It pains me to say it, but in 1984, at the age of fourteen, I was a homophobic twat.
In all honesty, I think most fourteen year old kids were, back then, and, sadly, from what my own fourteen year old son tells me, a lot of them still are (though thankfully he, himself, is anything but). All of this makes the fact that Bronski Beat released the iconic single ‘Smalltown Boy‘ in that year even more startling. Thankfully I never hurt anybody, either physically or verbally, like some people I knew did, but I definitely was of the mindset back then, that love between two men was ‘wrong’. I really was a fucking idiot and I’m still angry with myself for ever having had such an opinion. Love between two men is exactly the same as love between a man and a woman. It took a couple of my friends coming out a couple of years later to make me realise this.
Consequently I loathed ‘Smalltown Boy‘ when it was first released, which is just insane, because I now recognise it as one of the most groundbreaking, important records of the 1980s, and such a brave one too. Sure, we’d had gay pop stars before, but it was rare to hear a record that spoke so frankly about the bullying encountered merely because of a physical attraction to another male (Rod Stewart‘s ‘The Killing Of Georgie‘ notwithstanding). It’s a remarkable record, haunting, with that keyboard intro, and quite mesmerising too.
But The Age Of Consent wasn’t just about ‘Smalltown Boy‘, of course, although it was clearly a major part of it. The truth is that this was a record full of bangers, from the Hi-NRG throb of ‘Why?‘, through the beautifully adapted Porgy And Bess number ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So‘ to the brilliantly camp combination of Donna Summer‘s ‘I Feel Love‘ with John Leyton‘s ‘Johnny Remember Me‘ (you can find the Cake mix, with Marc Almond, on disc two). In between, there are varying degrees of good to great. My personal favourite is ‘Junk;’ thematically similar to ‘Smalltown Boy‘ (as is much of the record) but with an urgent cadence and a lower vocal from frontman Jimi Somerville. The lazy, Sunday morning feel of ‘No More War‘ is another highlight, its message abundantly clear from the title alone, but which, regretfully, we don’t seem to have learned from, all these years later.
This 40th edition reissue comes loaded with a varied array of remixes, five of which are tacked on to the end of the original album. Four of those are of ‘Smalltown Boy‘, but it’s the monster remix of ‘Why?‘ by Superchunk, featuring Neil Tennant, that is the standout here.
The second disc is made up of further remixes and B-sides including the brilliant, largely instrumental (at first) ‘Infatuation / Memories‘ that has a killer build up and an appealing, airy feel to it, and the delightful ‘Hard Rain‘ from a 1985 promotional EP. This has an intoxicating mix of Somerville’s falsetto vocal and Steve Bronski’s lower harmony, set to a thumping, infectious New Order-ish drum beat. The smooth, sax-laden ‘Love And Money‘ is another winner too.
Almost as interesting as the album though, is the informative booklet, which has various famous folk commenting on the impact of Bronski Beat – and particularly ‘Smalltown Boy‘ – on them, and a shocking list of how many countries still criminalise homosexuality today, from lengthy imprisonment to the death penalty. It’s quite an eye opener and a sad indication that maybe we haven’t come as far as we thought we had, since 1984.
Somerville is the only surviving member of that original Bronski Beat line-up, with Larry Steinbachek having succumbed to cancer in 2016 and Bronski himself having died after inhaling smoke in a house fire three years ago, but this reissue stands as a testament to them – a shining example of what can be achieved, and what a difference you can make in changing people’s perspectives on the world, while entertaining them with a set of out and out bangers.
Kids, don’t be like fourteen year old Loz. Grow a pair and embrace all different cultures and ways of life the same. Bronski Beat made a difference. So can you.
