Stiff Little Fingers' Inflammable Material

Name: Stiff Little Fingers' Inflammable Material
Price: 19.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9798765133248

Kevin Dunn (Hobart and William Smith Colleges, USA)

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Paperback

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English

Bloomsbury Academic
30 April 2026

Music reviews & criticism; Punk, New Wave & Indie; Individual composers & musicians, bands & groups

Series: 33 1/3

Situating the band and its groundbreaking debut within the context of The Troubles, this book explores the band’s complicated and controversial relationship with the Belfast punk scene, a scene that actively defied violent social divisions to create important non-sectarian spaces through which an “Alternative Ulster” was imagined and put into practice.

Stiff Little Fingers’ 1979 debut album, Inflammable Material, was the first independent album to ever reach the UK Top 20 and is regarded as one of the most influential punk releases of all time, containing the singles “Suspect Device” and “Alternative Ulster.” Inflammable Material was both a product of, and response to, The Troubles, the era of political violence in Northern Ireland that claimed more than 3,500 lives over three decades.

Though Inflammable Material was regarded as the clarion call for that scene, with anthemic songs now regarded as synonymous with the times, the band was often viewed with suspicion and outright hostility by many of their contemporaries.

By: Kevin Dunn (Hobart and William Smith Colleges USA)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 164mm, Width: 120mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 160g
ISBN: 9798765133248
Series: 33 1/3
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 30 April 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

1. Belfast Punk and The Troubles 2. From Highway Star to Stiff Little Fingers 3. Suspect Device and Alternative Ulster: Becoming the Voice of Belfast Punk 4. Inflammable Material in the context of The Troubles 5. After lighting the match: Stiff Little Fingers’ Troubled Relationship with Belfast Punk(s) 6. Punkwashing: The legacy of SLF and Punk in Belfast

Kevin Dunn is Professor in the International Relations Department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, USA. He is author of Global Punk: Resistance and Rebellion in Everyday Life (Bloomsbury 2016), Inside African Politics (with Pierre Englebert; 2013, 2020, and 2026), as well as the award-winning novel Vicious is My Middle Name (2022). Active in DIY punk scenes since the 1980s, he continues to perform in several bands, runs an independent record label, publishes various zines, and is a regular contributor to the influential DIY punk zine Razorcake.