Belfast Streets - Where is our Alternative Ulster?
Punk arrived in Belfast in 1977. I was fifteen. Stiff Little Fingers released their first single ‘Suspect Device’ in March 1978, and their second ‘Alternative Ulster’ in October the same year, with the latter becoming their defining song.
Stiff Little fingers were a Belfast band. Up in Derry / Londonderry The Undertones, a band who had been around since 1974, evolved their style under the influence of punk and in October 1978 released their best-known song ‘Teenage Kicks’. (It had previously been released in September on a Belfast indie label but only took off after the October release on a UK national label.)
This being Northern Ireland, inevitably our sectarian and political divisions affected our views of the two bands. SLF were from Belfast, the Undertones were from Derry. SLF sung about ‘the Troubles’, - as we euphemistically referred to the conflict going on around us - the Undertones sang about teenage angst and desire. SLF were Protestants (they weren’t - they were a mix of Protestant and Catholic but all had gone to a state school whereas most Catholic kids went to church run schools), the Undertones were Catholic (they were).
Fans of the Undertones accused SLF of exploiting the violence of our society; fans of SLF accused the Undertones of ignoring it. The Undertones did ignore it, quite deliberately so. Feargal Sharkey, lead singer with the band, said, “People used to ask early on why we didn’t write songs about the Troubles: we were doing our best to escape from it”.
But it’s possible to overstate the difference. While many of SLFs songs were overtly political, many more were focused on the everyday frustrations of teenagers and young men. As lead singer Jake Burns said of ‘Alternative Ulster’, “If you took the references to the RUC and the British Army out you have a song that is about bored teenagers. A song about having nothing to do and wanting that to change. It complains as much about tired venues and their unwillingness to allow young people to play there as it does about the fact that there are police and army on the streets.”
The biggest difference between the bands was their respective sounds. SLF were harsh, aggressive, spiky; the Undertones were more melodic, drawing on a broader range of pre-punk musical influences.
SLF are still on the go with 66-year-old Jake Burns still belting out ‘Alternative Ulster’ at live gigs. A version of the Undertones is also still around, though without the distinctive vocal of Sharkey - who refused to rejoin when the band got back together - they lack a certain authenticity. These days Sharkey is a high-profile environmental campaigner having spent several years as a key player in the UK music industry. He’s also an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE). This was probably not one of those ‘teenage dreams so hard to beat’ from 1978 but still, not bad for a wee fella from Derry.
Links
Talking “Alternative Ulster” With Stiff Little Fingers’ Jake Burns
The story of Teenage Kicks: How a punk classic was born
Alternative Ulster: how punk took on the Troubles