‘Alternative Ulster’: Punk Music in Northern Ireland as a voice of

protest (1976-1998)

“For three and a half decades, the world’s media has trained its attention on the terrorist
‘war’ raging in Ireland’s north-east six counties. Behind a screen of gunsmoke and fire,
beyond the macho men in the woollen masks toting their rifles and laying their bombs,
stands another narrative, a hidden Ireland.” (Henry MacDonald) The subculture that
MacDonald refers to here is the punk movement in Northern Ireland. A movement that I
feel has not been significantly analysed by scholars looking at this period in modern
history. Music is one of the most significant aspects of the Irish identity, and its importance
in effecting cultural and political change cannot be understated. I will be looking to explore
this movement as a form of protest, and how effective it was as a voice for the youth in
society who were becoming increasingly disillusioned at the ongoing political situation,
which was destabilising rapidly. The year 1976 is particularly significant as a starting point as
this was a year when punk was really starting to take hold in the UK and Ireland. But, also
because it was one of the worst years of the troubles: Internees at the Maze prison began a
blanket protest because they had lost their status as political prisoners, the Shankill
Butchers were roaming the streets of Belfast looking for more Catholic victims, and 276
people died in total that year as a result of the conflict. Key aspects of the punk movement
in Northern Ireland I will be looking at will be Terri Hooley (the ‘Godfather of Punk’ in NI),
and his independent label ‘Good Vibrations’ that brought punk bands such as Rudi and The
Undertones into the mainstream in NI and further afield, the band Stiff Little Fingers and the
political nature of their music, and The Undertones and their apolitical music.

Bibliography:

 McKittrick, David and David McVea, Making Sense of the Troubles

 Guillain, Charlotte, Punk: Music, fashion, attitude
 Parmer, Priya, Anthony J Nocella, Scott Robertson, and Martha Diaz, Rebel Music:
Resistance through Hip Hop and Punk
 Haenfler, Ross, Punk Rock, Hardcore and Globalisation Band, in the SAGE Handbook
of Popular music
 Lang, Dave, One Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in punk rock
 Colgrave, Stephen and Chris Sullivan, Punk: A Life Apart
 Dale, Pete, Anyone can do it: Empowerment, tradition, and the punk underground
 McLoone, Martin, Punk Music in Northern Ireland: The Political power of ‘what might
have been’
 Martinez, Robert, Punk Rock, Thatcher, and the Elsewhere of Northern Ireland:
Rethinking the Politics of Popular Music
 Pruitt, Lesley J., Music, Youth, and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland
 Jones, Rhian, We Fought a Punk War
 Good Vibrations (Film)
 Terri Hooley Interview: Red Bull Music Academy (Youtube Video)
 Rolston, Bill, ‘This is not a rebel song’: The Irish Conflict and Popular Music
 Weir, Rob, Sound Neighbourhoods: Contemporary Music in Northern Ireland