Editing Family Man (Black Flag album)

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Family Man
| type       = studio
| longtype   = / {{background color|burlywood|[[live album]]}}
| artist     = [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]]
| cover      = Black Flag - Family Man cover.jpg
| alt        = A man about to shoot himself dead after seemingly killing his family
| released   = September 1984
| recorded   = {{hlist|December 1983|June 1984}}
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = {{hlist|[[Spoken word]]|[[punk rock]]|[[free jazz]]|[[avant-garde jazz]]<ref name="jazz"/>}}
| length     = 33:26
| label      = [[SST Records|SST]] (026)
| producer   = {{hlist|Harvey Robert Kubernik|[[Henry Rollins]]|[[Spot (producer)|Spot]]}}
| prev_title = [[My War]]
| prev_year  = 1984
| next_title = [[Slip It In]]
| next_year  = 1984
}}

'''''Family Man''''' is the third album by the American [[hardcore punk]] band [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]]. Released in 1984 through [[SST Records]], it features [[spoken word]] tracks by vocalist [[Henry Rollins]] and [[jazz]]-indebted [[instrumental music|instrumental]] tracks. It is also the first album to feature bassist [[Kira Roessler]]. "Armageddon Man" is the only track on the album in which Rollins and the instruments are together.

The album, along with spoken word recordings by [[Jello Biafra]] following the break-up of [[Dead Kennedys]], is credited for introducing "[[alternative rock|alternative]]" spoken word to a larger audience.<ref name="allmusic-review"/>

==Music and composition==
The album features one LP side of spoken word performances from [[Henry Rollins]] and another of [[instrumental music]] from the Black Flag lineup of guitarist [[Greg Ginn]], bassist [[Kira Roessler]] and drummer [[Bill Stevenson (musician)|Bill Stevenson]]. [[AllMusic]]'s Pemberton Roach, who described the record as Black Flag's most "experimental", compared the spoken word material to  [[Jim Morrison]]'s works on live [[The Doors]] releases.<ref name="allmusic-review"/> [[AllAboutJazz]]'s Trevor Maclaren stated: "It opens three points of interest: Rollins as the [[Beat Generation|Beat Poet]]—sort of—the stoned dirge influence of [[Black Sabbath]], and the instrumental jazz driven [[Heavy metal music|metal]]/[[Punk rock|punk]] that Ginn would utilize after dissolving Black Flag." Maclaren also added: "The distorted guitars and atonal feedback of players like [[Sonny Sharrock]] and [[James Blood Ulmer]] reign supreme in a sludgy Black Sabbath riff."<ref name="jazz"/>

==Cover art==
The cover art, which was created by [[Raymond Pettibon]], pictures a man holding a gun to his head, while his wife and son's bodies lie on the floor, and his daughter crouches across the room from him, with blood over her right eye and on her chest. The caption on the cover reads [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|November 23rd, 1963]].<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/black-flag-huesker-due-and-the-replacements-lead-punks-new-wave-19850718 | title=Black Flag, Hüsker Dü and the Replacements Lead Punk's New Wave | magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] | access-date=July 12, 2017 | date=July 18, 1985 | author=Goldberg, Michael | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721175310/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/black-flag-huesker-due-and-the-replacements-lead-punks-new-wave-19850718 | archive-date=July 21, 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Critical reception==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="allmusic-review">{{cite web| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/family-man-mw0000197794 | title=Black Flag - Family Man | work=[[AllMusic]] | author=Roach, Pemberton | access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev2Score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref>
|rev3 = ''[[Martin C. Strong|The Great Rock Discography]]''
|rev3score = 4/10<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|MusicHound Rock]]''
| rev4score = {{rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite book|title=[[MusicHound|MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide]]|editor=Gary Graff|editor-link=Gary Graff|edition=1st|year=1996|location=London|isbn=978-0-7876-1037-1|publisher=[[Visible Ink Press]]}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev5Score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Black Flag|editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |first=Rob |last=Sheffield |author-link=Rob Sheffield |title=[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]] |edition=4th |year=2004 |publisher=[[Fireside Books]] |location=London |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&q=black+flag|access-date=November 5, 2021 }}</ref>
|rev6 = ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]''
|rev6score = 2/10<ref name="Weisbard">{{cite book|editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |year=1995 |title=[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]|chapter= Blondie|publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-679-75574-8|pages=44-45}}</ref>
}}

In a retrospective review of the album, [[AllMusic]] critic Pemberton Roach wrote: "Although sounding at times like a high-school garage band attempting to perform [[Rush (band)|Rush]] covers, Ginn and company play with a sense of desperation and punk rock fury that makes much of the music positively electrifying." Roach also added: "Overall, ''Family Man'' is an essential, if atypical, part of the Black Flag canon and should appeal to fans of [[Sun Ra]], [[Ornette Coleman]], or the New York "[[Noise music|noise]]" scene as well."<ref name="allmusic-review"/> In 2006, ''[[All About Jazz]]'''s Trevor Maclaren stated that "for those who seek a real adventure and think that [[Last Exit (free jazz band)|Last Exit]] was perhaps too extreme, Black Flag's ''Family Man'' and ''[[The Process of Weeding Out]]'' are choice lost gems."<ref name="jazz">{{cite web| url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/black-flag-family-man-and-the-process-of-weeding-out-by-trevor-maclaren.php?pg=2 | title=Black Flag: Family Man & The Process of Weeding Out | work=[[AllAboutJazz]] |access-date=July 12, 2017 | date=February 1, 2006 | author=Maclaren, Trevor}}</ref>

[[Eric Weisbard]] of ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]'' (1995) named it the worst of the four albums Black Flag released in 1984, opining that it is "half lame instrumentals, half Rollins inventing the poetry-slam spoken word thang, the latter of import historically at least: more [[Lollapalooza|Lolla]] foreshadowing!"<ref name="Weisbard" /> ''[[Trouser Press]]''{{'}}s Ira Robbins comments that "''Family Man'' deconstructs Black Flag into a side of Rollins reading his poetry and a side of group instrumentals."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Robbins |first1=Ira |title=Black Flag |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/black-flag/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=March 23, 2025}}</ref>
==Track listing==
{{Tracklist
|all_writing = [[Henry Rollins]], except where noted
|headline        = Side A
|title1  = Family Man
|length1 = 1:17
|title2 = Salt on a Slug
|length2 = 1:30
|title3 = Hollywood Diary
|length3 = 0:32
|title4 = Let Your Fingers Do the Walking
|length4 = 2:30
|title5 = Shed Reading (Rattus Norvegicus)
|length5 = 1:23
|title6 = No Deposit – No Return
|length6 = 0:40
|title7 = Armageddon Man
|length7 = 9:12
|writer7 = [[Greg Ginn|Ginn]], Rollins
}}
{{Tracklisting
|headline = Side B
|title8 = Long Lost Dog of It
|length8 = 2:03
|writer8 = Ginn, [[Kira Roessler|Roessler]], [[Bill Stevenson (musician)|Stevenson]]
|title9 = I Won't Stick Any of You Unless and Until I Can Stick All of You
|length9 = 5:48
|writer9 = Ginn
|title10 = Account for What?
|length10 = 4:18
|writer10 = Ginn
|title11 = The Pups Are Doggin' It
|length11 = 4:13
|writer11 = Ginn, Roessler, Stevenson
}}

==Personnel==
*[[Henry Rollins]] – vocals (tracks 1–7)
*[[Greg Ginn]] – guitar (tracks 7–11)
*[[Kira Roessler]] – bass (tracks 7–11)
*[[Bill Stevenson (musician)|Bill Stevenson]] – drums (tracks 7–11)
*[[Raymond Pettibon]] – artwork

== Charts ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" | Chart (1984)
! scope="col" | Peak<br />position
|-
| [[UK Indie Chart]]<ref>{{cite book |first=Barry |last=Lazell |url=http://www.cherryred.co.uk/books/indiehits/b.htm |title=Indie Hits 1980-1989 |publisher=Cherry Red Books |date=1997 |access-date=September 5, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606125710/http://www.cherryred.co.uk/books/indiehits/b.htm |archive-date=June 6, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|14
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Discogs master|28661|type=album}}

{{Black Flag}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Black Flag (band) albums]]
[[Category:1984 albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Spot (producer)]]
[[Category:SST Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums with cover art by Raymond Pettibon]]
[[Category:Spoken word albums by American artists]]
[[Category:Free jazz albums]]
[[Category:Avant-garde jazz albums]]