Bronski Beat are celebrating 40 years of their breakout releases, in 1984 the band scored hits with Smalltown Boy and Why?, making a statement about gay rights.
Why? was the band’s second hit and it highlighted the issue of prejudice against LGBTIQA+ people. The song was dedicated to gay playwright Drew Giffiths who was murdered in 1984.
Now a new remix from DJ Tom Stephen, aka Superchumbo, injects some serious additional beats into the classic tune and there are new spoken word vocals from Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys.
Vocalist Jimmy Sommerville, the only living member of the trio’s original line up shared his excitement about the new remix.
“I’ve known Tom a good few years now and when I asked him if he’d like to do a remix of ‘Why?’ he said yes straight away. The song is a part of his story. I was so moved when he shared that story with me.” Sommerville said.
“The lyric is our shared experience as it is for so many others… and forty years later the lyric still tells the story of LGBTQI+…. the hate, the violence, the discrimination, the imprisonment and state sanctioned murder of those who dare to be their true selves and it’s happening somewhere right now as I write this.
“So to hear Neil, one of our greatest pop lyricists speaking my words… I was fucking whooping like a banshee round my kitchen when Tom told me Neil would like to contribute and speak the lyrics of ‘Why?’ and to hear Tom’s musical reworking of the track is fucking mind blowing. It brings it into the here and now and also retains its history with my original vocal. I genuinely felt moved.” Sommerville added.
Alongside the short version of the remix that runs at just under 4 minutes, there’s also an exclusive extended version available on DJ site Beatport that lasts 8-minutes and features additional vocals from Neil Tennant, plus an instrumental version.
The song’s lyrics declaring “Name me an illness, call me a sin, never feel guilty, never give in.” came out as the enormity of the AIDS crisis began to be realised and at a time before much was known about the disease discrimination against gay people was at a peak.
The band’s debut album The Age of Consent stood out in 1984 as it was a very overt record about LGBTIQA+ issues.
The lead single Smalltown Boy told the story of a young man forced to leave his home due to homophobic bullying, while the album’s title referred to the different ages of consent for same-sex relationships across the world.
To mark the albums four decades a new five disc edition will give fans the original album plus Hundreds and Thousands a remix version of the album that came out in the 80s with added tracks.
There will also be a disc filled with the extended versions of the songs and another with radio sessions, previous unreleased demos and studio outtakes.
There will also be a DVD disco with restored versions of the band’s videos plus appearances from Top of the Pops, and the original television ads for the album. Yes kids – albums used to get promotional campaigns on television.
