Stiff Little Fingers
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Some selections from the 1981 release "Go For It!" where the aggression of punk is either controlled or not present at all though every song is dripping with very urgent passion in both the instrumentation and the vocal. That being said, it is still considered on some fronts to be one of the best albums to emerge for the eighties punk scene. Very nice listen!
Wiki sex:
Stiff Little Fingers are a punk band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, formed in 1977. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the Deep Purple song), doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they reformed five years later, in 1987. Despite major personnel changes, they are still touring and recording as of 2009. Jake Burns, their lead singer, is the only member to have been with the band during all its incarnations, although in March 2006, original bass guitarist Ali McMordie rejoined them following the departure of The Jam bass player Bruce Foxton after fifteen years.
Biography by John Dougan (AMG)
A taut, explosive Belfast-based punk band, Stiff Little Fingers (named after a Vibrators song) had the dubious distinction of being referred to as "The Irish Clash." What must have seemed like a compliment at the time did little to help their career, only because it made comparisons between the two bands inevitable. Granted, there were many similarities: both bands debuted playing revved-up late-'70s punk rock, were politically inclined, featured pissed-off lead singers, had a love for reggae, and possessed a near-palpable sense of isolation and desperation. But as we all know, the Clash offered complexity, panache, and a consistently breathtaking body of work. Stiff Little Fingers, on the other hand, were simply a very good punk rock band. With sandpaper-throated frontman Jake Burns leading the way, SLF did release an auspicious, if badly produced, debut album, Inflammable Material, that featured the band's two best songs, "Alternative Ulster" and "Suspect Device." Both were passionate, ferocious songs dealing with the harsh, deadly realities of growing up in the middle of two decades of Northern Ireland's violence. These songs thrust SLF into the limelight and got them loads of enthusiastic press, which led to a contract with the decidedly anti-punk Chrysalis label in 1980. After that, SLF released a handful of pretty good records (including a terrific live album, Hanx), but their unregenerate fast and loud punk style started to sound stale. In 1982, the band released their most non-punk record (Now Then...), which was greeted by general apathy. In a musical rut, dogged by the facile Clash comparisons, and with punk rock running out of steam, Burns pulled the plug on SLF.
Sadly, the band's breakup lasted only five years. After a string of forgettable solo singles and a stint as a BBC Radio producer, Burns, hoping to cash in on punk nostalgia, re-formed SLF (with another aging punk rocker, ex-Jam bassist Bruce Foxton) in 1987, and released a bunch of lousy (mostly live) records for the rest of the millennium.
Comments (7)
Poe posted a song by these guys a few months back here:
http://mog.com/poebegone/blog/1316715
So you're in great company as a SLF fan. Thanks for the more in depth look.
Btw, what IS Wiki sex? hehe
I saw them & met them courtesy Randy Hein. They were as obnoxious a bunch of punks as i've seen. They sucked. The must have used studio musicians. Course that was their first tour
Hey Auggie - its a variant on oral sex with a nod to phone sex but much more descriptive :-)
"They were as obnoxious a bunch of punks as i've seen. "
Just coverin up their insecurities :-)
In the summer of 1983, after my family had just moved from Seattle to Miami, I returned to Seattle for a visit....a friend of mine and I went to a B-52s concert. The opening act was a band called Red Rockers (lead singer was John Griffith, now in the band Cowboy Mouth), and the drummer for Red Rockers was named Jim Reilly, who had recently come from Stiff Little Fingers!
By about the 3rd song by the B52s, I was being suffocated (literally, and I was never a wuss at concerts) at the front of the floor toward the stage, and eventually, gasping and hyperventilating, I managed to be squeezed out of the side of the crowd and thrown onto some steps by the side of the stage near some huge speakers.....as i sat on the step panting, there was the drummer from Red Rockers, who asked me if I was okay. My 14 year old mind immediately began racing, and I forgot all about how scared I had just been. He stayed with me until I located my friend, and then we spent the rest of the concert backstage with the whole band. At the time, Red Rockers were actually pretty popular, with a hit MTV video ("China") to boot (even though today most people don't remember them), so there was a lot of press people, etc. back there.
BTW--- they were all gentlemen, no hanky panky or anything, it wasn't like that. I knew a little bit of Stiff Little Fingers, and it was just so fun to hang out with this band at the age of 14 (and my friend was only 13), especially a band that was "popular"....just one for the memory books.
Anyway, when I saw the post title, I knew I had to share my little story.
Great story! Heh, there are some nice guys out there, and it's good to hear a positive story. The leering crap gets all the pib for sure