“Alternative Ulster”, Stiff Little Fingers

This way: Alternative Ulster

One of the all time great Punk Songs. “Alternative Ulster” is the second single by the Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers. Originally released as a single on October 17, 1978, the song later appeared on the band's 1979 debut studio album, Inflammable Material. Jake Burns, the lead singer of Stiff Little Fingers, was asked to record "Suspect Device" for a Flexi disc to be included in a Northern Irish fanzine called Alternative Ulster. As "Suspect Device" had already been recorded for release as the band's first single, Burns offered to write another track. Burns described the song as "written in the classic punk mode of having nothing to do," describing the main frustration of Belfast youth of the time as "the sheer tedium of having nowhere to go and nothing to do when you got there."

Working with Eddie and the Hot Rods manager Ed Hollis, the band cut a series of demos for "Alternative Ulster" at Island Studios in London in May 1978. When Island Records turned the group down, they signed with Rough Trade Records. Originally, "Alternative Ulster" was meant to serve as a B-side to "78 RPM," but when the songs were released as a single in October 1978, Stiff Little Fingers decided to make "Alternative Ulster" the A-side.

[Spotify]  Alternative Ulster