Inflammable Material

This article is about the musical album. For information about materials that will burn, see Flammability.
Inflammable Material
Studio album by Stiff Little Fingers
Released February 2, 1979
Recorded November 1, 1978 - November 13, 1978 at Spaceward Studios, Cambridge. (Apart from "Alternative Ulster" recorded Island Studios, London May 1978.)
Genre Punk rock
Length 41:08
Label Rough Trade
Producer Geoff Travis, Mayo Thompson and Doug Bennett
Stiff Little Fingers chronology

Inflammable Material
(1979)		 Nobody's Heroes
(1980)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Rolling Stone [2]

Inflammable Material is the 1979 debut album by the Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers. Most of the album's tracks are about the "Troubles" and the grim reality of life in Northern Ireland with the songs containing themes of teenage boredom, sectarian violence, police oppression, etc., urging people to "grab it and change it, it's yours" in what became their signature song "Alternative Ulster". The song "Rough Trade" is about the band's view of the music business as being dishonest but have since claimed it is not about the record label which happens to have the same name.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Jake Burns and Gordon Ogilvie; except where indicated

  1. "Suspect Device" – 2:36
  2. "State of Emergency" (Burns) – 2:29
  3. "Here We Are Nowhere" (Henry Cluney) – 1:00
  4. "Wasted Life" (Burns) – 3:10
  5. "No More of That" (Cluney) – 2:04
  6. "Barbed Wire Love" – 3:33
  7. "White Noise" – 1:57
  8. "Breakout" (Burns) – 3:04
  9. "Law and Order" – 3:14
  10. "Rough Trade" – 2:41
  11. "Johnny Was" (Bob Marley) – 8:12
  12. "Alternative Ulster" – 2:45
  13. "Closed Groove" – 4:25

The 2001 EMI CD reissue added the following tracks:

  1. "Suspect Device (single version)"
  2. "78 RPM" – 2:38

The reissue also includes the first part of an interview of Jake Burns by Alan Parker (the second part is included in the reissue of Nobody's Heroes).

Chart Position

Chart (1979) Peak
position
United Kingdom
14

This was the first album on an independent record label to enter the UK Top Twenty.

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ link
  2. ↑