their height, the band comprised distinctive and diminutive Scottish singer Jimmy Somerville, backed by fellow Scot Steve Bronski and Londoner Larry Steinbacheck, both of whom played keyboards and percussion.
Formed in 1983, their debut hit came the following year - the striking tale of a boy who was cast away by his family and neighbours for being gay. Called Smalltown Boy, it peaked at Number 3 in the UK and was accompanied by a memorable video of Somerville leaving home, forlornly eating an apple on a train, being attacked by a homophobic gang and being returned to his family by the police.
The song quickly established the trio as an outlet for gay issues – all three members were homosexual – and the follow-up single Why? pursued the same energetic and electronic formula musically, while the lyrics focussed more centrally and darkly on anti-gay prejudice. Again, it made the Top 10 in the UK.
At the end of 1984, the trio released an album which was provocatively titled The Age Of Consent. The sleeve inside listed the varying ages of consent for homosexual sex in different nations around the world. At the time, the age of consent for gay men in the UK was 21.
A third single was released from it, again causing controversy. It Ain't Necessarily So, the George and Ira Gershwin classic (from Porgy and Bess) which questions the authenticity of Biblical tales, reached the UK Top 20. Playing the clarinet solos in the song was Richard Coles, with whom Somerville would later team up to form The Communards.
In 1985, the trio joined up with Marc Almond to record a version of the Donna Summer classic I Feel Love. The full version was actually a medley, also incorporating snippets of "Love to Love You Baby" and "Johnny Remember Me." It reached Number 3 in the UK charts, equaling the feats of "Smalltown Boy," and was memorably described by one critic as "the gayest record ever made".
Following the remix album Hundreds & Thousands, Somerville quit the band, stating he wanted a career which was "more political". Presumably this related to internal politics rather than the lyrical direction of the band, as his new project relied almost entirely on unpolitical songs and cover versions – and they were a huge success in doing so. He teamed up with Coles to form The Communards and in 1986 outsold all other singles in the UK with their version of Don't Leave Me This Way.
Bronski Beat recruited John Foster as Somerville's replacement. A very catchy single called Hit That Perfect Beat managed to equal the two previous biggest hits by reaching Number 3 in the UK charts. In 1986, they released their second album, Truthdare Doubledare.
In 1989, Jonathan Hellyer became lead singer, and the band extensively toured the U.S. and had one minor hit with the song Cha Cha Heels, a one-off collaboration sung by American actress and singer Eartha Kitt.
Bronski Beat released their third and final album, Rainbow Nation, in 1995. They split that year.
The songs "Smalltown Boy" and "Why" were sampled by producers Steve Angello and Axwell under the moniker Supermode (originally Supermongo) for their song "Tell Me Why". "Tell Me why" peaked at #13 on the UK singles chart.
In 2018, London Records issued a remastered and expanded 2CD edition of their debut, The Age of Consent. Remastered from the original 1984 analogue tapes, it includes demos, BBC sessions, remixes and unreleased tracks.
Memories
Bronski Beat Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Age Of Consent
Infatuation / Memories
Hundreds & thousands (somerville/steinbachek/bronski)
Oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh
Memories, sweet memories
Lost in these memories
Lost i should stay
Days, brilliant days
Love filled these brilliant days
These days are foregone
Love that was wonderful
Love nobody knows
My head it cries from wall to wall
My heart will scream down down i fall
My heart, down i fall, down i fall
Down
These poignant lyrics of Bronski Beat's song "Memories" seem to reflect on nostalgia and the longing for days that are gone by. The use of the word "memories" suggests a person's desire to look back at their past experiences, while "lost in these memories" implies that the person has become entranced or almost hypnotized with the past. The line "love filled these brilliant days" suggests a fondness for romantic experiences, while "love that was wonderful, love nobody knows" seems to suggest that the songwriter may have had a romance that either went unnoticed or is now obscured by the passage of time.
The lyrics become more emotionally intense with the line, "my head it cries from wall to wall," where the songwriter expresses a sense of desperation and possibly frustration with the inability to move on from their memories. The line, "my heart will scream down, down, I fall" further emphasizes the depth of the singer's sorrow and pain.
Line by Line Meaning
Hundreds & thousands
A lot of things or people
Oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh
Sound of longing or sadness
Memories, sweet memories
Recalling past experiences which are pleasant
Lost in these memories
Engrossed in reminiscing the past
Lost I should stay
Preferring to linger in the memories than face reality
Days, brilliant days
Referring to a happy period in life
Love filled these brilliant days
The happiness was due to the presence of love
These days are foregone
The happy period in life is over
Love that was wonderful
The quality of love from that period was amazing
Love nobody knows
The love shared was unique and cannot be replicated or understood by anyone else
My head it cries from wall to wall
Feeling overwhelmed with emotions, unable to escape them
My heart will scream down down I fall
Feeling heartbroken and powerless
My heart, down I fall, down I fall
The emotional pain is becoming too much to handle
Down
Succumbing to the sadness and despair
Writer(s): James William Somerville, James Somerville, Steve Bronski, Larry Steinbachek Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Limited, BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd., Bronski Music Ltd.
Contributed by John F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
AÃda Paiva
Essa musica apresenta o mesmo clima do Twin Peaks que foi lancada em 1990. A mesma atmosfera tensa que a gente ouve em Twin Peaks a gente percebe nessa musica. Eu estava passeando no YouTube quando encontrei o Bronski Beat e pensei que Small Town se tratasse das duas criancas que mataram uma terceira numa linha de trem na Inglaterra. Eu gostei muito das musicas e gostei muito do cantor apesar que essas musicas sao de uma epoca horrivel da minha vida, uma epoca que eu vivi uma crise psiquica de muito sofrimento.
Arthur Havenaar
R.I.P. Steve Bronski!😢💕
Markus Niepmann
What a great Sound
Daniele T
canzone stupenda!!!
Stephen Dennis
It was on a b side
chadergeist82
This song is NOT on the album The Age Of Consent. You find your information first hand, before posting these untrue fibs.
Frederick Mowry
the fact is back when the RECORD/TAPE came out the" age of consent " was indeed accurate .with the flux of goverment/ politics things have changed . both good and bad...
Martin Wedge
It most certainly was on the CD version if the album released in 1984.
Alphabet
mimimimimi
Dimitris Theodoridis
@Martin Wedge Most certainly? Well, it appeared on the CD version of "The Age of Consent" only in 1996.