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| This cassette cannot swim, trust me. |
I never saw Black Flag.
My first introduction to Black Flag was the Wasted…
Again cassette I got from a dude named Pete Coit my sophomore year of
high school. But on a hot day during the summer of 1990, I jumped into a swimming
pool with the cassette in my pocket, thus ending my Black Flag collection in
one triumphant splash. Remarkably, the other cassette in my pocket, Dead Kennedys’
Give
Me Convenience or Give Me Death, survived and provided enjoyment for
many years to come, albeit without any text on the cassette shell or cover.
I never saw Black Flag.
In February, 1991, my friend Greg, his girlfriend at the
time, Jennifer, and I all gave each other stick and poke tattoos; I think Greg
got an anarchy symbol , but to show my new found devotion to hardcore, I got
the best approximation of the Black Flag “bars” we could pull off. We also pierced my nose, which, of course, after
noticing, caused my parents to ground me, in turn missing the last show at my
beloved Skyroom.
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| 26 years later and it's almost still visible. |
I never saw Black Flag.
By summer 1991, I was 17 and my parents loosened up the reins,
which allowed me to spend a lot of time shopping for records and going to
shows. I bought the cd for Damaged that came with Jealous
Again as the bonus tracks. I listened to that cd a lot that summer and
even had liberty spikes for a short time. I loved the line “I know the world's
got problems/ I've got problems of my own/ not the kind that can't be solved with
an atom bomb.” My teenage mind thrived on nihilistic ideas, delving into
painful punk, death metal and hardcore; all tucked safe and sound in the suburbs
and wrapped up, by stark contrast, in straight edge.
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| pure devastation |
I never saw Black Flag.
In the 90’s I saw Henry Rollins do some spoken word, which was
pretty funny and caught a fairly OK Rollins Band gig. I like Rollins Band, but
they’re more like a smart bomb, precise, whereas Black Flag is continual carpet
bombing—Both can be, at their best, effective, but in different ways and appeal
to different sides of the brain.
I never saw Black Flag.
In June of 2003, I went to Cleveland with my ex-wife and a
couple friends to see Rollins Band perform an entire set of Black Flag songs
(the “Rise Above” tour to benefit the WM3).
While we were waiting for the show to start, standing in the crowd, I
got full on hip checked from behind. Henry Rollins, apparently prepping for his
agitated stage presence, was just shoving folks out of the way to make his way
back stage. I was one of the unfortunate few in his path. It was like being
bullied in high school, but by the guy who literally, just by singing words,
helped me deal with those bullies. I guess you really should never meet your heroes.
Still, all was forgiven once the set started (Keith Morris) Nervous Breakdown/
I've had it/ Depression/ Wasted/ No Values/ Fix Me/ Revenge/ Gimme Gimme Gimme.
(Henry Rollins) Rise Above/ Thirsty and Miserable/ Clocked In/ Revenge/
Damaged/ Modern Man/ I've Heard It Before/ American Waste/ Jealous Again/ I
Don't Care/ TV Party/ Can't Decide/ Police Story/ Six Pack/ What I See/ No
More/ Black Coffee/ Slip It In/ My War. It was good with Morris singing but
with good old Hank, it was incredible. We barely noticed that it wasn’t REALLY
Black Flag.
I never saw Black Flag.
In 2013, Greg Ginn came back out of the woodwork and pieced
together a new line up of Black Flag, with “Chavo” back on vocals.
Reports from all fronts were pretty varied, but any question if the new line up
was any good were silenced with the release of What The… it wasn’t good,
at all, from the amateur hour cover art to the lack luster songs,22 songs; 22 odes to failure, and 22
reasons to NOT go see Black Flag.
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| Shoot me if I ever think something like this is acceptable. |
I never saw Black Flag.
Also in 2013, in a bizarre case of tit-for-tat synchronicity,
and as an alternate to the tepid, flaccid Black Flag reunion, former members announced
they would be touring under the name Flag. I went to one of their shows and thought it
was pretty good, but the “Rise Above” tour was heads and shoulders better. Revenge/
Fix Me/ Police Story/ Don't Care/ Depression/ I've Had It/ No Values/ My War/ No
More/ Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie/ White Minority/ Jealous Again/ Wasted/ Clocked In/ Nervous
Breakdown/ American Waste/ Spray Paint/ Thirsty and Miserable/ Padded Cell/ Six
Pack/ Rise Above/ Louie Louie/ I love You/ Damaged. Weird to have Morris singing My War and I Love
You, but, you know, not THAT WEIRD.
I never saw Black Flag.
Now it’s 2017 and a lot of bands play reunions at festivals
or slug it out again on the road for a payday. I am grateful that I get to,
when the mood strikes me, visit such events and see “the guys” or “some of the
guys” play “the songs.” But it’s not the same, and everybody knows it. You’re
not the same person in your forties or fifties that you were in your teens,
twenties or thirties and you shouldn’t be. Seeing reunion gigs, is like
visiting an ancient ruin on vacation; you can appreciate the beauty of what it
is, and what it once was, but the purpose, the intent, and context has forever
changed. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it, or that it’s wrong, just
recognize it for what it is: musical tourism, a way to visit history without
all the mud and guts.
I never saw Black Flag, and that’s ok.
