Stiff Little Fingers

Belfast's Stiff Little Fingers were teenagers who played mostly traditional rock-and-roll fare in the late 1970s before they discovered punk. The Fingers combined punk's unrestrained, id-fueled energy with classic pop sensibilities to create music that was a cousin of sorts to what the Buzzcocks had already started the year before...

By Tom Murphy

August 16, 2011

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Belfast's Stiff Little Fingers were teenagers who played mostly traditional rock-and-roll fare in the late 1970s before they discovered punk. The Fingers combined punk's unrestrained, id-fueled energy with classic pop sensibilities to create music that was a cousin of sorts to what the Buzzcocks had already started the year before. But they went on to influence the early 924 Gilman St. bands that, for better or worse, really brought melodic punk rock to the masses in the '90s. Still, they were among the pioneers, and they stayed together. In fact, the group puts out new records on a semi-regular basis, it's still fronted by Jake Burns, and it still serves as a reminder that infectiously poppy punk rock need not lack in something to say.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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Twitter: @simianthinker