Alternative Ulster was written in 1979, at the height of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland. To summarize the song is a protest against the fact that kids in Northern Ireland were being denied what was available to their peers in the rest of the UK. Freedom to enjoy the music they wanted to hear and to enjoy the freedom of lifestyle choice that was available elsewhere and not be forced to choose to either to be ‘Irish Nationalist’ or a ‘Unionist’.

It is important that to realise this song has nothing to do with supporting the Nationalists, or the Unionists. It was about seeing beyond the divisions.