Early years
Prior to becoming Stiff Little Fingers, Jake Burns, vocals and guitar, Henry Cluney, guitar, Gordon Blair, bass, and Brian Faloon, drums, were playing in a rock music cover band, Highway Star, in Belfast. Upon the departure of Gordon Blair (who went on to play with another Belfast group, Rudi), Ali McMordie took over on bass. Cluney had by this time discovered punk, and introduced the rest of the band to it. They decided that Highway Star wasn't a punk enough name, and after a brief flirtation with the name "The Fast", decided to call themselves Stiff Little Fingers, after the Vibrators song of the same name.
It was while they were doing a gig at the Glenmachan Hotel that they met up with Gordon Ogilvie, who was a Marxist journalist with the Daily Express newspaper, invited along for the evening by Colin McClelland, another journalist, with whom Jake had been corresponding.
Ogilvie suggested they play material based upon their experience of the Troubles. McClelland arranged to get the band some recording time at a local radio station, and in the studio normally used to record jingles, they recorded "Suspect Device". The single was packaged in the form of a cassette, with a cover depicting a cassette bomb, apparently causing great hilarity in the group, when one record company phoned them and asked for another copy, as they'd thrown the first one in a bucket of water for fear that it was a real bomb.
A copy of the single was sent to John Peel. He played it repeatedly leading to a distribution deal through Rough Trade. The single was released on the band's own Rigid Digits label and sold over 30,000 copies. Peel would later do the same with the first single by another famous Northern Irish band, The Undertones. There were a number of well-publicised arguments between the two bands; the Undertones accused Stiff Little Fingers of sensationalising the Northern Ireland conflict, while they retorted that The Undertones ignored it.
The lyrics of many Stiff Little Fingers' songs concerning the troubles are extremely critical of the paramilitary organisations and governments involved, showing them to be exploititative of ordinary people (particularly the young) and all as bad as each other. Their second single, "Alternative Ulster", was originally intended to be given away free with the fanzine of the same name.
Inflammable Material
In the second half of 1978, they toured with the Tom Robinson Band, and in 1979, they released their first album, Inflammable Material. The band agreed a contract with Island Records, but it fell through, leaving the band to release the album on their own label. Despite the album's independent release, it reached number 14 in the UK Albums Chart and reached Silver status, selling over 50,000 copies. Inflammable Material was the first album distributed Rough Trade records, and the first independent album to chart in the UK. This inspired their move to London, which led to the departure of Brian Faloon and Colin McClelland (who along with Gordon Ogilvie had been joint manager of the band up until that point).
Jim Reilly became their drummer in time for the "Gotta Gettaway" single, and played in the Rock Against Racism tour.
Nobody's Heroes and Go for It
In mid-1979, Stiff Little Fingers signed their Rigid Digits label to Chrysalis Records, and in 1980 released their second album, Nobody's Heroes. 1981's Go for It followed. Soon after the Go for It tour, Jim Reilly left the band. His place was taken by Brian 'Dolphin' Taylor, who Jake remembered from Taylor's days with the Tom Robinson Band.
Breakup
Now Then...
In 1982 came a 4 song EP called £1.10 or Less and then their fourth studio album, Now Then... (although their fifth album, as they had released a live LP, Hanx, between Nobody's Heroes and Go for It). By this time they had diversified musically, and Now Then had an almost pop feel about it in places. This led some of their more hardcore fans to feel alienated, and in the face of low sales and concert attendances, they broke up in 1983, when Burns said: "Our last LP Now Then was to my mind the best album we have made. But it is also unfortunately the best I think we will ever make. So I have decided to call it a day." The band later revealed the original split had been somewhat acrimonious, with bandmembers apparently having fistfights rather than talking through their differences.
Reformation
They reformed in 1987; according to Burns, because they were "skint and wanted to make a bit of cash to get back to Ireland for Christmas". They released some live albums and did short tours towards the end of the 1980s, and by 1990 were thinking of reforming permanently.
Flags and Emblems
Ali McMordie decided he could not commit the time to tour full-time or record, and so left, being replaced by Bruce Foxton (previously bass guitarist in The Jam) in time to record 1991's Flags and Emblems. In Britain, the single from this album, "Beirut Moon", was withdrawn from sale on the first day of release, allegedly because it criticised the government for not acting to free hostage John McCarthy, who had been held in the Lebanon.
In 1993 Burns made what he described as one of the hardest decisions of his life and asked Henry Cluney to leave the band, and the trio of Jake Burns, Bruce Foxton and Dolphin Taylor continued for the next four years, joined on live shows by either Dave Sharp or Ian McCallum.
Get a Life
In 1994 they released Get a Life in the UK, releasing it in the U.S. in 1996. By the end of 1996 Taylor left due to family commitments. Burns called in Steve Grantley who had played drums for Jake Burns and the Big Wheel in the late 1980s.
Tinderbox - Guitar and Drum
The trio of Burns, Foxton and Grantley recorded 1997's Tinderbox album, with help from Ian McCallum who joined as a full time member for 1999's and best of all...Hope Street . This same line-up recorded 2003's Guitar and Drum.
Lineup change
On 18 January 2006, the following announcement appeared on the SLF Website. Bruce Foxton has announced that he is to leave Stiff Little Fingers with immediate effect. After 15 years of writing, recording and touring with SLF Bruce says it is time to move on and concentrate on other projects. "The situation is amicable" says Foxton. "I have enjoyed my time with Jake, Ian and Steve and will miss them. Naturally I wish them all continued success and hope to catch up with the boys during their spring tour."
Obviously, we as well wish Bruce every success in everything he goes on to do in the future. He has been a fantastic asset to the band and we'll miss him as well.
Jake, Steve, Ian.
On 23 January 2006, it was announced that original bass guitarist Ali McMordie was to rejoin the band for the duration of their upcoming March tour. The tour was a success, with many fans writing into SLF's message board saying how much they enjoyed it, and how fired up the band seemed to be. After much discussion regarding the status of McMordie within the band after the tour, on 21 April 2006, Burns posted the following on the message board.
"For the time being Mr. McMordie is happy to continue as long as his busy schedule allows. It may be that occasionally we have to bring on a "substitute", if he is up to his eyes and we need to do something, but hopefully we can avoid that.
Cheers,
Jake."
New album
On 9 March 2007, Jake Burns announced that Stiff Little Fingers would be recording a new album which would hopefully be completed by the end of 2007. They have previewed a track from the new album, "Liars Club", at live concerts. The track is named after a bar Jake drove past on his way home whilst listening to a press report about Tony Blair, George W. Bush and the Iraq War. As of February 2009, the new album is still unreleased. This is mainly due to the fact that Burns had more or less completed writing, when he decided on a change of direction, and scrapped most of the songs.
White Noise
Stiff Little Fingers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Black gollywog, big horny monkey
Pimp, pusher, coon, grinning pick-a-ninny
Send him home soon, back to the trees
Black wogs, black wogs
Your face Don't fit
Black wogs, black wogs
Ahmed is a Paki, curry-coffee queer
Ten to a bed, flocking over here
Tax-sponging canker, smelly thieving kids
Ponce greasy wanker, worse than the yids
Brown wogs, brown wogs
Your face don't fit
Brown wogs, brown wogs
You ain't no Brit
Stick together, we'll all be all white, me and you
The only colours that we need, red, right and blue
Paddy is a moron, spud-thick Mick
Breeds like a rabbit, thinks with his prick
Anything floors him if he can' fight or drink it
Round them up in Ulster, tow it out and sink it
Green wogs, green wogs
Our face don't fit
Green wogs, green wogs
We ain't no Brit
And if the victim ain't a soldier, why should we care?
Irish bodies don't count, life's cheaper over there
Green wogs, green wogs
Face don't fit
Green wogs, green wogs
We ain't no Brit
Green wogs, green wogs
Grab 'em, boys
Green wogs, green wogs
Turn up the white noise
Turn up the white noise
Turn up the white noise!
It's important to note that the lyrics to the Stiff Little Fingers song "White Noise" are highly controversial and often considered racist, so it's important to approach them with a critical eye. The song is essentially about the idea of "us vs. them" mentality, where the "us" are white British people and the "them" are people of color, specifically Black and brown people in the UK. The lyrics use highly offensive and dehumanizing language to describe people of color, referring to Black people as "nigger" and "gollywog" and Pakistani people as "Paki" and "curry-coffee queer."
The chorus implies that people of color don't belong in the UK, stating that "Your face don't fit" and "You ain't no Brit." This rhetoric reinforces a sense of xenophobia and encourages white people to "stick together" in order to preserve their own culture and way of life. The last verse also targets Irish people, portraying them as uneducated and violent, and essentially saying that their lives don't matter.
Overall, the lyrics of "White Noise" are highly problematic and reflect a dark chapter in UK history where racism and xenophobia were rampant. It's important to listen critically and learn from this type of music, rather than simply taking it at face value.
Line by Line Meaning
Rastus is a nigger, thug, mugger, junkie
Using derogatory terms, the singer is describing Rastus as a black man who is a criminal and a drug addict.
Black gollywog, big horny monkey
The singer is using more derogatory terms to describe black people as animals and sexual deviants.
Pimp, pusher, coon, grinning pick-a-ninny
Once again, the singer is using derogatory terms to describe black people as criminals and subservient to white people.
Send him home soon, back to the trees
The artist is advocating for black people to be sent back to Africa, referencing the stereotype that black people belong in jungles.
Black wogs, black wogs Your face Don't fit Black wogs, black wogs You ain't no Brit
The singer is describing black immigrants, accusing them of not belonging in the UK.
Ahmed is a Paki, curry-coffee queer Ten to a bed, flocking over here
The singer is using derogatory terms to describe Pakistani immigrants as overpopulating the UK and exhibiting stereotypical behaviors.
Tax-sponging canker, smelly thieving kids Ponce greasy wanker, worse than the yids
The singer is accusing Pakistani immigrants of being lazy, dirty, criminal, and inferior in comparison to Jewish people.
Brown wogs, brown wogs Your face don't fit Brown wogs, brown wogs You ain't no Brit
The singer is describing brown-skinned immigrants as not fitting in or belonging in the UK.
Stick together, we'll all be all white, me and you The only colours that we need, red, right and blue
The artist is promoting white supremacy, advocating for like-minded individuals to stick together and exclude people of color. Red, right, and blue refer to the British flag.
Paddy is a moron, spud-thick Mick Breeds like a rabbit, thinks with his prick Anything floors him if he can' fight or drink it Round them up in Ulster, tow it out and sink it
The singer is using derogatory terms to describe Irish Catholics as being uneducated, primitive, and dependent on alcohol. The singer is also promoting the idea of ethnic cleansing.
Green wogs, green wogs Our face don't fit Green wogs, green wogs We ain't no Brit
The singer is describing Irish Catholics as not fitting in and not truly being British.
And if the victim ain't a soldier, why should we care? Irish bodies don't count, life's cheaper over there
The artist is devaluing the lives of Irish people, stating that they don't matter if they are not serving in the military. The artist is implying that the cost of life in Ireland is cheaper than in the UK.
Green wogs, green wogs Face don't fit Green wogs, green wogs We ain't no Brit
The singer is repeating previous lyrics to further emphasize the idea that Irish Catholics are not truly British.
Green wogs, green wogs Grab 'em, boys Green wogs, green wogs Turn up the white noise Turn up the white noise Turn up the white noise!
The phrase 'grab 'em, boys' appears to promote violence against Irish Catholics. The 'white noise' the singer is calling for may represent the idea of white supremacy, with 'turn it up' representing the idea of increasing the volume or strength of that ideology.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: JAKE BURNS, GORDON OGILVIE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind