Stiff Little Fingers are undoubtedly the best known of Belfast PuNk bands and their story is well documented in numerous books and web sites. So, instead of recounting their bio here I have elected to reproduce the forward which I wrote for Ro Link’s great book Kicking Up A Racket.

Stiff Little Fingers will always be synonymous with Ulster punk. Fact. Sadly, in many instances as much for their “controversial” manager and co song smith as for their classic records of the late 1970s and early 80s. As a 14 - 15-year-old schoolboy back in the late 70s, I wasn’t at all concerned with who had written (or contributed to) the lyrics of their songs. To me, it was crystal clear that the band meant what they were singing and even better, they were singing about MY life and offering me alternative points of view. Their initial burst of raw energy on the Ulster PuNk scene was captivating and as soon as they transferred that energy to vinyl they were truly off and running and with the help of John Peel reaching far beyond where Belfast’s red busses stopped. Their initial self-financed 45 was / is an adrenalised classic. Their success generated much needed press interest in a Belfast punk scene until then totally ignored by the London music press (go check your old music papers my friend). If we hadn’t Fanzines such as Alternative Ulster we wouldn’t have been able to read about OUR bands at all! Its kind of fitting then that one of Stiff Little Fingers best known anthems shares the same title as our best-known fanzine. For the first time since the troubles started N. Ireland music fans here had something to be proud of. There really is a great sense of pride when someone from your own wee part of the world “makes it” and this was no better illustrated to me that when I saw Jake Burns up there on Top Of The pops in 1980 sporting a Northern Ireland football top, miming his tonsils off to Nobody’s Heroes. The live gigs were manic with support bands often getting showered in gob (Stand up Big Self), but that’s another story. Once PuNk really did mean something more than just nostalgia. Stiff Little Fingers contribution to the Belfast music scene is incalculable. The fact that they can still cut it live today only proves to me that, THEY HAD THE SONGS.

Sean O’Neill June 2008.

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