Line #19 Music/BlackFlag


1	[[quoteright:797:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ezgif_2_da73dc505e.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:797:...kills ants!]]
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4	Black Flag is an American HardcorePunk band formed in 1976 in California. The band was established largely as the brainchild of Greg Ginn, guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes. They are widely considered to be one of the first bands of their genre.
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6	Black Flag forged a unique sound early on that mixed the raw simplicity of Music/TheRamones with atonal guitar solos and frequent tempo shifts. The band was also known for the intense and evocative lyrics found in their songs, most of which were penned by Ginn. Like other punk bands of this era, Black Flag gave voice to an anti-authoritarian, non-conformist message, featuring songs punctuated with descriptions of isolation, neurosis, poverty, and paranoia, themes that would be explored further when Music/HenryRollins became lead singer in 1981. Most of the band's material was released on Ginn's independent label, SST Records.
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8	Black Flag was, and remains, well respected among their underground culture, with their influence primarily in their tireless promotion of a self-controlled DIY ethic and aesthetic. They are often regarded as pioneers in the movement of underground do-it-yourself record labels that flourished among the 1980s punk rock bands. Through seemingly constant touring throughout the United States and Canada, and occasionally Europe, Black Flag established an extremely dedicated fan base. Many other musicians would follow Black Flag's lead and book their own tours, utilizing a word-of-mouth network.
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10	Over the course of the 1980s, Black Flag's sound, as well as their notoriety, evolved in ways that alienated much of their early punk audience. As well as being central to the creation of hardcore, they were part of the first wave of American West Coast punk rock and are considered a key influence on the punk subculture. Along with being among the earliest punk rock groups to incorporate elements and the influence of heavy metal melodies and rhythm (particularly in their later records), there were often overt freestyles, free jazz, breakbeat and contemporary classical elements in their sound, especially in Ginn's guitar playing, and the band interspersed records and performances with instrumentals throughout their career. They also played longer, slower, and more complex songs at a time when many bands in their milieu stuck to a raw, fast, three-chord format. As a result, their extensive discography is more stylistically varied than many of their punk rock contemporaries. Their later, sludgier, metal-influenced material in particular was cited as an influence by {{Grunge}} bands.
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12	In 2013, Black Flag reunited with Ron Reyes after over twenty years of not performing to mixed reviews from the punk community, with their newest album ''What The...'' being widely hated by fans. Another group emerged in 2013, consisting of ex-Black Flag members, simply titled ''FLAG''. Greg Ginn sued almost immediately, however the courts ruled in FLAG's favor, citing the fact that people ''can'' distinguish between Ginn's band and the band led by people Greg had kicked out as the reason why they ruled in their favor. Regardless, Ginn continues to tour with Black Flag to this day, with several hired guns performing on bass and drums, and pro skateboarder Mike Vallely ([[ItMakesSenseInContext who literally fired Reyes]] ''[[ItMakesSenseInContext onstage]]'') on vocals.
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14	The pre-Henry Rollins Black Flag is featured prominently in 1981 {{Rockumentary}} ''Film/TheDeclineOfWesternCivilization''.
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16	!!Discography
17	* ''Nervous Breakdown'' (EP, 1979)
18	* ''Jealous Again'' (EP, 1980)
19	* ''Six Pack'' (EP, 1981)
20	* ''Music/{{Damaged\|Album}}'' (studio, 1981)
21	* ''TV Party'' (EP, 1982)
22	* ''My War'' (studio, 1984)
23	* ''Family Man'' (studio, 1984)
24	* ''Slip It In'' (studio, 1984)
25	* ''Live '84'' ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin live, 1984]])
26	* ''Loose Nut'' (studio, 1985)
27	* ''The Process of Weeding Out'' (EP, 1985)
28	* ''In My Head'' (studio, 1985)
29	* ''Minuteflag'' (EP with Music/{{Minutemen}}, 1986)
30	* ''Who's Got the 10 ½?'' (live, 1986)
31	* ''Annihilate This Week'' (EP, 1987)
32	* ''I Can See You'' (EP, 1989)
33	* ''Live at the On Broadway 1982'' (live, 2010)
34	* ''What The...'' (studio, 2013)
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36	----
37	!! "TV Trope party tonight! TV Trope party tonight!":
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39	* AlbumCoverDesigners: Raymond Pettibon's artwork, used between ''My War'' and ''In My Head'' for studio albums as well as all of their [=EPs=], remains iconic among punk rock fans.
40	* TheAlcoholic[=/=]AlcoholInducedIdiocy: "Six Pack," "Thirsty and Miserable"
41	* {{Bifauxnen}}: Bassist Kira Roessler. Often the only thing gave it away was her affinity for wearing dresses on stage (and even then mostly for shock value) during concerts.
42	* CarefulWithThatAxe: A lot of their songs their songs have this, most notably the last chorus of "My War".
43	* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: They ''completely'' rewrote "Louie Louie" into an AntiLoveSong:
44	-->"[[LoveMakesYouDumb This pain in my heart\
45	It just means I'm not very smart]]\
46	Who needs love when you've got a gun?\
47	Who needs love to have any fun?"
48	* DarkerAndEdgier: Ginn said that after Rollins joined, "We couldn't do songs with a sense of humour anymore [[note]]he was talking about "TV Party" specifically[[/note]]; he got into the [[BuffySpeak serious way-out poet thing]]."
49	* DisproportionateRetribution: The narrator of "Police Story" is beaten "across the head with a billy club", arrested, fined, and is looking at a potential sentence to jail...for flipping off a group of policemen and subsequently yelling at them to "go get fucked".
50	* DoomMetal: Added elements of this starting with ''My War''.
51	* DownerEnding: ''Music/{{Damaged\|Album}}'' has a pretty intense one with "Life of Pain" followed by "Damaged 1". Side B of ''My War'', on the other hand, is probably the most epic display of abject misery to ever close out an album.
52	* DoubleMeaningTitle: ''The Process of Weeding Out'' is both a reference to marijuana and the idea that an instrumental, avant garde and jazz-rock influenced release would "weed out" unadventurous fans who were only interested in hearing the band play conventional hardcore punk.
53	* DrunkDriver: "Drinking and Driving"
54	* TheEighties: Though they started in TheSeventies, this was when they were at their biggest, and basically 90% of their body of work is concentrated here.
55	* EpicRocking: "Nothing Left Inside", "Scream" and "Three Nights" from ''My War'' are all about 6 minutes in length. "Armageddon Man" from ''Family Man'' clocks at 9 minutes. "Your Last Affront" and the title song of ''The Process of Weeding Out'' are both just under 10 minutes and "You're Not Evil" from ''Slip It In'' is about seven minutes while the titular track is just over six minutes.
56	* FemaleRockersPlayBass: Music/KiraRoessler was their bassist from 1983-1985, the only time they had a female member.
57	* FreeHandedPerformer: Henry Rollins focuses on singing and spoken-word performances.
58	* GenreShift: Starting with side B of My War, they started getting slower and more experimental.
59	* GreenEyedMonster: "Jealous Again"
60	* HardcorePunk: TropeCodifier alongside Music/MinorThreat.
61	* {{Grunge}}: Not part of the genre, but had a large influence on its formation.
62	* IAmTheBand: Greg Ginn.
63	* IntercourseWithYou: "Slip It In," "Loose Nut," "Annihilate This Week"
64	* {{Jerkass}}: Rollins once said to Ginn "Why don't we make a record that was like the last one so people won't always be trying to catch up with what we're doing?". As revenge, Ginn buried his vocals in the mix of their last album ''In My Head''. The snub is made even more obvious on CD and digital versions of the album, which added most of the ''I Can See You'' EP as bonus tracks - Henry's vocals are much clearer on those recordings.
65	* MinisculeRocking: This ''is'' Punk Rock, after all. ''The First Four Years'' packs 16 songs into a brisk '''24:40'''.
66	* PostHardcore: Started to go in this direction in their later years.
67	* ProtestSong: Well, they ''are'' a punk band. "Rise Above," "Police Story," etc.
68	* RevolvingDoorBand: Ginn was the band's only constant member, although towards the end of their career they toned down the lineup instability somewhat.
69	* SelfDeprecation: Henry Rollins has said numerous times he thought Black Flag's best work was before he joined the band. Ginn has stated the same, but he's more of a dick about it.
70	* SlutShaming: Played with (in a way) in "Slip it In". The song takes multiple shots at an woman who is regretful for [[ReallyGetsAround "what [she] did the night before"]], hitting on (and sleeping with, if the spoken word intro is anything to go by) other guys when she claims to have a boyfriend, and blaming her actions on having too much to drink, among other things - however the song later states "You're getting around/I'm not putting it down/It's just what it is/Getting it while it's around", so this song plays the trope straight and subverts it at the same time.
71	* StageNames: Two notable examples: their first bass player used the name "Chuck Dukowski" as a protest against the then-prevalent anti-Polish prejudice (and "Polish jokes"), and after several falling outs Ron Reyes was credited as "Chavo Pederast" for the ''Jealous Again'' EP, to which he retaliated by hitting his replacement Dez Cadena with a brick and smashing the windshield of the band's touring van. Rollins changed his name upon joining the band (his last name is actually Garfield), which he claims was to avoid trouble with the police.
72	** On ''My War'', Greg Ginn used his own name for guitar, songwriting and production, but credited his bass playing to Dale Nixon - this was meant to hide the fact that they went into the studio without a full-time bassist. Unrelated punk bands subsequently started crediting Dale Nixon on their albums as a ShoutOut, usually because they couldn't list the real name of a performer for contractual reasons - for instance {{Music/Melvins}}' ''King Buzzo'' EP credits Dale Nixon on drums, which were actually performed by Music/DaveGrohl. Dale even "returned" to bass duties for ''What The...'', as per the liner notes.
73	* TakeThat:
74	** "You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!" was a blatant one against Keith Morris after he'd left the band - specifically this was because Keith's band Circle Jerks had released a version of Black Flag's "Don't Care" without crediting Greg Ginn for writing the music. Much later, Morris' project Off! recorded a TakeThat to Greg Ginn called "I've Got News For You", which included the lyric "You bet I got something against you too".
75	** When Ron Reyes was fired, he was credited as "Chavo Pederast" (which, in colloquial Spanish, means "Kid Pedophile") on ''Jealous Again'' and ''Everything Went Black''.
76	** ''Damaged'' was originally going to be distributed by Unicorn, a subsidiary of MCA records - Though the records were already pressed and packaged with the MCA logo, MCA president Al Bergamo [[MoralGuardians objected to its "anti-parent" content]] and MCA refused to distribute it. SST then distributed the album themselves, and covered up the MCA logo with a sticker reading "As a parent, I found it an anti-parent record", throwing his words back at him.
77	* TerribleArtist: Former frontman Ron Reyes is definitely this. Just look at the [[http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0196/9358/products/28d6aaf02157af2e7dac2e434ff2b3c9fb6611c0_1024x1024.jpeg?v=1448024859 artwork]] he drew for ''What The...''
78	* WouldntHitAGirl: From "Jealous Again":
79	-->"No I won't push you around\
80	Because if I do the cops would grab me for doin' it"

Context Music / BlackFlag