Why

*The* Bronski Beat?

I've always rather liked it, though it needs to be played very loud to get the full effect. I'm sure I read somewhere that it's about a paedophile. Don't quote me on that though.

in my high school library there was a book about music from 1971 if i recall, inside was an entire chapter about rock sensations 'the cream'.

"Tell me WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

Though I sorta prefer "Smalltown Boy" more.

Also noticed over the years: "The Fairport Convention", "The Talking Heads", "The Dire Straits", "The Simple Minds", "The Culture Club", "The Snap".

Erm, I like "Smalltown Boy". Wasn't it played in "Brass Eye" in a slightly behind-the-times pastiche of portentous 80s documentaries about "problem youth"?

If you read the flyers from '60s gigs, you'll find The Pink Floyd, The Soft Machine, etc. The guy from Bronski Beat is the one with the soprano voice in The Communards, isn't he? The Communards were crap, but I remember one good song from them. It was a hit single in 1987 or 1988. Could someone tell me its name?

as soon as i read this question i sang to myself "tell me whyyyyyy?"... i should have known someone would beat me to it. :) actually, that's the line i always use to exemplify jimmy somerville's vocal talent. i was in awe the first time i heard this song, and i still find it remarkable.

on a related note, venus was asking about a hit communards song... maybe you are thinking of "don't leave me this way"? ah, the 80s... gotta love them!

Ewwww.

Reminds me of when I used to hang out in gay bars in SF. Although the 'tourists' seemed to like it better than the regulars, who were into butt-rock. How's that for smashing stereotypes?

writers of flyers = unacknowledged legislators of rock history?! (keeping it real on the streets etc)

(isn't THE soft machine korrekt?)

Dubious r/w historian, lousy writer and unwise drinker Norman Stone once concluded a newspaper-column rant on the decay of the UK student mind with the claim that this degeneration had come abt becuz they were all day listening to "The Wham" on their walkmans....

i never can say g...goo...g

Jimmy Somerville is probably the only singer who can at will induce migraine at various intensities.

I prefer Smalltown Boy - a bit more subtle. Swimming pool sequence in video a boon.

(isn't THE soft machine korrekt?)

perhaps only in terms of the book?

'Why' by The Byrds is better.

No it isn't (re: Byrds)

Carly Simon 'Why' is better than both

glamma kids 'why' is better than all three...

Played this in a bar last night. A homelessman came in and waltzed to it. On his own.

Jimmy Somerville is the greatest white soul singer ever, IMHO. This, 'Don't leave me this way' and the Bronski cover of 'Aint necessarily so' are the key moments.

Yes, smalltown boy is more lyrically subtle. But Why is a far better dance record. Jimmy goes Diva on it's ass, and it has all that great layered synth work. I also prefer the way that it launches straight in to the beats at the start - Bronski were always better when they brought the brutal element of their music to the fore and Why clobbers you round the head on a big system.

Don't Leave Me This Way is also a cover btw (first Harold Melvin, then Thelma Houston)

My favorite misplaced "the" -> The Throwing Muses.

"Why" was a good tune - kind off dated by now, I think. It reminded me of Eurythmics at the time. Synth-pop was still kind of a new thing to me - and the tragedy/negativity sound of the song was pretty cool. I didn't care for any other Bronski song though... (that I heard.)

As long as it didn't remind you of *The* Eurythmics.

I hate it hate it hate it, just the sound of that singer's voice makes me puke. That synth-disco backing track is godawful as well. Really the pits.

Can't say for sure about (the) Soft Machine, but Pink Floyd was indeed once "The Pink Floyd". They dropped the "The" pretty early on, but it kept showing up (especially in Europe) until around the release of Dark Side of the Moon.

I think the "The" was removed from Pink Floyd's name when Syd Barrett left.

There´s no "The" in the cover of "The piper at the gates of dawn", which is the first Pink Floyd album. So, they must drop the "The" before that. But flyers artists didn't realise that until "The Dark Side of the Moon", at least.

are you SURE phil — it doesn't appear on any SLEEVE i own...

(i haf to say this argt takes me scarily back to being 15 in 1975, when BIGGEST PEDANT IN SCHOOL [= not me, astonishingly] wd lay down the law of PF usage, re floyd prefect? and pink anderson?, "obscure bluesmen")