The World Won't Listen

Nobody Would Know You Were Dead

Anybody in the know would of course realise that this was a portion of a lyric in a Vibrators song from which Stiff Little Fingers realised their name.

"If it wasn't for your stiff little fingers, nobody would know you were dead."

Shamefully, I managed to miss Jake Burns' 48th birthday yesterday so I will try and rescue this lack of apprecation with my blog entry for today.

During my informative teenage years I, like many others, would have my ear glued to the radio during the evening, listening to the dour tones of John Peel. So when Peelie played 'Suspect Device' to death in a bid to win over the new punk generation I was very appreciative of this brash Belfast sound. These were protest songs with a difference. The songs were a million miles away from the visions of Ulster I was used to. Mainland Britain was used to being bombarded by stereotypes written by likes of the 'Daily Mail' and the 'Daily Express'. Musically, SLF were furious but accomplished in their musical style. It was perfect for the time and 'Inflammable Material' still remains in my list of greatest debut albums ever. So the two tracks chosen from this album are 'Suspect Device' itself (though the single version rather than that found on the album), and their cover of the Bob Marley classic 'Johnny Was'. Incidentally, I also like the fact that Bruce Foxton, was until recently, a member of the band. There are probably many people (judging by the strength of feeling diplayed in the blogging world recently) who feel he should of stayed there.

1. Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device (mp3)

2. Stiff Little Fingers - Johnny Was (mp3)

Buy Inflammable Material for the bargain price of only £7.49 here and visit the SLF website where there is a list of all the tour dates for March here