Smalltown Boy is the anthem which guided queer kids out of our villages and into the clubs. It was a call to arms for little gay kids to find our space.
At first, Smalltown Boy spoke to me musically. But it's the lyrics that hit me when I listened closer. I felt isolated, being gay. This song was a call to arms for little gay kids to find our space.
I put it up there with Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday, which spoke to Black people's experiences at the time like nothing else. Smalltown Boy was its modern, gay counterpart. Generation-defining.
The Wizard of Oz got me into the notion of torch songs, tragedies, feeling fear and vulnerability, looking for your place in society, and finding your tribe of misfits, resonating with childhood experiences and self-discovery.
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