WATCH: Bronski Beat’s “Why?” gets reinvented with a striking new video 40 years after its original release
The Age Of Consent, the landmark debut album from British synth-pop trio Bronski Beat, initially made up of musicians Jimmy Somerville, Steve Bronski, and Larry Steinbachek.Powerful, propulsive, and unabashedly gay, the group’s music was a much-needed calling card for the LGBTQ+ community in the ’80s, especially at a time when Margaret Thatcher’s conservative reign was actively silencing queer voices in the U.K.
and HIV/AIDS continued to spread.While first single “Smalltown Boy” remains Bronski Beat’s most enduring hit, their followup “Why?” is just as potent and deserves to also be remembered as a timeless queer anthem.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.A post shared by Jimmy Somerville (@jimmysomervilleofficial)The song was inspired by—and dedicated to—friend of the band Drew Griffiths, a gay playwright who was chased out of the country by his boyfriend’s angry family and eventually murdered.Lyrically, “Why?” doesn’t hold back, nor does it attempt to mask its righteous queer themes in metaphor. “Contempt in your eyes when I turn to kiss his lips,” vocalist Sommerville sings. “Broken I lie, all my feelings denied, blood on your fist.”In the ’80s, the LGBTQ+ community was often still largely silenced and marginalized, but a few poignant moments in pop music marked a shift within queer culture.Over cascading synths and a wail of horns, the chorus repeats the question, “Can you tell me why?,” begging, pleading for someone to explain the point of the ceaseless homophobic violence.
Meanwhile, the bridge offers a defiant rallying cry: “You and me together, fighting for our love.”Upon its release “Why?” came complete with a conceptual video, which featured Sommerville as a butcher in a market overrun by gluttonous consumers.
When what we can assume is meant to a gay couple has their money refused as the counter, Sommerville defends them before being dragged away to a court where judges.
