Editing In My Head (album) (section)

==Reception==
{{Music ratings
|rev1     = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name=am>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r1968|first=John|last=Dougan|access-date=2011-07-01}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Black Flag |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music |last=Larkin |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin |publisher=[[Omnibus Press]] |edition=5th concise |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Martin C. Strong|The Great Rock Discography]]''
| rev3score = 6/10<ref>{{cite book|title=The Great Rock Discography|author=Martin C. Strong|author-link=Martin C. Strong|edition=1st|year=1998|isbn=978-0-86241-827-4|publisher=[[Canongate Books]]}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[MusicHound]]''
| rev4score = 3.5/5<ref>{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |last=Graff |first=Gary |publisher=[[Visible Ink Press]] |edition=2nd |year=1999 |isbn=1-57859-061-2}}</ref>
|rev5    = ''Punknews''
|rev5Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name=pn>{{cite web|url=http://www.punknews.org/review/950/black-flag-in-my-head|title=Black Flag – In My Head|website=www.punknews.org|date=May 7, 2002 }}</ref>
|rev6      = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
|rev6Score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PA102|title=Black Flag|isbn=9780743201698|last1=Brackett|first1=Nathan|last2=Hoard|first2=Christian David|year=2004}}</ref>
|rev7 = ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]''
|rev7score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref name=sounds>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/black-flag-idamagedi-sst-007-iin-my-headi-sst-045-|title=Black Flag: Damaged (SST 007) ****/In My Head (SST 045) *****. By Neil Perry : Articles, reviews and interviews from Rock's Backpages}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]''
| rev8score = 6/10<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Black Flag |last=Weisbard |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Weisbard |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-75574-8 |pages=44–45}}</ref>
}}
The album received very positive reviews upon release. [[Robert Palmer (American writer)|Robert Palmer]], writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', found the music to be "intriguingly, sometimes dazzlingly fresh and sophisticated, but the band hasn't had to sacrifice an iota of the raw intensity and directness that are punk's spiritual center." He compared the "[[polyphony]] of shifting shapes that is the principal guitar motif in the brilliant 'White Hot{{'"}} to "listening to the once-revolutionary guitar break from the [[The Yardbirds|Yardbirds]]' mid-60's hit '[[Shapes of Things]]' while one's turntable goes up in flames." "Yet for all its sophistication," he continued, "this is jagged, abrasive rock and roll, music hard and direct enough to appeal to any punk or [[Hard rock|hard-rock]] fan. [...] 'In My Head' is the sound of [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] rock as it could be but almost never is, metal without the posturing, the pointless displays of fretboard prowess, the bashing rhythm sections and banal lyrics that have become endemic to the idiom."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Palmer|first=Robert|date=1986-02-23|title=Black Flag Adds a Soupcon of Sophistication to Punk Rock|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/23/arts/black-flag-adds-a-soupcon-of-sophistication-to-punk-rock.html|access-date=2021-03-16|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It also notably received a full score from the English music magazine [[Sounds (magazine)|''Sounds'']], which found it to be even better than the band's [[Damaged (Black Flag album)|debut]].<ref name=sounds/>

Retrospective reviews have also been largely positive. ''Punknews'' found the album to be more innovative and better produced than its predecessors,<ref name=pn/> while John Dougan of [[AllMusic]] called it "some of the best contemporary rock music extant."<ref name=am/> ''[[Louder Sound]]'' called it "one of the group's finest albums, with [its] foreboding title track its most gloriously tortured moment. [...] Healthy people don't make music like this, and indeed, soon after its release Black Flag were done."<ref>{{Cite web|first=Stevie |last=Chick |title=The 10 best Black Flag songs from 1981-1985|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-10-best-black-flag-songs-from-1981-1985|access-date=2021-03-16|website=loudersound|date=November 20, 2016|language=en}}</ref> "Early Black Flag releases like ''[[Nervous Breakdown (EP)|Nervous Breakdown]], Damaged'', and ''[[My War]]'' spawned tons of imitators," wrote ''[[BrooklynVegan]]'', "and there's no way to overstate how influential they are, but ''In My Head'' has something else going for it. Over three decades later, you rarely hear other music that sounds like this."<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 29, 2019 |first=Andrew |last=Sacher |title=Black Flag Albums and EPs Ranked Worst To Best|url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/black-flag-albums-and-eps-ranked-worst-to-best/|access-date=2021-03-16|website=BrooklynVegan|language=en}}</ref>