Hit That Perfect Beat – Bronski Beat (1985)

Description

Additional information about this, Bronski Beat vinyl art.

Bronski Beat – The Artist

Bronski Beat were a British synth-pop trio which achieved success in the mid-1980s, particularly with the 1984 chart hit “Smalltown Boy”, from their debut album The Age of Consent. All members of the band were openly gay and their songs reflected this, often containing political commentary on gay-related issues. The initial line-up, which recorded the majority of the band’s hits, consisted of Jimmy Somerville (vocals), Steve Bronski (born Steven William Forrest, keyboards, percussion) and Larry Steinbachek (keyboards, percussion). Somerville left Bronski Beat in 1985, and went on to have success as lead singer of the Communards and as a solo artist. He was replaced by vocalist John Foster, with whom the band continued to have hits in the UK and Europe through 1986. Foster left Bronski Beat after their second album, and the band used a series of vocalists before dissolving in 1995. Steve Bronski revived the band in 2016, recording new material with 1990s member Ian Donaldson. Steinbachek died later that year; Bronski died in 2021.

Hit That Perfect Beat – The Song

‘Hit That Perfect Beat‘   is a single from the British synth-pop trio Bronski Beat and appeared on their 1986 album Truthdare Doubledare. It became a popular dance hit and reached number three in the UK charts in January 1986 and reached the top ten in many European countries and across the world. It was remixed numerous times and was a popular dance song in clubs at the time. The video for the song featured frontman and vocalist John Foster in the video seeking to join the group after reading an advert in a newspaper and fronts an audition to join the group. The video also features the other two band members playing with Foster at a Liverpool club called “The State” as well as scenes from in and around Stanley Dock. The song also featured in the 1985 British film Letter to Brezhnev, and can also be heard in the background in the Only Fools And Horses 1985 Christmas special “To Hull and Back”, in Sid’s Cafe.

The Army Drummer Boy  – The Shape

This record has been modelled into the drummer boy as on the 7″ singles picture sleeve and much of the promotional material on the time. A drummer was responsible for the army drums for use on the battlefield. Drums were part of the field music for hundreds of years, being introduced by the Ottomans to Europe. Chinese armies however had used drums even before that. With the professionalisation of armies, military music was developed as well. Drums were not only used for the men to march in step, but were an important part of the battlefield communications system, with various drum rudiments used to signal different commands from officers to troops. The romantic idea about drummers is that they were young boys. The fact, though, is that drummers were more often adult men, recruited like the common soldiers. During the second half of the 19th century, it was accepted in many western armies that under aged boys served as drummers. Although there were usually official age limits, these were often ignored; the youngest boys were sometimes treated as mascots by the adult soldiers. The life of a drummer boy appeared rather glamorous and as a result, boys would sometimes run away from home to enlist. Other boys may have been the sons or orphans of soldiers serving in the same unit. The image of a small child in the midst of battle was seen as deeply poignant by 19th-century artists, and idealised boy drummers were frequently depicted in paintings, sculpture and poetry.

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