"Suspect Device" is the debut single by Irish

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band

Stiff Little Fingers Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the De ...

, released on 17 March 1978.

Background and release

Stiff Little Fingers –

Jake Burns John "Jake" Burns (born 21 February 1958) is a singer and guitarist, and is best known as the frontman of Stiff Little Fingers, although he has also recorded with Jake Burns and the Big Wheel, 3 Men + Black, and as a solo artist. Early life ...

, vocals and guitar,

Henry Cluney Henry Cluney (born 4 August 1957) is a guitarist and former member of the band Stiff Little Fingers. He remained with the group until lead singer Jake Burns disbanded them in 1983. He toured briefly with the band Dark Lady supporting Jake Burns ...

, guitar, Ali McMordie, bass, and

Brian Faloon Brian Faloon is a musician born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He played drums for Highway Star, who were to become Stiff Little Fingers, having met two of the other band members at Belfast Boys' Model School. Faloon stayed with SLF long enough to ...

, drums – made their first public appearance as a punk band on 16 August 1977. Their fourth gig was at the Glenmachen Stables, Belfast on 14 November 1977. At this gig, the band met journalists Gordon Ogilivie and Colin McClelland, who would soon become the group's management team. Ogilivie showed Burns draft lyrics for a possible song. "Gordon asked me if I'd written anything pertinent where I'd grown up t which juncturehe literally handed me the finished lyric of 'Suspect Device'. I couldn't believe it. Here was a guy who was thinking along exactly the same lines as I was. I'd go so far to say that from the moment he handed me that piece of paper the band changed." (

) Burns put a tune to the lyrics and "Suspect Device" was born. Footage of the group performing "Suspect Device" at Belfast's Pound Club on 17 January 1978 - the first time the group played the song live - appeared on an Ulster TV programme ''It Makes You Want to Spit'' about the emergence of punk in Belfast. Stiff Little Fingers recorded the single on Saturday 4 February 1978 at Downtown Radio studios. The release of the record required a record/publishing company and Rigid Digits was formed with the band members and two managers all owning equal shares. "Suspect Device" was released on 17 March 1978. The front cover of the "Suspect Device" record sleeve is a photograph of explosive inflammatory devices which were being used by the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

to fire bomb commercial premises. The back sleeve was a black and white photo of the group taken on the 'peace line' between the republican Falls Road and the loyalist

Shankill Road The Shankill Road () is one of the main roads leading through West Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It runs through the working-class, predominantly loyalist, area known as the Shankill. The road stretches westwards for about from central Belfast ...

. A copy of the single was sent to John Peel and within days of its release he was regularly playing it on his Radio One show.Sean O'Neill & Guy Trelford (2003) "It Makes You Want To Spit - The Definitive Guide to Punk in Northern Ireland 1977-1982", Reekus Records, ISBN 0-9546057-0-5 Rough Trade's

Geoff Travis Geoff Travis (born 2 February 1952) is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978. Biography Travis was ...

heard "Suspect Device" on the John Peel show, ordered copies for sale in the Rough Trade shop in London and distributed the single through Rough Trade's recently set up distribution network of independent record shops. By April, the initial 500 copies had sold out and another 1,500 were pressed. Further re-pressings took place as sales took off. By July 1978, ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' was reporting that over 10,000 copies of the single had been sold. In October, '' Melody Maker'' estimated sales had reached 12,000. After a proposed contract with Island Records fell through, the band signed with Rough Trade. Following the release of the second single "

Alternative Ulster ''AU'' (formerly ''Alternative Ulster'') was a magazine written, designed and published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which began life in 1977 as a fanzine and later radio show. The magazine was launched in June 2003. 81 issues were published ...

" in October 1978, "Suspect Device" was re-released on Rough Trade on 17 March 1979. A re-recorded version of "Suspect Device" was the opening track on the debut Stiff Little Fingers album, '' Inflammable Material'', which was released on Rough Trade records in February 1979. Its B-side, "Wasted Life", also appeared on the album.

Reception

The popularity of "Suspect Device" was reflected in the annual

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

voted for by listeners of the John Peel show. In 1978, it was voted at number four, and in following years, "Suspect Device" would become a regular fixture in the Festive Fifty, placed at number eight in 1979, number 24 in 1980, number 32 in 1981 and number 31 in the reshaped All-Time Festive Fifty in 1982. The single's B-side, "Wasted Life", appeared in the 1979 Festive Fifty at number 18 and in 1980 at number 27.

References

{{Stiff Little Fingers 1978 songs 1978 debut singles Stiff Little Fingers songs