The album was largely ignored by critics and the public at the time of its release, but has since been recognized as a classic and one of the most influential punk rock records ever made, appearing on a number of "best of" lists by fans and critics alike. The album was ranked number 340 on Rolling Stone's 2012 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[3][4] though moving down to number 487 in the 2020 revision. Pitchfork also ranked it number 25 on its list of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s.[5]
Background
Black Flag had made at least two cancelled attempts to record a full-length album since the release of its first extended playNervous Breakdown, with singers Keith Morris, Ron Reyes, and Dez Cadena; some of the Reyes sessions became the Jealous Again EP, while selections from two of many Cadena sessions became the Six Pack EP and the "Louie Louie"/"Damaged I" single; other session outtakes later comprised the Everything Went Blackdouble album.[6] At the time of the recording, Cadena had moved to rhythm guitar (a position he had initially intended to take when Reyes was still in the band)[6] and 20-year-old Washington, DC expatriate Henry Rollins had become the band's new lead singer weeks before the sessions occurred.[7] Unlike Reyes, who had never sung in a studio before[6] and Cadena, who had not even sung at all before joining the band,[6] Rollins already had one recording credit to his name with the short-lived DC hardcore punk band State of Alert, who recorded No Policy, an EP released earlier that year on Dischord Records.[8][9]
The band recorded their backing tracks without Rollins, who overdubbed vocals with band members Greg Ginn (guitar) and Chuck Dukowski (bass) coaching him afterward.[7] The most complicated vocal tracks ended up being Dukowski's "What I See", which was supposed to have an improvised speech in the song's bridge but ended up having one written out by Dukowski when Rollins could not come up with anything that he was satisfied with, and "T.V. Party", which featured backing vocals from the entire band.
The album was recorded at Unicorn Studios, on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood. The band was living and rehearsing in another part of the building that housed Unicorn Studios prior to the sessions.[7]
Drummer Robo was wearing bracelets on his left wrist that rattled when he played; the rattling, whenever he hit his snare drum, especially when he hit downbeats on it, became part of the sound.[7]
The version of "Rise Above" on the album was recorded at an earlier session with Rollins and was intended purely for a single release. Another version was recorded during the album sessions but the band abandoned it and decided to include the single version instead.[7]
The closing track, "Damaged I", is technically Rollins's first writing credit with the band. In his book Get in the Van, Rollins reports that he used to improvise the lyrics every night when the song was performed live. Two takes of the vocal were done, and the first was used.[7]
Cover art
The cover art, taken by punk photographer Ed Colver, depicts Rollins putting his fist through a mirror. The effect was made by cracking the mirror with a hammer, while the "blood" on Rollins's wrist is a mixture of red ink and coffee.[10] The photograph has been described as "iconic" in the pages of Artforum.[11]
Business disputes with Unicorn
Black Flag's distribution deal with Unicorn—which was associated with MCA Records—resulted in an initial pressing of 25,000 copies.[12] In September 1981, MCA refused to distribute the album after the label's president, Al Bergamo, objected to its lyrical content. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Bergamo stated: "I'm not the kind of guy who believes in burning books, but this record bothered me. As a parent with two children, I found it an anti-parent record, past the point of good taste. I listened to it all last weekend and it just didn't seem to have any redeeming social value."[13][14] Subsequently, the members of Black Flag personally visited the pressing plant and apply a sticker over the MCA logo which read, "As a parent... I found it an anti-parent record"[7][8][15]—thus essentially throwing Bergamo's words back in his face.[14][16]
Longtime SST employee Joe Carducci has reported that the "anti-parent" statement was a red herring. In fact, according to Carducci, Unicorn Records was so poorly managed and so deeply in debt that MCA lost money in distributing Damaged, regardless of its content, and was eager to sever its relationship with Unicorn by any possible pretext.[17]
SST and Unicorn ended up distributing Damaged through an independent distributor;[14] it arrived in stores in late November 1981.[2] As a result, Unicorn filed a lawsuit against Black Flag and SST, claiming breach of contract. Black Flag were suddenly enjoined from recording any more records under their own name,[8] although SST were able to continue with its own release schedule, releasing The Minutemen's The Punch Line and the debuts of the Meat Puppets and Saccharine Trust.[10] However, Unicorn released a single of an updated "T.V. Party" before the legal trouble started, a recording commissioned by MCA for the soundtrack to the film Repo Man.[18]
The legal dispute between Black Flag and Unicorn tied the band up for almost two years, during which time they released Everything Went Black, a double album of pre-Rollins outtakes, under the names of the individual musicians and vocalists on the record.[19] Unicorn ended up filing even more legal briefs, claiming that Black Flag had violated a court injunction against releasing new records. Ginn and Dukowski ended up doing several days in Los Angeles County Jail for contempt of court, but the case fizzled out soon afterward when Unicorn went out of business, freeing Black Flag of any further obligation to the label.[7][8][10]
Known outtakes and alternate versions
In addition to the known unreleased version of "Rise Above" recorded during the album sessions and the alternate take of "Damaged I", a version of Black Flag's arrangement of "Louie Louie" was also recorded. According to Rollins in Get in the Van, this version featured the band going into "a strange jam at the end until the tape ran out;" It was never mixed down in any form.[7] As of July 2006, it was unknown if the master tapes to these outtakes were still in existence. Henry Rollins later stated on his radio show's blog that alternate versions of "What I See" and "at least one other song that I can't remember" also came out of the Damaged sessions, and that other outtakes from Black Flag's other albums also exist.[20]
According to Black Flag's engineer and live sound man Spot, a nearly complete version of Damaged was recorded at Golden Age Studios with Dez Cadena doing vocal duties. This session is where the tracks for the Six Pack EP came from. No official version of the remainder of this recording session has ever been released, although unlicensed copies have circulated in tape trading circles for years. A comparison of the unreleased Dez Cadena sessions with the released LP suggests that the vocal cadence and presentation of the Cadena sessions were used as a reference by the band prior to recording the final album.
An alternate version of "Depression" was recorded to be the b-side of the "Rise Above" single.[7]
Reviewing for The Village Voice in January 1982, Robert Christgau was generally positive toward the album: "Although the B side drags more painfully than I bet was intended, this is powerful stuff. Greg Ginn is the greatest noise guitarist since Johnny Thunders, new vocalist Henry Rollins can snarl along any tortured contour they serve up, and 'Rise Above,' 'Six Pack,' and the uproarious 'TV Party' prove they can write songs as well as gnash fragments. Inspirational Verse: 'I wanna live/I wish I was dead.'"[31]
While the album did not gain much attention from the general press on its original release, the album retrospectively has been given critical acclaim and has been cited as one of the most important hardcore punk albums ever released. Rolling Stone in their retrospective review says that "Black Flag lived up to it, defining L.A. hardcore punk with violent guitar and the pissed-off scream of Henry Rollins, especially on "TV Party" and "Rise Above." Punks still listen to Damaged, and parents still hate it."[3]Pitchfork in their retrospective review from 2002 says "Black Flag took on the essential ferocity of men about to snap, and combined that with an acidic sense of humor and these things called 'songs', a concept that many of the wannabe punkers of the day were still trying to sort out. Damaged hit in 1981, and by 1982, four bars bearing the Black Flag name had been airbrushed across miles and miles of spiked leather. Conflicting feelings of violence, apathy, rage, and self-satire course through this one, the essential touchstone of the entire genre of West Coast hardcore, crystallizing the turmoil of the movement. Listen to 'Rise Above' and try not to be incensed, then listen to 'TV Party' and try not to laugh out loud. That's awesome."[5] John Dougan of AllMusic gave it a perfect five star rating saying "...Although Black Flag had been recording for three years prior to this release, the fact that Henry Rollins was now their lead singer made all the difference. His furious bellow and barely contained ferocity was the missing piece the band needed to become great. Also, guitarist/mastermind Greg Ginn wrote a slew of great songs for this record that, while suffused with the usual punk conceits (alienation, boredom, disenfranchisement), were capable of making one laugh out loud, especially the protoslacker satire 'TV Party'..." and also noted "...Extremely controversial when it was released, Damaged endured the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism (some reacted as though this record would alone cause the fall of America's youth) to become and remain an important document of its time."
Kurt Cobain listed it in his top fifty albums of all time.[32][33] Over the years since the album's original release it has been recognized as a punk rock classic and one of the most influential punk rock records ever made by appearing on a number of "best of" lists by magazines and critics. The album was ranked number 340 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[3][4]Pitchfork also ranked it number 25 on its "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s".[5] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[34]
A 1982 European release issued by Roadrunner Records' RoadRacer imprint substitutes the later single version of "T.V. Party" for the album version on side one, and adds the Dez Cadena-led single version of "Louie Louie" to the end of side two.[36]
The initial CD reissue of Damaged appended the Jealous Again EP. All subsequent versions contain the original album only.[19][37]
Black Flag is an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. Initially called Panic, the band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter, and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band. They are widely considered to be one of the first hardcore punk bands, as well as one of the pioneers of post-hardcore. After breaking up in 1986, Black Flag reunited in 2003 and again in 2013. The second reunion lasted well over a year, during which they released their first studio album in nearly three decades, What The... (2013). The band announced their third reunion in January 2019.
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was first founded in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Transmitters, a small business through which he sold electronics equipment. Ginn repurposed the company as a record label to release material by his band Black Flag.
Dez Cadena is an American punk rock singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1980 to 1983. Cadena played guitar with Misfits from 2001 to 2015, initially joining the band alongside Doyle, Jerry Only, and Robo for their 25th Anniversary Tour.
Gary Arthur McDaniel, better known by his stage name Chuck Dukowski, is an American punk rock musician. He’s most well known for being the bass player and occasional songwriter for Black Flag.
Julio Roberto Valverde Valencia, better known by his stage name Robo, is a Colombian-American drummer. He came to prominence in the early 1980s with punk band Black Flag, and more recently has been a member of Misfits.
My War is the second studio album by American band Black Flag. It was the first of three full-length albums the band released in 1984. The album polarized fans due to the LP's B-side, on which the band slowed down to a heavy, Black Sabbath-esque trudge after establishing expectations as a faster hardcore punk band on its first album, Damaged (1981).
Slip It In is the fourth studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag, released in 1984 by SST Records.
Everything Went Black is a compilation album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1982 through SST Records. The compilation comprises early songs recorded before Henry Rollins became the band's vocalist in 1981, and was initially released without the group's name on its cover, due to their lawsuit with MCA/Unicorn. Instead, the names of the group members were listed on the first release.
The First Four Years is a compilation album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1983 on SST Records. The compilation consists of all of the group's material released before Henry Rollins became the band's vocalist in 1981. It essentially collects the extended plays Nervous Breakdown (1979), Jealous Again (1980), Six Pack (1981), and the single "Louie Louie", with two tracks from various artists' compilation albums.
Wasted…Again is an album released by American hardcore punk band Black Flag in 1987 on SST Records. It is a "best-of" compilation released after Black Flag's breakup in 1986. It features various songs about drinking and beer from their discography.
Jealous Again is the second EP by American hardcore punk band Black Flag, and the third-ever release on SST Records.
Six Pack is the third EP by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in June 1981 through SST Records on 7" vinyl, and later on 10" and 12" vinyl in 1990.
TV Party is the fourth EP by American band Black Flag, released in 1982. It was self-produced with Ed Barton and originally released by SST Records on the 7" vinyl format. The title track is a satire of boredom, drinking and America's obsession with television; the original version was also released on the band's 1981 debut album, Damaged.
DC3 was an American rock and roll band formed by singer, songwriter and guitarist Dez Cadena in 1983 and active until 1988.
October Faction is an album by October Faction, the improvisational all-star punk rock band featuring Black Flag members Greg Ginn and Chuck Dukowski and Saccharine Trust guitarist Joe Baiza.
Live at the On Broadway 1982 is a live album by the hardcore punk band Black Flag. The album features 2 separate live performances from the band performing at the On Broadway venue July 23–24, 1982. It is the only official Black Flag release to feature Chuck Biscuits on drums.
The Nig-Heist was a punk-comedy-shock rock band led by Steve "Mugger" Corbin, a roadie and live sound engineer for Black Flag and employee of SST Records. The Nig-Heist featured a revolving-door roster of members of the bands who were on tour with Black Flag at the moment. The band used to open for Black Flag on tour and recorded a 7", an LP and had tracks on compilations. They were notorious for their risqué stage antics, including band members playing naked, Mugger wearing a long-haired wig and insulting the crowd. Their songs were overtly vulgar and explicit in a funny way. Their motto was: "The band that cums in your mouth, not in your hands".
Overkill L.A. or SST Overkill is a hardcore punk/speed metal band started in 1980 in Los Angeles and which recorded two records on SST Records and some tracks on compilations. The band started as Overkill but they were rechristened Overkill L.A. by SST Records when they re-released their albums in the '90s and SST Overkill when they reunited in 2005.
The Complete 1982 Demos is an unreleased set of demo tracks intended for a follow-up album to Black Flag's debut album Damaged (1981). The tracks recorded show the band moving in a riff-driven, heavy metal-inflected direction, away from the pure hardcore punk of the first album. Due to legal issues, the album was never recorded, though most of the tracks were re-recorded for later albums. Though never officially released, the recordings have been widely bootlegged.
References
↑ Larson, Thomas E. (2014). History of Rock and Roll. Kendall Hunt. p.207. ISBN978-1-4652-3886-3.
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