Bronski Beat Teams Up with Pet Shop Boys’s Neil Tennant to Ask “Why?” Once Again

August 8, 2024
HANK ORSO

Back when yer boy Hank here was a bit more of a baby gay, the British politi-pop outfit Bronski Beat released their debut album Age of Consent in 1984. I'd just graduated high school, but had been sneaking out to the bars in New Orleans and then Chicago for a few years now, so the club beats weren't some distant alien Siren song beckoning me to leave the suburbs in search of my chosen people. I already knew where to find the beats and other illicit enjoyments. The singles "Smalltown Boy" and "Why?" were smash hits worldwide, and with a slammin' new release that includes additional vocals by Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys, after I've stopped wetting myself in glee, Throwback Thursday takes a look at the impact of "Why?'.

For many of us on the dance floor at the time, we might have earlier come of some young age with the punk rock of X, post-punk artsiness of Joy Division or The Cure, and the splashy radio-friendly pop of New Wave and dark dance of Human League or New Order and Duran Duran. But the ballsy, outwardly gay Bronski Beat was a sensory explosion of honesty and forthright politics. They didn't hide behind slick illusion, make-up, and glam clothing that gave a wink and a nod at best to androgeny. Nope, they were unabashed dick-suckers and they didn't care who knew it. Cutie ginger lead singer Jimmy Sommerville, unapologetically queer with some sex arrests under his belt when their record came out, had a voice that shifted between a haunting falsetto and a snarling wail that moved your feet and your emotions.

And somehow he grew up to be a bit of a Cub!

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A post shared by Jimmy Somerville (@jimmysomervilleofficial)

In an age when AIDS was ravaging the community and all governments were against us, the need to spit in the face of repression sometimes came with protests, and sometimes with song. Many men my age can honestly say that songs like "Smalltown Boy" and "Why?" literally saved their lives because it proved they weren't alone. The two songs work in tandem; "Smalltown Boy," the first single released, sees a character move from his stultifying suburban existence to find the love and life he needs in the big city, mirroring Sommerville's experiences moving from Glasgow to London. The follow-up single "Why?" finds a similar character commanding respect for and fighting those who would destroy the love he finds.

You in your false securitiesTear up my lifeCondemning meName me an illnessCall me a sinNever feel guiltyNever give inTell me why?

But it was the opening line, "Contempt in your eyes as I turn to kiss his lips" that packed the real wallop. Here was a guy, unfashionably dressed in plain dockers and pullovers, eschewing the flash of early 80's pop, blatantly describing a gay physical act. The impact of that on listeners like me who had already grown tired of reading between the sexually ambiguous lines of other groups' lyrics and public personas was monumental!

And now, what brought all this about today...

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A post shared by Bronski Beat (@bronskibeatofficial)

"Why?" has recently been remixed by DJ/producer Tom Stephan, also known as Superchumbo, with additional vocals by Neil Tennant, and if anything could have made the renewed hope many of us are feeling regarding the Harris/Walz Democratic ticket even greater, it's this gaygasm of profound electro-dace chaos. With remembrance of original Bronski Beat founding member Steven Bronski who tragically died in 2021, let's take a listen to the future of the past.