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Song · Bronski Beat

“Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat

Released 1984

“Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat appears on 23 radio countdowns from 11 stations between 1984 and 2026. It was first released in 1984. Its best result is #36 on the Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003). In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #178 alternative song of 1984 and #1,248 alternative song of all time.

23countdowns
11stations
#36best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1984–2026years charted

Watch

Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy (Official Video)

Video from YouTube (London Records). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Smalltown Boy" was Bronski Beat's first single, out in May 1984 on London Recordings and later included on their debut album, The Age of Consent. Jimmy Somerville, Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek wrote it together, and it sets cool, pulsing synths against a falsetto that sounds like it's being torn out of somebody. The story is simple and devastating: a young man packs up and walks out on home.

Bernard Rose's video, shot in East London, makes the reason plain, following a boy who goes after he's been gay-bashed. The single went to number three in Britain and topped the charts in the Netherlands and Belgium, and it has lived on as a gay anthem, bound up with British gay culture's rise through the '80s. Rolling Stone ranked it the 163rd-greatest dance song in 2022, and a batch of remixes marked its 40th birthday in 2024.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1984 103 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1984 106
1984 48 John Peel (BBC Radio 1) John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1984 48

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1988 164 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) 496
1988 45 Live 105 Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) 501
1989 396 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) 495
1990 247 Live 105 Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1990) 299
1991 151 Live 105 Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1991) 302
1991 425 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) 1002
1992 425 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) 500
1992 77 Live 105 Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1992) 299
1994 487 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994) 497
1996 375 Q101 Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996) 500
1998 384 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) 488
1999 737 Q101 Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1017
1999 424 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
2002 685 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 36 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) 2044
2020 1342 WXPN WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time 2020
2021 734 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s 909
2022 214 X96 X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time 500
2023 101 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s 850
2024 325 WYEP WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years 1049
2026 437 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound 1055

Also listed as: Small Town Boy.

Charting alongside it in 1984

Best songs of 1984 →
  1. 1Two TribesFrankie Goes to Hollywood
  2. 2Pride (In the Name of Love)U2
  3. 3RelaxFrankie Goes to Hollywood
  4. 4The Wild BoysDuran Duran
  5. 5The Killing MoonEcho and the Bunnymen
  6. 6TendernessGeneral Public

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