Smalltown Boy

"Smalltown Boy"
Single by Bronski Beat
from the album The Age of Consent
B-side	"Memories" "Infatuation" (12")
Released	25 May 1984 (UK)[1]
Studio	The Garden (London, England)
Genre	Synth-pop[2][3] hi-NRG[4][5] disco[5][6]
Length	5:02 (album version) 3:58 (single version) 9:00 (12" version)
Label	London
Songwriter(s)	Steve Bronski Jimmy Somerville Larry Steinbachek
Producer(s)	Mike Thorne
Bronski Beat singles chronology
"Smalltown Boy" (1984) "Why?" (1984)
Music video
"Smalltown Boy" on YouTube

"Smalltown Boy" is a 1984 debut single by English band Bronski Beat and is the leading single from their debut studio album The Age of Consent. It went to number 3 in the United Kingdom and Germany, number 48 in the United States, number 5 in New Zealand, number 4 in Ireland, number 1 in Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium, number 2 in Switzerland and Austria and number 8 in Finland and Australia. It was re-released by Jimmy Somerville as a remix single in 1991.

Track listings and formats

7" single BITE 1 "Smalltown Boy" – 3:58 "Memories" – 2:55 7" single 820 091-7 "Smalltown Boy" – 3:58 "Memories" – 3:00

12" single BITEX 1 / 820 996-1 / 9-29 017 / LDSPX 215 "Smalltown Boy" – 9:00 "Infatuation/Memories" – 7:38 12" single MCA-23521 "Smalltown Boy" – 9:00 "Infatuation/Memories" – 7:42

References

1. "New Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 19 May 1984. p. 14. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
2. Vivinetto, Gina (9 March 2015). "Pop Icon Jimmy Somerville: A Career Overview". The Advocate. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
3. MarkWilson (18 May 2011). "Emilie Simon Releases "Smalltown Boy"". AltSounds. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
4. Walters, Barry (20 June 2000). "His beat goes on". The Advocate. p. 115. ISSN 0001-8996. As Bronski Beat's falsetto leader, Somerville made gay politics a hot pop topic with such hi-NRG dance floor staples as "Why?" and "Smalltown Boy"
5. Adam Block (9 December 1986). "A Clarion Call from England's Communards: Syl's New "Attraction"" (PDF). The Advocate. Retrieved 23 December 2022. The trio had met as friends and performed as a hoot, but their first single, "Smalltown Boy" (an autobiographical tale of a gay youth fleeing homophobia for the tolerance of the big city), became a Hi-NRG disco fave on both sides of the Atlantic.
6. "Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat". BBC. Retrieved 23 December 2022.