Thirty years after they first formed in Belfast, the band Stiff Little Fingers is as hip and relevent as ever. If their indictment of violence and the degradation of personal liberty during the time of "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland feels ever so viscerally true and universal it's because -- especially after 9/11/2001 -- it is.
Inflammable Material (1979), their first album, rocks out at a quick punk pace. The album lists Jake Burns (lead singer and primary songwriter) and Henry Cluney on vox and guitar, Ali McMordie on bass and vox, and Brian Faloon on drums. These guys are awesome. Here's the lyrics to a sample song:
No More of That
They never ask us if we want a war
Who do they think they're talkin' for
'Cause we never get no say
They have to have it all their way
Oh, we want no more of that
You can't push us under the mat
Oh we want no more of that
The man who pulls the trigger's not to blame
He's only playing their deadly game
And he know he can't win
Or someone else will pull the trigger on him
The track titles alone suggest the blistering nature of this album, a sure high-voltage antidote to the comparative daintiness of U2:
Suspect Device
State of Emergency
Here We Are Nowhere
Wasted Life
No More of That
Barbed Wire Love
White Noise
Breakout
Law and Order
Rough Trade
Johnny Was
Alternative Ulster
Closed Groove
Here's a link to the Stiff Little Fingers website.
Today's Rune: Fertility.
Birthdays: Otto von Bismarck, Abraham Maslow, Toshiro Mifune, Milan Kundera, Jimmy Cliff, Gil Scott-Heron, Barry Sonnenfeld, Yūko Takeuchi.
Slán go fóill!
1 comment:
Jake Burns came out and sang with local heroes Naked Raygun at Riot Fest last fall. That was a seriously cool moment.
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