Editing Damaged (Black Flag album) (section)

==Background==
Black Flag had made at least two cancelled attempts to record a full-length album since the release of its first [[extended play]] ''[[Nervous Breakdown (EP)|Nervous 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)|Six Pack]]'' EP and the "Louie Louie"/"Damaged I" single; other session outtakes later comprised the ''[[Everything Went Black]]'' [[double album]].<ref name="ewb">Spot with Chuck Dukowski, Liner notes of ''[[Everything Went Black]]'', SST Records, 1983</ref> 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)<ref name="ewb"/> and 20-year-old [[Washington, DC]] expatriate [[Henry Rollins]] had become the band's new lead singer weeks before the sessions occurred.<ref name="van">Henry Rollins, ''Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag'', 2.13.61 Publications, 1994</ref> Unlike Reyes, who had never sung in a studio before<ref name="ewb"/> and Cadena, who had not even sung at all before joining the band,<ref name="ewb"/> 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]].<ref name="band">[[Michael Azerrad]], ''[[Our Band Could Be Your Life]]'', Little Brown, 2001</ref><ref name="unwanted">Henry Rollins, ''Unwanted Songs 1981–1991'', 2.13.61 Publications, 2002</ref>

The band recorded their backing tracks without Rollins, who overdubbed vocals with band members [[Greg Ginn]] (guitar) and [[Chuck Dukowski]] (bass) coaching him afterward.<ref name="van"/> 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.<ref name="van"/>

Drummer [[Robo (musician)|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.<ref name="van"/>

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.<ref name="van"/>

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.<ref name="van"/>