Black Flag

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Black Flag

Black Flag

From the outset, Black Flag was less a band than a state of mind. For their first three years, the hardcore pioneers essentially functioned like a karaoke bar, cycling through three different vocalists who each provided their own sneering interpretations of guitarist Greg Ginn’s circle-pit-stoking songbook. But with the arrival of a young, barely tattooed Henry Rollins in 1981, Black Flag found a frontman who pushed their self-immolating aggression and absurdist social satire to fearsome new extremes. (Who better to draw out the scathing critique from ostensible drinking anthems like “Six Pack” and “Thirsty and Miserable” than a straight-edge singer?) Black Flag for me really starts with their debut album & first with (a then 20-year-old [and soon-to-be-legendary]) frontman and vocalist Henry Rollins on 1981’s Damaged released on independent label SST Records who contributed a lot to the punk/hardcore scene of the early 80’s. Although the band had been recording since 1978, with their first E.P. Nervous Breakdown being released in January of 1979. The E.P. was the Southern California group’s debut. The E.P. opens and erupts like the soundtrack to a prison riot. Volcanic, whiplash, and deeply nihilistic, “Nervous Breakdown” is all panic and no promise, a mission statement for a journey to nowhere that perfectly embodies the era’s pervasive pessimism. The group’s formative influences—the Ramones, the Stooges, Black Sabbath—were already colliding here in brusque, economical fashion, with vocalist Keith Morris presiding as a wild-eyed, cackling Puck. Almost four decades on, “Nervous Breakdown” stands as a tuneful rejection of a status quo that seemed beyond its audience’s ability to upend. Psychosis, inebriation, social disobedience, and mosh pit bloodletting were reasonable enough alternatives. As a rallying sentiment, it still makes too much sense.  Getting back to my relationship with the band: It really wasn’t until Henry Rollins joined the band when things really gelled together and their vision was complete and ready to take control of their audience. Whether or not you preferred Rollins among the band’s multitude of vocalists, you have to admit he was intense—a more formal front man who brought a heaviness and darkness to Black Flag. By early 1979, punk’s second wave was in full force. Black Flag had established a brutal self-promo cycle: relentless rehearsals begat furious self-promotion and flyers, begat chaotic, violent gigs typically cut short by police. By the time Black Flag released its debut LP, Damaged, in 1981, the Los Angeles-based hardcore punk band was already on its fourth singer, third EP, and umpteenth U.S. tour. In many ways, the band’s sound and character had already been defined. Still, Damaged is the Black Flag album that most people turn to first. Damaged’s opening track, "Rise Above", is a suitable argument for the record’s enduring importance. The band and record’s influence are incalculable, within the context of '80s hardcore and punk music as a genre, certainly, but also underground rock music in general—from DIY touring, to the independent record business, press, and even visual art. But while a lot of bands followed their lead, nobody else ever sounded like Black Flag. Listening to "Rise Above", it’s surprising how raw the recording is, but the band didn't need beefier drums or dialed-in guitars. Its attitude and presence—both easy to detect on "Rise Above"—were impossible to replicate or fake. The saying goes that all you need to start a band are three chords, but three chords aren’t going to make you into Black Flag.)  Miraculously, the music retains the power to shock. How did this scrappy SoCal punk band produce, in just 10 years, such a weird cornucopia of sounds? The fist-meets-mirror blow of Damaged is one thing, but what about the frenetic sass of Nervous Breakdown, the feel-bad art blues of Slip It In, and the DIY-fusion instrumentals of The Processof Weeding Out? Henry Rollins became Black Flag's poster boy, but the man responsible for their maverick trajectory was Greg Ginn, a musician justly renowned as hardcore's greatest instrumentalist. There’s a reason Black Flag are considered one of the most influential punk bands of all time… It ain’t a drag… It’s…