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Bronski Beat
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Bronski Beat was a synth-pop group from London, formed in 1983. The singer Jimmy Somerville and keyboard player Steve Bronski came from Glasgow, keyboard player Larry Steinbachek from Essex. They shared a flat in Brixton. All three were openly gay, and they wanted to be more outspoken and more political than the gay artists of the time.
Music and breakthrough
After fewer than ten performances the group signed to London Records in 1984. The first single, Smalltown Boy, is about a gay boy who flees his family and his town. It reached number 1 in the Netherlands and Belgium, among other countries. Then came Why?, with a fast Hi-NRG sound and lyrics about prejudice against gay people, and the album The Age of Consent. The inner sleeve listed the different ages of consent for gay sex in countries around the world. The music consisted of cool synthesizers and electronic beats, with Somerville's high falsetto above them.
Influence
In 1985 the group recorded a medley with Marc Almond built around Donna Summer's I Feel Love. That year Somerville left. He started The Communards, and with his successor John Foster Bronski Beat still scored with Hit That Perfect Beat. The band also supported the striking miners with a benefit concert. Bronski Beat was one of the British acts who came out openly about their sexuality in the 1980s, and showed that a pop song about the experience of gay teenagers could become a big hit.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1984The Age of Consent
- 1986Truthdare Doubledare
- 1995Rainbow Nation
- 2017The Age of Reason
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 7: The 1980sNL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Synthpop Genre
Eurythmics recorded Sweet Dreams largely by themselves, in an attic studio in north London, with a drum machine that also drove the bass line, and Bronski Beat sang openly about life as gay men.