If punk rock was seen as the kind of music which gave the finger
\nto society, then Black Flag had to be the group which gave the
\nfinger not only to society, but to punk rock’s forefathers.<\/p>\n
One of the earliest leaders of the Southern California punk
\nscene, Henry Rollins and company merged punk with the roots of
\nheavy metal – and, dare we say it, a little bit of humor. Their
\n1981 release
\nDamaged<\/i> remains a high-water mark for the band.<\/p>\n
As subtle as a car crash at times, Rollins knew he packed power
\nin his delivery that would capture the listener. So, he knew when
\nto turn on the intensity — tracks such as “What I See” (which
\ndares to suggest the spoken-word angle that Rollins would
\noccasionally take later in the band’s history), “Police Story” and
\n“Depression” all demonstrate this well. And “Spray Paint” is a
\nminute’s worth of pure intensity that even suggested that Black
\nFlag knew the days of thrash metal were just around the corner.<\/p>\n
This being said, even Rollins could occasionally turn up the
\nintensity a little too far. Case in point: the album closer
\n“Damaged I,” a track which still frightens me today, 15 years after
\nI bought the record (and nearly 20 years since it came out). Like
\nJohn Lennon before him, this was Rollins’s primal scream therapy –
\nand it’s uncomfortable to listen to. (It could also be I’m more
\naccustomed to a version of “Damaged I”, featuring then-lead singer
\nDez Cadena, on the 45 of “Louie Louie”.)<\/p>\n
Yet there was a side of Black Flag which showed they knew how to
\nsmile as well. “Six Pack” is one prime example of this, daring to
\nsuggest that Rollins would rather have his favorite brew than his
\ngirlfriend. You kind of have to have a twisted sense of humor to
\nappreciate this. Then, there’s “TV Party,” which may make no sense
\nunless you remember what television in the early ’80s was like.
\nIt’s all good fun, especially when you reach the unexpected
\nclimax.<\/p>\n
Sure, the production isn’t the cleanest, but Spot’s work behind
\nthe board seems to fit the style of music that Black Flag was
\nchurning out. Guitarist Greg Ginn pulls out some cool riffs from
\nhis six-string, while bassist Charles Dukowski and drummer Robo lay
\ndown a powerful, if slightly inconsistent, rhythmic backbone.
\n(Cadena was still with the group at this time, serving as guitarist
\nand vocalist.)<\/p>\n
\nDamaged<\/i> is the kind of record your parents warned you about
\n— and the kind of record that anyone who enjoys the pure adrenalin
\nof punk will absolutely fall in love with. This is one meant to be
\nplayed at full volume, so the neighbors can experience it as
\nwell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6401],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36741","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-black-flag","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36741"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36741"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}