Inflammable Material
(10/100 Greatest Irish Albums)

Even if the lyrics were penned by journalist-turned-managerial Svengali Gordon Ogilvie, you have to admire the balls of four Belfast teenagers who circa 1979 were prepared to go on stage and tell the paramilitaries where to “stuff their fucking armies”.
Along with the likes of ‘Suspect Device’, ‘State Of Emergency’ and the legendary ‘Alternative Ulster’, ‘Wasted Life’ waved a defiant two-fingers at the balaclava brigade who hated the fact that bands like them and Rudi brought kids from both sides of the sectarian divide together.
In thrall to what was happening on the other side of the Irish Sea, Stiff Little Fingers aped the Clash by giving Bob Marley’s ‘Johnny Was’ a punk makeover. It’s a trick they repeated on future albums which, although more commercially successful, never matched their debut for face-ripping intensity.