Smalltown Boy…

The album of Bronsi Beat’s debut album.

Smalltown Boy is a song by the English pop group Bronski Beat, from their debut 1984 album, The Age of Consent. The song itself is a famous gay anthem, about a young boy fleeing his home in rural England to places elsewhere to escape social and moral persecution from the people he’s grown up with. The song sings of the alienation and loneliness he’s experienced at home “Pushed around and kicked around, always a lonely boy.” The song’s lyrics also touch on the idea that he’ll never get the love and support he needs, at home, so he mustn’t cry. “The answers you seek will never be found at home” “You never cry to them, just to your soul.” Smalltown Boy was a seminal part of the early gay movement in Britain, considering all three members of Bronski Beat, Jimmy Somerville, Steve Bronski, and Larry Steinbachek were openly gay.

Why this song is important to me…

This song has been a regular listen for me for a very long time, if only because it was in the video game Grand Theft Auto V, on the Nonstop Pop FM radio station. I’ve spent thousands of hours in the game over the years and this song has been on the radio many, many times. The song’s origins as a gay anthem are of little concern or care to me. I just love the song as a brilliant song.