Review:

on 2011-07-05 CharlesMartel Said:

In the late seventies, if you were a teenager, life was shit. Education taught you nothing of any use and there were no jobs to go to afterwards anyway. Inflation was running around 20% per year so saving money for that something special was a waste of time. Then there were the interminable strikes - the postal workers; the train drivers; the council workers; the miners. Yep, life was shit growing up then, and dont let anyone tell you different.

For the teenagers of Northern Ireland, they not only had all this shit to contend with, but they also had what are euphemistically referred to as the "Troubles". Growing up in a society which had got so used to routine discrimination that you wouldn't even know someone from the other side, never mind work with them, go to school with them or hang out with them was the norm. When violence flared, the British Government, in its usual cack-handed fashion, imposed direct rule, locked up people without trial and sent in the army.

Against that backdrop, it is not surprising that punk rock exploded onto the music scene around this time. Openly anti-establishment, the whole point was to piss off people in authority. What could they do to you anyway? Take your job away from you? So what, there werent any jobs. Deprive you of your future prospects? What future prospects?

Over in Northern Ireland, the punks were faced with a dilemma. They could either have a go at, or ignore the situation over there. Some, like the Undertones, chose to ignore it. Others, like Stiff Little Fingers, confronted it head on. Not only were Stiff Little Fingers pissed off with the same problems as kids on the Mainland, but they were also pissed off with the situation in Northern Ireland.

This places an album such as "Inflammable Material" firmly in context. This was punk from people who had more to complain about than most. And the band did not shy away from letting everyone know. Quite possibly a brave move, for it not only put them on a collision course with the Authorities (which in Northern Ireland could have very serious consequences) but it also put you on a collision course with the paramilitary thugs who terrorised the population. Basically, if you were going to stand up and say "you're all crap, fuck off" you could find yourself knee-capped (or worse).

Jake Burns' rasping snarl was the perfect vehicle for delivering this message. And in typical punk fashion, the message is delivered in a series of short, sharp, bristling songs. The addition of "Johnny Was" indicates that not all punk tracks need be over in three minutes while "Closed Groove" showed that there was more to the band than the three chord thrash. And the songs, well they just told it like it was from a Northern Irish perspective. "Suspect Device" (a term used for a potential bomb) Burns turns into a person, the Northern Irish youth, who is a threat to the Authorities: "Barbed Wire Love" elucidates the miserable nature of relationships in this era; "Wasted Life" rejects the army and paramilitaries as a way out. Then of course, there was the anthemic "Alternative Ulster" which in many ways encapsulated the band's whole rejection of the situation in which they lived and urged the listener to reassert control over his own destiny.

Just to show that Stiff Little Fingers could be angry about something other than Northern Ireland, "White Noise" is about racism and "Rough Trade" is a swipe at Island records who let the group down over a record deal. Other tracks deal with typical teenage issues  boredom ("Here We Are Nowhere") and what to do with ones future ("Breakout").

In this extended version, there is the original single version of "Suspect Device" which in many ways is better as it is raw and unrefined, and also the original B-side of "Alternative Ulster", "78 Revolutions Per Minute". The extended interview with Jake Burns is something you can take or leave  personally I buy a CD for the music not for the chit chat.

Today, thirty years on, a lot of this album may sound dated, and the lyrics may seem to belong to a past age. But for those of my generation, this is part of living memory. Thankfully I never knew what it was like to grow up not knowing if the place where you were shopping was about to get blown up, or wondering whether you had offended someone who would later come back with his masked buddies and drill holes through your kneecaps. All I had to contend with when growing up was rubbish piling up in the streets and getting the lights turned out every eight hours. I hope that the messages of this album still ring strong enough to ensure that no kid ever has to grow up in a situation similar to Northern Ireland again.
Rating: 7/10