Editing Black Flag (band) (section)

===Rollins era (1981–1986)===
[[file:Henry Rollins of Black Flag, 1983.jpg|thumb|left|280px|Henry Rollins performing in 1983]]
Twenty-year-old fan [[Henry Rollins]] (birth name Henry Garfield) was then living in Washington, D.C., and singing for hardcore band [[State of Alert]] (S.O.A.). S.O.A. drummer Ivor Hanson had a father who was a top [[admiral]] in the [[US Navy]], and his family shared living quarters with the [[vice president of the United States]] in the [[United States Naval Observatory]]. The band held their practices there, and would have to be let in by [[United States Secret Service]] agents.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://wjla.com/news/entertainment/a-brief-oral-history-of-henry-rollins-s-brief-career-in-d-c--8387 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119194742/https://wjla.com/news/entertainment/a-brief-oral-history-of-henry-rollins-s-brief-career-in-d-c--8387 |archive-date=November 19, 2018 |title=An incomplete oral history of Henry Rollins' D.C. years |first=Ryan |last=Kearney |date=February 9, 2012 |work=[[WJLA-TV]] |access-date=November 19, 2018 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

S.O.A. had corresponded with Black Flag, and met them when they performed on the U.S. east coast. At an impromptu show at A7 in [[New York City]], Rollins had asked the band to perform "Clocked In", and the band offered to let him sing. Since vocalist Dez Cadena was switching to guitar, the band then invited Rollins to audition. Impressed by his stage demeanor, they asked him to become their permanent vocalist.<ref>''American Hardcore''. Dir. Paul Rachman. AHC Productions LLC, 2006. Film.</ref> Despite some doubts, he accepted, due in part to [[Ian MacKaye]]'s encouragement. Rollins acted as [[roadie]] for the remainder of the tour while learning Black Flag's songs during sound checks and encores, while Cadena crafted guitar parts that meshed with Ginn's. Rollins also impressed Black Flag with his broad musical interests during an era when punk rock music and fans were increasingly factionalized; he introduced Black Flag to Washington D.C.'s [[go-go]], a distinctive take on [[funk music]].

Rollins was Black Flag's longest-lasting vocalist. When he joined Black Flag, he brought a different attitude and perspective than previous singers.<ref name=Vice/> Some earlier songs, such as "[[Six Pack (EP)|Six Pack]]" (a song written about original singer Keith Morris) blended a sense of black humor with driving punk rock. Rollins was an intense performer, who usually appeared onstage wearing only shorts. Ginn once stated that after Rollins joined, "We couldn't do songs with a sense of humor anymore; he got into the serious way-out poet thing."<ref name="Song review – TV Party" />

With Rollins, Black Flag began work on their first full-length album, ''[[Damaged (Black Flag album)|Damaged]]''. The sessions for the album (chronicled in [[Michael Azerrad]]'s book ''[[Our Band Could Be Your Life]]'') were a source of conflict between the band and engineer/producer [[Spot (producer)|Spot]], who had worked with the band and the [[SST Records|SST]] label since their early years. Spot had already recorded many of the ''Damaged'' tracks with Dez Cadena on vocals (as well as Keith Morris and Ron Reyes) and felt that the band's sound was ruined with the two guitar line-up (these versions can be heard on the albums ''[[Everything Went Black]]'' and ''[[The First Four Years (album)|The First Four Years]]'').{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} Whereas the earlier four-piece versions are more focused and much cleaner sounding, the ''Damaged'' recordings are more akin to a live recording, with little stereo separation of guitars, and somewhat muddy. When asked about the lo-fidelity production, Spot has said "They ''wanted'' it to sound that way."{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} As such, ''Damaged'' is generally regarded as Black Flag's most focused recording, as well as its most iconic.<ref name=Vice/> One critic has written that ''Damaged'' was "perhaps the best album to emerge from the quagmire that was early-'80s California [[Punk rock|punk]] ... the visceral, intensely physical presence of ''Damaged'' has yet to be equaled, although many bands have tried."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/damaged-r1955/review|title=Review: ''Damaged''|last=Dougan|first=John|work=Allmusic|access-date=January 1, 2011|archive-date=November 11, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111203602/http://allmusic.com/album/damaged-r1955/review|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Damaged'' was released in 1981, and the group began an extensive tour in support of it, forging an independent network for touring independent music acts that would form a cornerstone of the independent music scene for the decade to come.

The previous year 1980 saw the U.S. punk rock movement hitting a peak in popularity. With ''Damaged'' and their growing reputation as an impressive live band, Black Flag seemed poised on the cusp of a commercial breakthrough. The record was to be distributed by now-defunct Unicorn Records, a subsidiary of [[MCA Records|MCA]]. Trouble began when MCA refused to handle ''Damaged'' after MCA executive Al Bergamo determined the album was an "Anti-Parent" record.<ref>{{cite web | title = Black Flag | work = Sounds magazine | url = http://www.micksinclair.com/sounds/bf.html | access-date = May 27, 2006 | archive-date = July 14, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110714085123/http://www.micksinclair.com/sounds/bf.html | url-status = live }}</ref> However, according to longtime SST employee [[Joe Carducci]]<ref>Carducci, Joe, ''Rock & the Pop Narcotic''; [[2.13.61|2.13.61 Publications]], 1995, {{ISBN|978-1-880985-11-3}}</ref> the "Anti-Parent" statement was not the real reason for MCA's refusing to distribute ''Damaged''; Carducci reported that Unicorn Records was so poorly managed and so deeply in debt that MCA stood to lose money by distributing the album, regardless of its content. This was the beginning of a legal dispute that would, for several years, disallow Black Flag from using their own name on any record after ''Damaged'' was released on [[SST Records]] and a copy of the "Anti-Parent" statement was placed on the album's cover.<ref name="Allmusic Bio">{{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|title=Black Flag|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/black-flag-p3689/biography|website=Allmusic|access-date=January 8, 2011|archive-date=December 31, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111231012742/http://allmusic.com/artist/black-flag-p3689/biography|url-status=live}}</ref>

With their new singer, Black Flag and [[Minutemen (band)|the Minutemen]] made their first tour of the UK through late 1981 and early 1982. During that tour, the band met punk icon [[Richard Hell]] and opened a concert for him. Rollins later published his diaries from that tour in his book ''[[Get in the Van]]''. As the front man, Rollins was a frequent target of violent audience members, and started getting involved in fist-fights. Rollins developed a distinct showmanship on stage, where he could entertain an audience just by talking to them. The rest of the band were targets too, with Greg Ginn getting hit by a thrown bullet shell while playing in [[Colwyn Bay]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://link2wales.com/1982/crudblog/black-flag-play-colwyn-bay/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920231413/https://link2wales.com/1982/crudblog/black-flag-play-colwyn-bay/ | archive-date=September 20, 2021 | title=สล็อต เครดิต ฟรี ไม่ ต้อง ฝาก ไม่ ต้อง แชร์ 2019 }}</ref>

As Black Flag was about to return home, UK customs detained Colombian drummer Robo due to visa problems, and he was not able to return with the rest of the band. This would be the end of his tenure with the band (he was able to eventually re-enter the United States in mid-1982, at which point he would promptly join the [[Misfits (band)|Misfits]] as one of that band's last drummers before its 1983 breakup). The loss of Robo put an end to extensive touring for a while. [[Emil Johnson]] of Twisted Roots filled in for one tour, but it was clear he was only temporary.

While on that tour in Vancouver, the band found out that drummer [[Chuck Biscuits]] was leaving [[D.O.A. (band)|D.O.A.]] He was quickly drafted on board, traveling with the band for the rest of the tour (cut short because of Henry Rollins' injured knee) to learn the songs. This lineup recorded the later-bootlegged cassette ''[[1982 Demos]]'', showing the direction the band would go in for the ''[[My War]]'' album.

However, due to personality conflicts—in ''Get in the Van'', Rollins described Biscuits as a "fuck up"—and the Unicorn court injunction-forced inactivity of Black Flag, Biscuits left to join their rivals the Circle Jerks. (Later, Biscuits joined ex-Misfits singer Glenn Danzig's solo project [[Danzig (band)|Danzig]]). Black Flag eventually got [[Bill Stevenson (musician)|Bill Stevenson]] of [[Descendents]] to join permanently (he had filled in from time-to-time before). While the Unicorn Records court injunction prevented the group from releasing a new studio album, they nonetheless continued to work on new material, and embarked on a period which would mark a pronounced change in the group's direction.<ref name=Vice/>

The band had also become increasingly interested in music other than punk rock, such as [[the Jimi Hendrix Experience]], and some of the members (particularly Ginn) used [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]].  Newer material (which can be heard on the ''[[1982 Demos]]'' bootleg) was slower and less like typical punk music, with classic rock and blues influences seeping in. Cadena left in April 1983 to form his own band [[DC3 (band)|DC3]]. He would take some of the new songs he had written for Black Flag with him and record them for DC3's debut album.

Additionally, by late 1983, Dukowski had retired from performing with Black Flag (some accounts report he was "edged out" by Ginn<ref>{{cite web | title = Band line-ups | work = The Mighty Black Flag | url = http://www.ipass.net/jthrush/flagline.htm | access-date = May 27, 2006 | archive-date = February 22, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110222213254/http://www.ipass.net/jthrush/flagline.htm | url-status = live }}</ref>); Azerrad reports that Ginn was dissatisfied with Dukowski's failure to progress as an instrumentalist, and made things difficult for Dukowski in an attempt to make him quit, but in the end, Rollins took it on himself to fire Dukowski.<ref>Azerrad, 41.</ref> However, a few of Dukowski's songs were featured on later albums, and he continued acting in his capacity as tour manager.

1983 found Black Flag with fresh songs and a new direction, but without a bass player, and embroiled in a legal dispute over distribution due to SST's issuing ''Damaged'' (Ginn argued that since MCA was no longer involved, the Unicorn deal was not legally binding, while Unicorn disagreed and sued SST and Black Flag). Until the matter was sorted out, the band were prevented by a court [[injunction]] from using the name "Black Flag" on any recordings. They released a compilation record, ''Everything Went Black'', which was credited to the individual musicians, not "Black Flag". In fact, wherever the original album artwork had the words "Black Flag", they had been covered up with small slips of paper, thus adhering to the letter of the law.

After Unicorn Records declared bankruptcy, Black Flag were released from the injunction, and returned with a vengeance, starting with the release of ''[[My War]]''.<ref name=Vice/> The album was both a continuation of ''Damaged'', and a vast leap forward. While the general mood and lyrics continue in the confrontational and emotional tone of ''Damaged'', the album would prove influential to [[grunge]] music as the decade progressed. Lacking a bass player, Ginn played bass guitar, using the pseudonym Dale Nixon. On the May 1, 2007 episode of his radio program ''Harmony in My Head'', Rollins reported that one of Ginn's favorite albums during this era was [[Mahavishnu Orchestra]]'s ''[[Birds of Fire]]'' (1973), and opined that [[John McLaughlin (musician)|John McLaughlin]]'s guitar work influenced Ginn.

Freed legally to release albums, Black Flag was re-energized and ready to continue full steam ahead. The band recruited bassist [[Kira Roessler]] (sister of punk keyboardist [[Paul Roessler]], of [[45 Grave]]) to replace Dukowski, and began its most prolific period.

1984 saw Black Flag (and the SST label) at their most ambitious. This year they would release three full-length albums, and toured nearly constantly, with Rollins noting 178 performances for the year, and about that many for 1985. With Dukowski gone, Ginn ceded much of the spotlight to Rollins, who had expressed some discomfort<ref>see the track "Henry" from the spoken word compilation double album "English As a Second Language" (1984)</ref> over being the group's ''de facto'' spokesman, while Ginn was the recognized leader (Ginn wrote the majority of the group's songs and lyrics).

With Roessler on board, Black Flag began earnest experimentation, sometimes to critical and audience disdain: One critic writes that ''Slip It In'' "blurs the line between moronic punk and moronic metal";<ref name="trouser" /> another writes ''My War'' is "a pretentious mess of a record with a totally worthless second side."<ref>{{cite web | title = Review – My War | work = Allmusic | url = https://www.allmusic.com/album/r1966 | access-date = May 27, 2006 | archive-date = October 8, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20241008163733/https://gum.criteo.com/syncframe?origin=publishertagids&topUrl=www.allmusic.com&gdpr=0&gdpr_consent= | url-status = live }}</ref> Rollins reports that Black Flag's set-lists in this era rarely included older crowd favorites like "Six Pack" or "Nervous Breakdown", and that audiences were often irritated by the new, slower Black Flag. Violence against the band (and especially Rollins) was ever-present, although the vocalist was now an avid weight lifter, and more than able to defend himself. Furthermore, to Rollins' chagrin, Ginn's interest in marijuana steadily increased; as Rollins put it, "By '86 it was 'Cannot separate the man from his Anvil case with a big-ass stash.'"<ref>Azerrad, 58.</ref> Despite the initial resistance to the new music and quasi-psychedelic direction, ''My War'' would later be cited as a formative influence on the grunge, stoner and sludge metal genres. The band would continue to evolve toward a more heavy metal sound, with 1985's ''[[Loose Nut]]'' featuring more polished production.