"Smalltown Boy" is a song by British

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

band

Bronski Beat Bronski Beat were a British synthpop trio which achieved success in the mid-1980s, particularly with the 1984 chart hit "Smalltown Boy", from their debut album '' The Age of Consent''. "Smalltown Boy" was their only US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 s ...

, released in May 1984 as the first single from their debut album, '' The Age of Consent'' (1984). The song was a big commercial success, reaching number three in the band's native UK. It was also a number one hit in the Netherlands and Belgium, and hit the top 10 in Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and West Germany. The track reached number 48 in the US pop chart and was a number one US dance hit. A remix by

Stephen Hague Stephen Hague (born 1960) is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s. Early life Hague was born in Portland, Maine in 1960. Early career Hague started his musical career in the mid-1970s as a session ...

was released as a single on 24 December 1990. The song was released again in December 2013 after featuring in a Christmas advertising campaign for

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. "Smalltown Boy" was also re-recorded by Jimmy Somerville and released as "Smalltown Boy Reprise" (2014) for the 30th anniversary of its initial release.

Music video

An official

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

made by Bernard Rose was shot and released later in 1984. The narrative video features band member

Jimmy Somerville James William Somerville (born 22 June 1961) is a Scottish pop singer and songwriter. He sang in the 1980s with the pop groups Bronski Beat and The Communards, and has also had a solo career. He is known in particular for his powerful and sou ...

as the boy who has experienced the issues described in the lyrics. Seen on a train, he is contemplating his childhood through flashbacks and the events that have caused him to leave his parents' home. At a swimming pool, the boy and his friends (played by band members Larry Steinbachek and Steve Bronski) admire another boy in Speedos on the diving board. Seeing them watch, he smiles back. Encouraged, the boy is dared by his friends to approach him, but this results in public rejection. The boy is later attacked in an alley by a homophobic gang, led by the young man he had approached at the swimming pool. A police officer takes him back to his home. It is implied that the boy's parents learn of his sexuality for the first time through this incident and are shocked, but only the father seems unsupportive. The boy is then shown hugging his mother goodbye and getting some travel money from the father. The boy reaches his hand out to shake his father's but his father does not return it. After, the boy catches a train to London, on which he is reunited with his friends.

Impact and legacy

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'' ranked "Smalltown Boy" number 12 in their list of ''The 50 Best Gay Songs to Celebrate Pride All Year Long'' in 2022. They added, Same year, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' ranked it number 163 in their list of ''200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time''.

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

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

Sampling and interpolations

*In 1993, German band Real McCoy sampled the riff from "Smalltown Boy" in their song " Automatic Lover (Call for Love)". *In 2006, Swedish

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Steve Angello Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis ( el, Στέφεν Πάτρικ Γιόζεφσον Φραγκόγιαννης; born 22 November 1982), better known by his stage name Steve Angello, is a Greek-Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and record ...

and

Axwell Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello ...

under the alias Supermode produced " Tell Me Why" using samples from the song. *In 2006, Daft Punk sampled the riff during a section of their Alive 2006/2007 tour during the song Too Long/Steam Machine. *In 2012, German industrial metal band

Oomph! Oomph! is a German rock band from Wolfsburg, formed in 1989. The band pioneered the Neue Deutsche Härte movement. Their work contains lyrics in both English and German, with a shift towards German exclusively on recent albums ('' GlaubeLiebeTo ...

paid homage to "Smalltown Boy" in their song "Kleinstadtboy". *In 2015, Brandon Flowers sampled the riff from "Smalltown Boy" in his song " I Can Change".

Cover versions

*In 2002, British gothic metal band

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released a cover of the song on the limited edition of the album ''

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''. *In 2013, Austrian AOR band

Cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

covered "Smalltown Boy" as a charity single for the "Room to Breathe" campaign to support cystic fibrosis research at

Nottingham City Hospital Nottingham City Hospital is a large hospital located in Nottingham, England. It occupies a large site on the ring road to the North of the city centre. It is composed of many buildings, most of which are joined together by long corridors. Bui ...

. Their version reached number 50 on the Austria Top 75 on 20 December 2013. *In 2015, Belgian singer

Kate Ryan Kate Ryan (born Katrien Verbeeck, 22 July 1980) is a Belgian singer and songwriter, and the winner of a World Music Award. She began her singing career in 2001 and later found fame with a string of dance hits. These included covers, mostly of ...

covered the song retitled as "Runaway (Smalltown Boy)". It reached No. 23 on the Belgian (Flanders) chart. *Also in 2015, UK band Heavyball covered the song, firstly as a YouTube video in April 2015, and then as a track on the band's first album ''Black Eye Diaries'' in October 2015. *In 2020, South African country singer

Orville Peck Orville Peck is a South African country musician based in Canada. He wears a fringed mask and has never shown his face publicly. He released his debut album ''Pony'' in 2019, followed by the EP '' Show Pony'' the next year. His second studio a ...

covered the song for the 2020 Pride edition of the Spotify Singles series. *In 2021, Kele released a cover of the song as the first single from his album ''The Waves Pt. 1''.

References

{{Authority control 1984 songs 1984 debut singles 1991 singles Bronski Beat songs Dutch Top 40 number-one singles LGBT-related songs London Records singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Songs written by Jimmy Somerville Song recordings produced by Mike Thorne