Stiff Little Fingers - White Noise

[@RubberSi]

This is one of the best anti racist songs ever. Most of my mates in the early 80's thought it was racist until I poited out that the lyrics went "Green Wogs etc. We ain't no Brits" I'm sure also it had nothing to do with the politics of Ireland. A great, if not brave track to record and play

[@Goddzi]

I saw SLF on the 30th Anniv. tour in '07 where they played the whole I.M. album inc. this track. Jake Burns intro'd the song by saying it's an ugly song about an ugly subject, and when they brought it out the tabloid music press tried to get them banned, but the only picture they could find to publish with the story was one of the band stood under a "Rock against Racism" banner! The last verse is the giveaway. Slagging off the irish, when the band themselves are Irish. No mistakes can be made.

[@patthewoodboy]

like when Ian Dury got banned by the spastic society for spasticus

[@jjasoncotton3192]

Agree with all comments I read , this is and has always been bang on the money . Fast furious and fucking brilliant.

[@davidmurphy9619]

fingers /ogilvie lyrics often paraphrased the words of the people they were talking about in the song.. at the edge is similar m.. brilliant

[@stifflittlefingersofficial]

At the Edge includes direct quotes from Jake's dad. So much so that his dad asked where his royalties were. He was joking (mostly) about that.

[@pj5517]

unbelievable that this song goes over so many people's heads....so anti racist is untrue.

[@deantownie7441]

These days you can't say the person describing words of the song in either context.

[@gordonhuskin7337]

That's a nice cope you got there. Skrewdriver was anti racist too, right? LOL

[@uhlickmcgee9704]

A masterpiece

[@nik62es]

thirty odd years later..and people still don't understand what this song is about ? Whatever happened to evolution ?

[@petegeorgopoulos1088]

morons killed it

[@jsmith3980]

Why don't they? It's bleeding obvious.

[@jon62punk]

How easy it is for people to get this totally out of context . People should listen carefully and not assume things .Very clever lyrics .

[@jerkamiah666]

I saw them a few years ago, at the TLA in Philly, with the Tossers opening for them, and it was fucking awesome.

[@as3cs3]

fantastic version. and regarding the meaning of the song. it's quite clever. to avoid confusion/controversy the Irish verse could've been the first verse. it's not surprising ppl who are new to it are shocked or offended by the Asian and African verses.

[@derreh]

didn't play it in germany on NMA cologne gig ...we couldnt get it.

[@jsmith3980]

I still love this band after 30 years.One of my favourite songs then as SLF were addressing racism.Long Live Punk!xxThanks for posting.

[@DeanDrummer]

Some people need to watch at 4.00 of this video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6K7Z6RvZ5qghtE) - Jake Burns explains that a Journalist branded them racists & tried getting the song banned...however the ONLY photo the council could find of them was of them playing at a Rock Against Racisim concert with a massive RAR banner behind them. Jake states "I agree the lyrics to this song are incredibly ugly, but thats because racisim itself is incredibly fucking ugly". Go figure!

[@jsmith3980]

Wow..I didn't know this...I supported RAR 'back in the day' and went to it's last 'official' concert.This was a fave song addressing the truth about racism....I thought thank god someone was as I was wog and ha ha I still am.

[@davymgn]

We have to remember when this song was written. In the late seventies and early eighties the irish, be they northern Irish or Irish, weren't held in high esteem in mainland Britain. Obviously things have changed a great deal since this song was written, none the less it's message should still remain clear.... this is a deliberate attempt at writing an anti racism song..... very admirable if you consider the times xxx

[@thelordofdarkness141]

Everything a punk song should be short and fast with a message its just unfortunate its way above some people's heads an intelligent song

[@yetanotherusername00]

geez, I can't believe some of you people. The mans saying anti-black, anti-asian, anti-irish, it's all the same, it's all racism. The song is done in the 3 rd person - it's sort of saying "this is you" - an education. There was a lot of that in that era. You guys are taking it too literal.

[@Manic721]

@WilhelmZollern Fair Enough. I Never thought of it that way

[@bribhoy]

God Bless Heather Heyer. A.N.T.I.F.A. Worldwide. Never Forget.

[@yetanotherusername00]

I remember I got hold of a promotional poster for straw dogs - about mercenary soldiers. It had graphics of parts of soldiers on meat hooks. My mom was horrified. It took a long time to explain to my mom they were saying that these soldiers are just like bits of meat - they were being bought. You lot are just like my mom - there's progress! SLF, all those messages, did anyone listen!?

[@THALIDO]

ONE TWO THREE FOUR!!!

[@yetanotherusername00]

to be honest, if you can't get the sentiment of this song, you really should be looking at something else. And by the way the lyric are "Turn up the white noise". again in the 3rd person

[@jsmith3980]

yeah so f***ing true!!

[@MultiPIERRE31]

This song isn't racist, that's a fact, but aimed at the north irland struggle. Quite courageous at this time during the overwhelming power of britain in Uslter.

[@mattfarmerBMWR9T]

fernand leroy That's crap. I was at Portadown and Crossmaglen in '84. There was no struggle, it was pure hatred.

[@SupraSteve]

Christ people aren't idiots for not realising it's non racist. I love SLF but thought that when I first heard this song until I done some digging. Very very clever song

[@jamestucker7163]

"The only colours we need are red right and blue" sums it up just there!

[@SupraSteve]

It's a satirical way of slagging off a racist record label. They sing about the Irish at the end (themselves) because of how they were treat when they first came to Britain

[@jamestucker7163]

Ahh I wondered where the Irish link came from. I thought it was about racists in general not specifically a record label - it fits with most of these mindless fuckwits who protest about "foreigners" in the UK standing underneath the Union Jack... Sadly the record is relevant 36 years after it was released.

[@jsmith3980]

Yep true, a brilliant song.

[@jamesjoseph7508]

@@jamestucker7163 "Stick together we'll be ALL WHITE, me and you...the only colours we need are red RIGHT and blue"

[@OakRidgePunk777]

@willowgarth It was 2007

[@blades92]

@wuggynchris It's no tribute! Ali Ali Ali! Original Bassest in SLF :)

[@bedtimefordemocracy]

Fucking amazing. My favorite song off of inflammable material. glad they are still pulling this one out. Leave the politics at home. obviously is an anti-racist song. pay attention to the amazing oldschool punk melody that your ears are being blessed with instead of writing a college essay!

[@Itsjustmyselfsoitis]

This song is about British imperialist adventures in Africa and the Middle East aswell as Ireland, and the end line is in reference to the Hooded Men and others who were used as guineapigs by the British army - interned, beaten, starved, deprived of sleep, forced to stand in stress positions, subjected to WHITE NOISE, hooded, threatened with death, throwing them out of helicopters etc. "Green wogs, green wogs! Grab em boys! Green wogs, green wogs! TURN UP THE WHITE NOISE!!!..."" Alot of what happened in Ireland also happened prior occupations of Palestine, Malaya, Cyrpus, Yemen and Kenya ("Black wogs" and "Brown wogs") then they came to Ireland ("Green wogs") straight from Yemen. When alot of Black & Tans left Ireland around 1921, now jobless, they became imperial policemen in Palestine under the 'British Mandate'. The carve up of the Middle East happened in the years following WW1, creating the borders of Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon etc and at the same time the British created the borders of Northern Ireland. Things calmed down in Ireland again in 1998, now the British are back in the Middle East with their armys doing every method of torture I named above and even more as we've all seen with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo bay.

[@0002EcM]

First 2 were about immigration by blacks and south Asians. 3rd was about Northern Ireland

[@jamesmaxwell3933]

@@0002EcM What a crock of...ess aitch one tee

[@rebelcounty77]

Off the mark there. It’s about the UK’s general attitude to immigrants at the time( probably now too).

[@jjasoncotton3192]

How did you manage to misread the lyrics to that degree 😂

[@jamesjoseph7508]

" And if the victim ain't a soldier why should we care, Irish bodies dont count, life's cheaper over there" If ever a line summed up the complete indifference of the british government and a fair swathe of the population, to what was happening in the North of Ireland at the time this song was written, then the lyric above says it all. At the end of the day, the british just see everyone over here as Irish...regardless as to whether you are catholic or protestant. No big deal to Catholics. But for protestants, when even your "Mother Land" dismisses you, it must be quite disconcerting. No great reciprocal loyalty🤣

[@jamesmaxwell3933]

* as were

[@sidsings000]

its about racism, the last verse shows the paradox element of racism in that somehow nobody completely belongs to a race, there is no such thing as a pure race thus highlighting the hypocrisy of racism

[@LarzGustafsson]

Too slow!

[@davidbarker8756]

A clever song about a difficult subject. No way is this racist. The band were known for clever lyrics, sometimes perhaps too clever for some people. Fly the flag is another example of where they appear to be saying one thing but cleverly turn the meaning round in the last line....a great band.

[@tendrosstoodross2976]

It wasnt racist but this song has been the inspiration to a generation of RAC bands. So it kinda backfired didnt it?

[@jamesjoseph7508]

@@tendrosstoodross2976 If you mean it inspired a generation that has no idea how to read then we have nothing to worry about from such imbeciles. On the contrary, it shines a light on some of todays generation who dont seem to understand "context" They see/read a certain word which triggers them into a meltdown.They seem incapable of reading even a whole sentence. Must be taxing on their brains. But then again, that is what happens when we have a generation who consume information widely but not deeply. So it hasn't backfired at all. It is still one of the best anti-racist songs about. If people are unable to work that out,so be it. "For those who understand, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible"

[@jamesmaxwell3933]

And when you compare Britain to the Republic of Ireland in cosmopolitan terms... oh dear.

[@willowgarth]

very brave to sing that in 2011

[@c.s.4428]

How so?

[@Brewzerr]

Why's that? Did racism suddenly disappear in 2011?

[@ImNotGregGraffin]

@DocFinaghy You can see a swastika on Ali's bass strap on this video at 01:23 - watch?v=m2Gov4tTB7M

[@petegeorgopoulos1088]

ImNotGregGraffin I know this post is old but for anyone reading it, this dude is an idiot. That's not a nazi swastika. It's going the other way. The original swastika that is the sign of good will. Just wanted to clarify

[@cuteface88]

PeteGeorgopoulos well most anti-fascists are indeed idiots so it's whatever.

[@stifflittlefingersofficial]

Not Ali's strap. It was Henry's. He was later fired from the band.

[@twitchygiraffe4636]

I think this is the cleverist anti fascist song ever written and still is! It's also extremely ironic that ian stuart from skrewdriver didn't get it's REAL meaning, as he quite clearly is a stiff little fingers fan by trying to rip off jake burns singing style and also naming his record label after this song!!

[@jamesjoseph7508]

It seems that the lyrics just go over people's heads. Too focused on a word or two without seeing context. "Stick together we'll be all WHITE , me and you...the only colours we need are red RIGHT and blue" More cleverly switched lyrics from SLF. This was an anti National Front/Combat 18 song. Their agenda of white british supremacy. If you aren't "pure" then you cant be really british.....irrelevant of skin colour. Black/Brown...or Irish...and a bit of anti-jewish thrown in for good measure. All seen as inferior. Absolute corker of a song..........sadly wasted on so many.

[@ImNotGregGraffin]

@DocFinaghy You can see a swastika on Ali's bass strap at 1:23 in this video - /watch?v=m2Gov4tTB7M

[@stifflittlefingersofficial]

Not Ali's strap. It was Henry's. He was later fired from the band.

[@mr.t114]

Tribal convictions, that´s what "racism" can be all about and maybe all of it. I find no truth or knowledge in these issues, it´s ridiculous. Yeah i mentioned one song by VoiVod, terrific that one as well. The individual will outside of no matter what their skin color is define themselves, i´m amazed at what tricks evil are allowed to play with the mind. What´s NOT ridicoulus though is to stand up for what´s right, a family, your country but when on the terms of serving your country does that mean to kill others then? No and that´s the big lie people still buy into.

[@davidmurphy9619]

Didn't they get banned from Newcastle by the council for this song.. Shows such a lack of understandings of their anti racist stance

[@TheMrFibbles]

when i first heard it i was scared that stiff little fingers was rasicts but their not their holding a mirror to racism showing some english views on people of different races and it is a very brave song back then and now

[@rogerduncan2603]

British views rather than English, there were few better or enthusiastic boot boys and participants in riot grab squads than Scots or Ulstermen. Then again they were getting petrol bombs thrown at them.

[@angusmcbastard4252]

The song is about White Noise which was the magazine of the National Front in the 1970's. This is from the NF point of view by a 'minority' in their eyes. FFS people, get a grip and get with the game. It is an anti-racist, anti-separatist song

[@chuckstevens7527]

Angus McBastard and the record label​ which featured bands such as Skrewdriver, Brutal Attack, and No Remorse. all NF backed bands.

[@jsmith3980]

Well said.

[@Itsjustmyselfsoitis]

This song is about British imperialist adventures in Africa and the Middle East aswell as Ireland, and the end line is in reference to the Hooded Men and others who were used as guineapigs by the British army - interned, beaten, starved, deprived of sleep, made to piss and shit yourself, forced to stand in stress positions, subjected to WHITE NOISE, hooded, threatened with death, throwing them out of helicopters, etc. "Green wogs, green wogs! Greb em boys! Green wogs, green wogs! TURN UP THE WHITE NOISE!!!..."" Alot of what happened in Ireland also happened prior occupations of Palestine, Malaya, Cyrpus, Yemen and Kenya ("Black wogs" and "Brown wogs") then they came to Ireland ("Green wogs") straight from Yemen. Interestingly, when alot of Black & Tans left Ireland around 1921, now jobless, they became imperial policemen in Palestine under the 'British Mandate'. The carve up of the Middle East happened in the years following WW1, the same period the British created the borders of Northern Ireland. Things calmed down in Ireland again in 1998, now the British are back in the Middle East with their armys doing every method of torture I named above and even more as we've all seen with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo bay.

[@edwardtanner6393]

@@Itsjustmyselfsoitis think your putting your own interpretation in this . Its not anti British. Its anti racist. Plane and simple .

[@DocFinaghy]

Can you post up the link to the old video's please depicting swastika's?

[@ColinTheButthead]

Is this a racist or anti-racist song?

[@Jerkass_Homer]

It is an Anti-Racist satire song, which is why they mention Irish folks near the end and change it from you to we and our for the chorus...

[@CHEAPANDUNCHEERFULL]

Bull shit, thinking for yourself is fighting the real enemy, and not jumping on the violence and chaos wagon.

[@Crokodilian]

i know the song isnt racist but i find it hard to listen to

[@jsmith3980]

Why....that's how racism was.

[@Manic721]

This sounds pretty racist to me. if they were trying to sound like they were being ironic or sarcastic they failed. great song tho

[@jsmith3980]

No Tommy...it's putting up a mirror to the hideous racism of the day....and it was bad.

[@jamesmaxwell3933]

@@jsmith3980 Tommy - not the sharpest knife in the drawer

[@stifflittlefingersofficial]

It's an anti-racism song.

[@Manic721]

@@stifflittlefingersofficial Fair enough. I hope you had a good 11 years.!

[@jamesjoseph7508]

@@Manic721 The beauty of YT...you can stumble onto a video/comments...and just hop onboard and reply like it's in real time!! You've had a good 11 years Manic...............well, at least you are still alive to reply!