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'.įollowing the remix album Hundreds & Thousands, Somerville quit the band, stating he wanted a career which was 'more political'. In 1985, the trio joined up with Marc Almond to record a version of the Donna Summer classic I Feel Love. Playing the clarinet solos in the song was Richard Coles, with whom Somerville would later team up to form The Communards. 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. At the time, the age of consent for gay men in the UK was 21.Ī third single was released from it, again causing controversy. The sleeve inside listed the varying ages of consent for homosexual sex in different nations around the world.

Again, it made the Top 10 in the UK.Īt the end of 1984, the trio released an album which was provocatively titled The Age Of Consent. 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. 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. Bronski Beat was a very popular Scottish synth pop trio of the 1980s.Īt … Read Full Bio Bronski Beat was a very popular Scottish synth pop trio of the 1980s.Īt 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.įormed 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.

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