Black Flag

Black Flag have become one of the most enduring legacies of American Punk. The band's first two EP releases, Nervous Breakdown and Jealous Again, are paradigms of the original West Coast Hardcore sound: loud, fast, and abrasively unpolished. The group would undergo a number of lineup changes (including the departure of Keith Morris to form the equally legendary Circle Jerks), most notably the insertion of vocalist Henry Rollins, future spoken word artist/author/alterna-hero/Gap model. By the release of Damaged, their first full-length album, Rollins' influence was apparent -- the band had acquired an overt Heavy Metal sound rife with three-minute guitar solos and head-banging riffs. BF were astonishingly prolific -- producing up to three albums a year -- until their breakup in 1986, at which point founder Greg Ginn left to focus on running the notable Indie label SST.