Search - Black Flag :: First Four Years / Singles

Witness the true birth of Hardcore

D. K. Malone | earth | 09/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When punk rock first came to be in the 70s, for the most part it was really just plain old rock & roll in new clothing. It was louder and faster and whatnot, but the songs still boiled down to the same old blues based riffs and pop motifs. Black Flag was the band who blazed the trail into the next level and pioneered the true "hardcore" sound. Very agressive, very brutal, very angry. This music was literally scary in its day. Catchy hooks are sacrificed for sheer power and force. Melody is eschewed in favor of atonal rage. The evolution is pretty evident on this disk, if a tad abrupt; the first four songs from the debut 7" Nervous Breakdown have a very clear Ramones-ish tint to them. After that, prepare for a sudden left turn into the psychotic stuff. I imagine this will sound somewhat tame to someone who's never heard it before and is familiar with more contemporary "aggro" music. Guitarist and founder Greg Ginn was a true musical pioneer, which was evident in the fact that he quickly grew bored with the hardcore sound and continued experimenting and evolving his music. It didn't always sound this good, but at least he had (musical) integrity. One thing that must be said is that his insane sounding solos sound like he's playing random notes as fast as he can, but he isn't. He played them exactly the same at every gig. Genius."

All Their Early Singles, 12"ep, and Comp. Tracks....

Tim MacKenzie | Calgary, Alberta, Canada | 11/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This cd covers the early releases of Black Flag up to the Louie Louie 7"(Damaged was next). First up is Nervous Breakdown ep with Keith Morris(later of Circle Jerks)on vocals, and for a first ep this is real good. Released in early 1980(I think), it's 4 songs are early punk blasts that kinda show where they were headed, but more representative of their sound was their next release, the Jealous Again 12", 5 raging blasts that were more indicative of their sound to come, this had singer Chavo Pederast(Ron Reyes), who also appeared in the Decline Of Western Civilation film with them. Next up is a comp. track, Clocked In, taken from the Cracks In The Sidewalk compilation album. This was the first with Dez Cadena singing, and he finishes out the cd, as he sang right up to the point that Henry Rollins joined. The Six Pack single is next and is much like Clocked In as far as sound goes, and all 3 songs are excellent. After that, Machine, from the Chunks compilation, is kinda odd sounding at first, but soon charges along as per usual. the cd finishes up with the Louie Louie 7", and this is probably the best version of Louie Louie ever released. The b-side is Damaged I, and as much as I like the album version of this, the Dez version is pretty heavy. All in all a great cd introduction to Black Flag's early pre-Henry material, and a must have for any fan. Get it and trash your house playing air guitar."

Definitive L.A. 80's Punk

darthscooter | Dallas, TX | 04/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Henry Rollins, who would later rise to fame as a spoken word artist and frontman for "Rollins Band", refers to this album as "The densest bunch of jams ever, with the possible exception of the Funhouse album by The Stooges". Rollins is not to be found on this compilation, as he did not become lead singer of Black Flag until after these tracks were released. This compilation represents everything that was righteous about California Punk in the early-to-mid-80's. With songs like Revenge, White Minority, Jealous Again, and Six Pack, Greg Ginn and company show why they were leading the assault against the boring Rock and Roll stereotype. It wasn't fortune and fame that drove this band, it was the desire to conqure the world with the toughest riffs and hardest raw emotion packed tightly into one-and-a-half minute capsules that America ever saw. If you think that Green Day and Weezer are punk rock, PLEASE buy this album. You will be enlightened, I promise!"