Damaged is the debut studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released by SST Records in November 1981.
The album was largely ignored by critics and the public at the time of its release, but has since been recognized as a classic and one of the most influential punk rock records ever made, appearing on a number of "best of" lists by fans and critics alike. The album was ranked number 340 on Rolling Stones 2012 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, though moving down to number 487 in the 2020 revision. Pitchfork also ranked it number 25 on its list of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s.
Background
Black Flag had made at least two cancelled attempts to record a full-length album since the release of its first extended play Nervous Breakdown, with singers Keith Morris, Ron Reyes, and Dez Cadena; some of the Reyes sessions became the Jealous Again EP, while selections from two of many Cadena sessions became the Six Pack EP and the "Louie Louie"/"Damaged I" single; other session outtakes later comprised the Everything Went Black double album. At the time of the recording, Cadena had moved to rhythm guitar (a position he had initially intended to take when Reyes was still in the band) Unlike Reyes, who had never sung in a studio before
The band recorded their backing tracks without Rollins, who overdubbed vocals with band members Greg Ginn (guitar) and Chuck Dukowski (bass) coaching him afterward. The photograph has been described as "iconic" in the pages of Artforum.
Business disputes with Unicorn
Black Flag's distribution deal with Unicorn—which was associated with MCA Records—resulted in an initial pressing of 25,000 copies. In September 1981, MCA refused to distribute the album after the label's president, Al Bergamo, objected to its lyrical content. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Bergamo stated: "I'm not the kind of guy who believes in burning books, but this record bothered me. As a parent with two children, I found it an anti-parent record, past the point of good taste. I listened to it all last weekend and it just didn't seem to have any redeeming social value." Subsequently, the members of Black Flag personally visited the pressing plant and apply a sticker over the MCA logo which read, "As a parent ... I found it an anti-parent record"—thus essentially throwing Bergamo's words back in his face.
Longtime SST employee Joe Carducci has reported that the "anti-parent" statement was a red herring. In fact, according to Carducci, Unicorn Records was so poorly managed and so deeply in debt that MCA lost money in distributing Damaged, regardless of its content, and was eager to sever its relationship with Unicorn by any possible pretext.
SST and Unicorn ended up distributing Damaged through an independent distributor;
The legal dispute between Black Flag and Unicorn tied the band up for almost two years, during which time they released Everything Went Black, a double album of pre-Rollins outtakes, under the names of the individual musicians and vocalists on the record. Unicorn ended up filing even more legal briefs, claiming that Black Flag had violated a court injunction against releasing new records. Ginn and Dukowski ended up doing several days in Los Angeles County Jail for contempt of court, but the case fizzled out soon afterward when Unicorn went out of business, freeing Black Flag of any further obligation to the label.
According to Black Flag's engineer and live sound man Spot, a nearly complete version of Damaged was recorded at Golden Age Studios with Dez Cadena doing vocal duties. This session is where the tracks for the Six Pack EP came from. No official version of the remainder of this recording session has ever been released, although unlicensed copies have circulated in tape trading circles for years. A comparison of the unreleased Dez Cadena sessions with the released LP suggests that the vocal cadence and presentation of the Cadena sessions were used as a reference by the band prior to recording the final album.
An alternate version of "Depression" was recorded to be the b-side of the "Rise Above" single.
| rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide
| rev2score = A−
| rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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| rev4 = The Great Rock Discography
| rev4score = 8/10
| rev5 = MusicHound Rock
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| rev6 = Music Story
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| rev7 = Pitchfork
| rev7score = 9.2/10
| rev8 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
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| rev10 = Spin Alternative Record Guide
| rev10score = 10/10
Reviewing for The Village Voice in January 1982, Robert Christgau was generally positive toward the album: "Although the B side drags more painfully than I bet was intended, this is powerful stuff. Greg Ginn is the greatest noise guitarist since Johnny Thunders, new vocalist Henry Rollins can snarl along any tortured contour they serve up, and 'Rise Above,' 'Six Pack,' and the uproarious 'TV Party' prove they can write songs as well as gnash fragments. Inspirational Verse: 'I wanna live/I wish I was dead.'"
While the album did not gain much attention from the general press on its original release, the album retrospectively has been given critical acclaim and has been cited as one of the most important hardcore punk albums ever released. Rolling Stone in their retrospective review says that "Black Flag lived up to it, defining L.A. hardcore punk with violent guitar and the pissed-off scream of Henry Rollins, especially on "TV Party" and "Rise Above." Punks still listen to Damaged, and parents still hate it."
Over the years since the album's original release it has been recognized as a punk rock classic and one of the most influential punk rock records ever made by appearing on a number of "best of" lists by magazines and critics. The album was ranked number 340 on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Release variations
- A 1982 European release issued by Roadrunner Records' RoadRacer imprint substitutes the later single version of "T.V. Party" for the album version on side one, and adds the Dez Cadena-led single version of "Louie Louie" to the end of side two.
- The initial CD reissue of Damaged appended the Jealous Again EP. All subsequent versions contain the original album only.
Track listing
All tracks by Greg Ginn unless noted.
Personnel
Black Flag
- Henry Rollins – lead vocals
- Dez Cadena – guitar, backing vocals
- Greg Ginn – guitar
- Chuck Dukowski – bass
- Robo – drums
Production
- Spot – production, engineer
- Black Flag – production
- Francis Buckley – engineer, mixing
- Chuck Vogt – assistant engineer
- Ed Colver – cover photos