Editing Slip It In

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Slip It In
| type       = studio
| artist     = [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]]
| cover      = Black Flag - Slip It In cover.jpg
| alt        = A nun embracing a man's naked leg
| released   = December 1984
| recorded   = June 1984
| studio     = [[Total Access Recording]] (Redondo Beach, California)
| genre      =* [[Hardcore punk]]
* [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]]
| length     = 38:37
| label      = [[SST Records|SST]]
| producer   = [[Greg Ginn]], [[Spot (producer)|Spot]], [[Bill Stevenson (musician)|Bill Stevenson]]
| prev_title = [[Family Man (Black Flag album)|Family Man]]
| prev_year  = 1984
| next_title = [[Live '84]]
| next_year  = 1984
}}

'''''Slip It In''''' is the fourth studio album by the American [[hardcore punk]] band [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]], released in 1984 by [[SST Records]].

''Slip It In'' is an extension of the sound Black Flag utilized on its second album ''[[My War]]'': heavy, cathartic, intense, dense and progressive. The album pursued the newer, lengthier song arrangements that Black Flag would develop until its demise. It also features [[Henry Rollins]]' further development as a lyricist, contributing four of eight tracks on the album. This album also demonstrates Black Flag's increasing use of instrumentals, where [[Greg Ginn]] demonstrates his increasingly more complex playing style.

==Recording and style==
''Slip It In'' was recorded on a brief break on the continuous tour for ''[[My War]]'', which saw Black Flag 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).

In many ways, ''Slip It In'' is a fusion of the styles utilized on their previous releases (with vocals), ''[[Damaged (Black Flag album)|Damaged]]'' and ''My War''. The songs are inspired by [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]], yet the material also shows traces of  "[[sludge metal|sludgy]] [[grunge|'pre-grunge']] [[sludge metal|metal]], [[hardcore punk]], and [[thrash metal|thrash]] to [[blues rock]] and [[jazz]]."<ref name="slip it in"/> The track "My Ghetto" even contains traces of a musical style that would later become known as [[powerviolence]]. At the middle point of the album, there is an instrumental track called "Obliteration" which highlights Ginn's [[chord progressions]] where Brandon Sideleau of Punknews.org claims that it "mashes [[sludge metal|sludge]] and [[jazz]] into an ominous hybrid."

==Cover art==
The album cover features a provocative piece of [[Raymond Pettibon]] artwork, as many of Black Flag's album/single covers and gig fliers do. The image is of a [[nun]] embracing a bare male leg. Bassist Kira Roessler has expressed complex feelings about the image. For example, she has said "I didn't really recognize that they might have interesting ideas about women and that me being in the band was controversial. I didn't think that way until I saw the cover of ''Slip It In'' and I kind of realized, for one thing, they certainly didn't glorify women. That cover does not glorify women."<ref>{{cite web |title=Kira Roessler Interview: Originally Ran in Razorcake #26, Now an Ebook with New Introduction By Ryan – Razorcake |url=https://razorcake.org/archive-kira-roessler-interview-originally-ran-in-razorcake-26-now-an-ebook-with-new-introduction/ |access-date=December 23, 2020 |date=May 1, 2014}}</ref> She has also indicated that she has come to terms with the cover art choice.

==Music video==
A low-budget music video was produced for the album's title track. It revolves around a teacher lip syncing to the vocals to the song along with the class and cuts to clips to the band performing to the song. The video ends with the teacher telling about the album coming out and promoting their "students" to see them on their tour.

==Reception==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="allmusic">{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r1967|first=John|last=Dougan|accessdate=2011-07-01}}</ref>
|rev2 = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
|rev2score = C+<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=B&bk=80|chapter=B|accessdate=August 17, 2020|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s]]|publisher=[[Pantheon Books]]|year=1990|isbn=0-679-73015-X|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev3Score = {{Rating|3|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>
|rev4 = ''[[Martin C. Strong|The Great Rock Discography]]''
|rev4score = 5/10<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>
| rev5 = ''[[MusicHound|MusicHound Rock]]''
| rev5score = {{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>
| rev6 = Punknews.org
| rev6Score = {{Rating|5}}<ref name="slip it in"/>
| rev7 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev7Score = {{Rating|3|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>
}}
''Slip It In'' has received mixed reviews over the years. Shortly after its release, Ira Robbins of ''[[Trouser Press]]'' dismissed the album, writing that it "blurs the line between moronic punk and moronic metal. Songs are mostly built on trite riffs repeated endlessly; the rude lyrics of the title song are performed complete with enthusiastic sex noises for anyone who fails to grasp the point and/or be offended by it."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Black Flag|url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/black-flag/|access-date=2021-11-29|website=Trouser Press|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Robert Christgau]] was also quite negative, despite reserving some praise for the song "You're Not Evil".<ref name="CG"/> 

In retrospective reviews, John Dougan of [[AllMusic]] wrote that while the album was a bit better than its predecessor and featured "increasingly avant-garde and exciting" guitarwork from Greg Ginn (which was compared to [[James Blood Ulmer]]), it "still wanders a bit".<ref name="allmusic"/> Brandon Sideleau of Punknews.org calls it "a classic and a landmark for independent music." He defends the title track, calling it a "punk metal masterpiece often unfairly seen as sexist, when in reality it's quite the opposite. Greg Ginn's lyrics are raunchy and angry, but the song is more about people and their choices than anything else."<ref name="slip it in">{{cite web|last=Sideleau|first=Brandon|url=https://www.punknews.org/review/4312/black-flag-slip-it-in|title=Slip It In|website=Punknews.org|date=August 28, 2005|accessdate=August 5, 2018}}</ref>

==Track listing==
{{Tracklist
|headline        = Side A
|title1  = Slip It In
|length1 = 6:17
|writer1 = [[Greg Ginn]]
|title2 = Black Coffee
|length2 = 4:53
|writer2 = Ginn
|title3 = Wound Up
|length3 = 4:17
|writer3 = Ginn, [[Henry Rollins]]
|title4 = Rat's Eyes
|length4 = 3:57
|writer4 = Ginn, Rollins
}}
{{Tracklist
|headline = Side B
|title5 = Obliteration
|note5 = instrumental
|length5 = 5:51
|writer5 = Ginn
|title6 = The Bars
|length6 = 4:20
|writer6 = [[Chuck Dukowski]], Rollins
|title7 = My Ghetto
|length7 = 2:02
|writer7 = Ginn, Rollins
|title8 = You're Not Evil
|length8 = 7:00
|writer8 = Ginn
}}

==Personnel==
*[[Henry Rollins]] – lead vocals
*[[Greg Ginn]] – guitars
*[[Kira Roessler]] – bass, backing vocals
*[[Bill Stevenson (musician)|Bill Stevenson]] – drums
*[[Suzi Gardner]] - backing vocals on “Slip it In”

==Additional personnel==
*Davo Claassen – backing vocals
*[[Suzi Gardner]] – backing vocals
*[[Chuck Dukowski]] – backing vocals
*Greg Ginn – production
*Bill Stevenson – production
*[[Spot (producer)|Spot]] – production, engineering, mixing
*[[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  }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|8
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Black Flag}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Black Flag (band) albums]]
[[Category:1984 albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Spot (producer)]]
[[Category:SST Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Bill Stevenson (musician)]]
[[Category:Albums with cover art by Raymond Pettibon]]