Hailing from Civil War-torn Northern Ireland in the mid 1970s, Stiff Little Fingers had none of the London-centric cool of The Sex Pistols or The Clash. However, growing up in a place where the British Army patrolled the streets and acts of sectarian violence were the norm meant they felt a very real kinship with the anger and frustration expressed by Punk's leading lights.
SLF(www.slf.com) rose from the ashes of Hard Rock covers band Highway Star in early 1977. They formed a crucial early alliance when Daily Express journalist Gordon Ogilvie saw one of their early shows. Offering to co-manage them, Ogilvie encouraged SLF front man Jake Burns to write about what affected him in Belfast. This approach birthed many classic early SLF songs including their debut single Suspect Device.
Classic Early Single Alternative Ulster & Patronage from DJ John Peel
Typically, influential Radio 1 DJ John Peel championed the single and even paid for SLF to record a session for his late evening show. A second classic single (Alternative Ulster) and a major UK tour with the Tom Robinson band followed, encouraging SLF to take the plunge and re-locate to London.
After a disastrous courtship with U2'S future label, Island, SLF elected to record Inflammable Material with fledgling Independent label Rough Trade (www.roughtraderecords.com). Run through the London record shop of the same name by budding entrepreneur Geoff Travis, Rough Trade's enthusiasm made up for their inexperience and SLF'S debut was recorded over a rapid-fire three days over the winter of 1978.
Inflammable Material Blazes With Passion 30 Years On
The tight schedule only added to the urgency of the finished product. Listening to Inflammable Material 30 years after its' release in February 1979, the urgency is palpable. Burns' voice shudders with passion and anger, while the band blitz through these songs of repression and injustice like their lives depend on it.
Highlights come thick and fast. Wasted Life rejects paramilitary organisations on both sides of the Northern Irish religious divide. The vicious Law And Order questions the dubious search and detain powers handed to the Ulster Police Force at the time and the brilliant Barbed Wire Love adds some much-needed romance and gallows humour to the situation.
Stiff Little Fingers' Classic Version of Bob Marley's Johnny Was
Strangely, the album's key track is its' cover version. In the same vein as The Clash's version of Junior Murvin's Police & Thieves, SLF'S militant take of Bob Marley's Johnny Was cross-pollinates Punk and Reggae with fire to spare. It's an 8-minute epic and its' military drumming and ratchety guitars form the perfect backdrop for its' story of an innocent gunned down for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
SLF'S righteous Punk ire would gradually become tempered by a Power Pop sound which they continue to hone to this day. Their debut, though, has an intensity which is more than a match for either The Sex Pistols or The Clash's seminal early work. It's fair to say Rock hasn't thrown such a ferocious molotov cocktail of social realism allied to great tunes since Inflammable Material.
Tim Peacock - Tim has been involved in Rock Music journalism for the past twenty years. He was a staff writer with the popular U.K weekly publication ...
