1984 flashback Nik Kershaw Spandau Ballet Change Bronski Beat "Smalltown Boy" features "ominous" discordant notes, an "electro-pop pulse", and falsetto vocals.[7] The lyrics describe a young gay man who is bullied and decides to leave home.[7] In the Financial Times, David Gould wrote that it combines the hi-NRG tempo of 1980s gay clubs with "plaintive" lyrics.[7]
According to the Bronski Beat member Larry Steinbachek, "Smalltown Boy" emerged from an attempt to cover the 1977 Sex Pistols song "Pretty Vacant" using an octave pattern sequenced on a Roland MC-202 synthesiser The Pointer Sisters Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
