Frankie and Bronski

The home for Songs That Saved Your Life Radio on WKNY 107.9FM where Jami explores the very queer roots of rock n roll and plays a lot of great music!

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Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Bronski Beat are too often reduced to singles — but their stories are part of queer music history.

This week on Songs That Saved Your Life, we revisit the revolutionary sounds of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Bronski Beat, two bands often dismissed as ‘80s one-hit wonders, but whose music told stories of queer resistance, visibility, and survival. At the height of the AIDS crisis, at a time when mainstream pop rarely acknowledged LGBTQ+ lives, these artists brought unapologetic sexuality to the charts. From the hedonistic defiance of “Relax” to the aching vulnerability of “Smalltown Boy,” this episode explores how these songs offered lifelines to queer listeners and helped carve out space for self-expression in a hostile cultural climate.

Did you know that the music video for “Relax” was banned by the BBC for being too gay? And that because of Bronski Beat lead singer Jimmy Somerville’s activism, he was routinely targeted by the media? Despite the oppressive governments who tried to erase queerness from the mainstream, Frankie’s Welcome to the Pleasuredome and Bronski’s Age of Consent became beacons of hope for listeners.

Tune in as we dive deeper than the hits to uncover the radical legacy these bands left behind. Music in this episode includes songs by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soft Cell, Culture Club, Eurythmics, Dead or Alive, and more.

And of you’re interested in reading my previous articles about both bands……..