Black Flag

Black Flag came roaring out of Hermosa Beach, California, in 1976, started as Panic by guitarist Greg Ginn and singer Keith Morris, and they are widely counted among the very first hardcore punk bands. Ginn wrote most of the words and ran the whole operation through his own label, SST Records, and the band's relentless touring across the States and Canada turned do-it-yourself from a slogan into a working model for the underground.

The singers came and went: Morris, then Ron Reyes, then Dez Cadena, and finally Henry Rollins, who took the mic in 1981 and dragged the band's themes of isolation, neurosis, poverty and paranoia even deeper. Chuck Dukowski held down the bass until 1984, with drummers ROBO, Chuck Biscuits and Bill Stevenson and bassist Kira Roessler all putting in time. Damaged (1981) is the one, a furious slab that carries "Rise Above", "Six Pack" and "TV Party". The Ramones-simple bash of the early records gave way to something stranger, as Ginn's atonal, free-jazz-bent soloing and slower, heavier, metal-leaning songs pushed the band toward what would become post-hardcore.

They broke up in 1986, came back in 2003 and again in 2013, which produced a new studio album, What The..., their first in almost three decades.

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