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)
2 comments:
Mr Foxton is free to come and go as he pleases. He can even reform old bands he used to be in if it takes his fancy. Keep On Rockin In The Free World and all that.
But I will not be helping to pay his bills.
Oh, I really should say....nice words about Jake/SLF.
these dears were the first band i went to see on my own ,i mean without my mum (B A robertson for christs sake)(my mum wasn't ba robertson .... oh for god sake this has all gone wrong...)
anyway we love stiff little fingers in our house. 'alternative ulster' is our favourite, although the mrs spoiled it slightly by pointing out that the cover wasn't a proper photo - the kid is stuck on.
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