Black Flag

About

Few bands left a mark on American punk the way Black Flag did. Formed in Hermosa Beach in 1976 by guitarist Greg Ginn and singer Keith Morris, they were among the architects of hardcore punk, blending the raw stripped down energy of the Ramones with atonal guitar work and, later, tempo shifts that pushed them well beyond the three chord formula most of their peers stuck to. Free jazz and contemporary classical elements crept into Ginn's playing, giving the band a restless, unpredictable edge. When Henry Rollins took over on vocals in 1981, the band's themes of social isolation, paranoia and anti authoritarianism hit even harder. Most of their output came out on Ginn's own SST Records, a label that became a touchstone for DIY punk culture. They built their following the old fashioned way, through relentless touring and a blizzard of Raymond Pettibon's stark, unsettling flyers plastered across every available surface. After breaking up in 1986 and reuniting a couple of times, they put out their first studio album in nearly thirty years, What The... in 2013. Ginn announced yet another reunion in 2019.