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Stiff Little Fingers' music has resonated for some 25-plus years because their songs meld personal experience with political ire. The members of Stiff Little Fingers Jake Burns, Henry Cluney, Gordon Blaire (replaced by Ali McMordie) and Brian Faloon -- hail from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They were a New Wave cover band called Highway Star until one fateful night when they saw the Clash play live. Taking their name from a Vibrators' song, the band reinvented itself as Stiff Little Fingers, and started doing punk covers. Journalist Gordon Ogilvie saw them perform live one night, and liked what he heard enough to approach Burns. Ogilvie encouraged the band to write original material, and Burns took the advice to heart, penning "Suspect Device" and "Wasted Life" in the days that followed. Ogilvie helped the band start their own label, Rigid Digits, and together, they pressed up 350 copies of the single -- one of which went to legendary British DJ, John Peel. Peel played the single every night on his BBC Radio 1 show, and the demand for it grew so profoundly that Rough Trade stepped in to distribute it. By October, 1978, Stiff Little Fingers released their first "proper" single on Rough Trade, "Alternative Ulster." The song, which Burns has often introduced as a "song about nothing to do," would go on to become a punk rock classic, and an anthem of sorts for the Irish Catholics of Belfast. By the end of the year, SLF released, Inflammable Material and it debuted in the charts at number 14. With a handful of songs about the personal side of Northern Irish politics, the band made its mark. When, in 1979, the band decided to move to London, Brian Faloon decided to stay in Belfast. The heartache this caused the band surfaced in the song, "Wait and See." In the meantime, SLF recruited Jim Reilly to fill in on drums, and without missing a beat, released the blistering single, "Gotta Get Away." Chrysalis Records signed the band and in 1980, Stiff Little Fingers released Nobody's Heroes, which showed the band broadening its scope both musically and lyrically. Perhaps it was the fact that SLF couldn't get out from under the "Irish Clash" tag that dogged them throughout their career, but in 1981, the band shifted into a more pop-oriented sound, and released Go For It. The addition of horns and the continuing flirtation with the punk/reggae hybrid confused many fans. To get back on track, the band released a scorching live album, Hanx!, which successfully captured the Stiff Little Fingers at their most incendiary. Another personnel shake-up ensued, as Jim Reilly left the band to explore greener pastures in America, where he eventually joined the Red Rockers. Back at home, the band were fighting their own battles. With the release of Now Then in 1982, Stiff Little Fingers had all but lost their core audience and despite mostly positive press on the album, the band couldn't muster the fan support. In 1983, Stiff Little Fin |