When Black Flag was happening , I WAS IN THAT ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE MINORITY THAT DID'NT LIKE "DAMAGED" (I'VE NEVER HEARD OF "LOUIE LOUIE"only being available on import copies. Seems it was on every copy Ii ever heard....Maybe it was pulled late r, for publishing reasons ?). Could'nt get with Henry , I just don't have that much testosterone. I liked "Everything Went Black" (But did'nt feel a need to buy it.) "Jealous Again " (Which I did buy , for a dollar.) , and "TV Party " (Both Versions.), but , overall , I did'nt get it. I had'nt started liking 70's Hard Rock again , with few exceptions , and The Flag were turning into The Sabs......Yes ,I like The Sabs , now , but later Flag and the Speed Metal craze (Even tho' I liked some of those bands in the 80's. I still liked the HC era intensity , but , it was good to hear it done by bands that could actually play. Some could even SING. ), it seemed a matter of eating your cake and having it , too. i SAW ROLLINS ON HIS FIRST "SPOKEN WORD" TOUR(BACK WHEN THEY CALLED IT "POETRY"). Some of his readings I liked , some I found really unnecessary......But , I met him at a 7-11 (Did'nt everyone?) . Atfirst , he gave me that dagger - stare. Then , when he realized I knew who he was , he was considerably cooler. Maybe also because I did'nt bust his balls about the 12 Pack he was toting , and I don't mean his stomach......IN LATER YEARS , HE COPPED TO DRINKING AND DOING DRUGS IN THE PAST (NOT COPPING IS A COP OUT.).....
Rollins , to me , is like Robert Plant . Great taste in music , but , I hear NONE of those influences in their own music , and I have no need to buy records by either , and even THAT is nothing personal.
Mike said:
Rockin Rod Strychnine said:A friend of mine had Damaged on a lable called Roadracer and it tacked on Louie Louie on the end but I thought a different singer was on that.
I don't have that import version of Damaged, but I'd assume that'd be the version from the Louie Louie 7" that Dez Cadena sang on. He was my fave Flag singer, perhaps as he was the first one I had seen them with. Others have told me they prefer Keith Morris and Ron Reyes over Dez. Rollins was not a bad fit with the band the first year or so. I saw their first LA area gig with him after they came back from the tour in which they picked him up. I speculate that he had a desire to prove himself to the home town crowd. But once he became established in Flag it seemed to become the Henry Rollins Show as opposed to a Black Flag show. They kind of evolved into a "jam" band of sorts from that point to the end and lost that manic energy that had attracted such a rabid following.
So I would say everything up to and including Damaged as well as the "Everything Went Black" double LP of demos is what I'd consider essential Black Flag material.