A dive into “Big Decision,” the incendiary 1987 single from post-punk band That Petrol Emotion cooked up amongst the turbulent Troubles of Northern Ireland.

Stream: “Big Decision” – That Petrol Emotion

Northern Ireland, 1987.

Eleven years prior to the Good Friday Agreement, which on paper would end the conflict within Northern Ireland dubbed “the Troubles.”

This internal warfare between British soldiers and paramilitary groups over the fate of the Irish Republic led to decades of bloodshed and terror in the streets of Northern Ireland. Massacres filled headlines, young people saw no other option than violence, and those tasked with keeping the peace thought of Northern Ireland as their own personal playground. The wartime environment did, however, proliferate a vibrant post-punk subculture within Northern Ireland. In 1987, five of these Punks, going by the name That Petrol Emotion, released the album Babble, which featured a gem of a single called “Big Decision.”

See my honey in the street
It’s desolate but where she likes to meet
Economies get weaker
Reactionaries stronger
As they get satisfaction on their knees

You’d rather sail the ocean
Than make a big decision

“Big Decision” is one of several songs on Babble that drops the post-punk gloom that the majority of the album has. The dreary guitars, the thudding rhythm section, and the ghastly vocals are all scrapped. Instead, what we have is a true-to-form indie-rock song.

It’s a little jarring at first, this sudden shift in tone, but as the song goes on it grows on you. There’s not much to it: a couple of repeating riffs, a snare beat, an intermittent key riff, a few bass lines, and Steve Mack’s surprisingly bouncy vocals. It’s a fairly basic track, but it all works perfectly. The riffs get stuck in your head, and the two-line chorus, “You’d rather sail the ocean / Than make a big decision,” has a delightful cadence that makes it noxiously catchy.

I won’t function anymore
Plastic bullet cheap headlines in store
Businessmen get richer
Individuals stronger
Hells won’t ring when
scum move down the door

You’d rather sail the ocean
Than make a big decision

“Big Decision” is, first and foremost, about the destruction wrought upon Northern Ireland by the Troubles.

It’s a song from a post-punk band in a wartime country; of course, that’s what it’s about. It does, however, go deeper in exploring the need to organize a community to resist the wrongdoings of an oppressive state and the consumerist mindset that distracts the average person from these sorts of goings-on. The song opens with a raw line that lays the effects of the fighting out on the table. See my honey in the street / It’s desolate but where she likes to meet. A clear reference to the destruction of communities from erratic fighting that could break out anywhere.

What you gotta do in this day and age
You gotta agitate, educate, organize
Take the time to live
Take the time to give
You gotta agitate, educate, organize

Not long after that, we come to the lines “Businessmen get richer / Individuals stronger.” This seems to be about the money-fueled corporate-entertainment industry that provides bread and circuses to keep people distracted from the bad things happening in the street. This idea is not so subtly corroborated by the music video for “Big Decision,” in which a man sits in his comfy chair watching commercials on TV and cringing in disgust whenever scenes of SWAT teams in the street and footage of violence interrupt his advertisements. The bridge features a change in tempo and cadence as well as a line that immediately caught my attention: “You gotta agitate, educate, organize.” You can’t get much more blatant than a direct call to action like that. While the lyrics are further proof that this tune isn’t exactly riddled with underlying meaning, they do grab your attention, and they do make their point quite well.

See my honey in the street
It’s desolate but where she likes to meet
I’d like to keep her
And make her even sweeter
For anyone who cares to be believed

You’d rather sail the ocean
Than make a big decision
You’d rather sail the ocean
Than make a big decision

It’s not difficult to see why “Big Decision” became the defining single of Babble. The song is catchy, and it has a message that is easy to understand and relate to. There’s a reason the song was number 3 in NME’s 1987 “Tracks of the Year” critics’ poll, hit 27 on the US Dance Club charts, and even made it to 43 on the UK charts while the Troubles were still ongoing. Music defies boundaries. It is a great unifier that can bring communities together if only we have the self-awareness to see past our differences and organize.

What you gotta do in this day and age
You gotta agitate, educate, organize
Take the time to live
Take the time to give
You gotta agitate, educate, organize

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Stream: “Big Decision” – That Petrol Emotion

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