Black Flag Damaged CD

Personnel: Henry Rollins (vocals); Dez Cadena (guitar, background vocals); Greg Ginn (guitar); Charles Dukowski (bass); Robo (drums).
Personnel: Dez Cadena (vocals, guitar); Henry Rollins (vocals); Greg Ginn (guitar); Robo (drums).
Photographer: Ed Colver.
Perhaps the best album to emerge from the quagmire that was early-'80s California hardcore punk, the visceral, intensely physical presence of Damaged has yet to be equaled, although many bands have tried. Although Black Flag had been recording for three years prior to this release, the fact that Henry Rollins was now their lead singer made all the difference. His furious bellow and barely contained ferocity was the missing piece the band needed to become great. Also, guitarist/mastermind Greg Ginn wrote a slew of great songs for this record that, while suffused with the usual punk conceits (alienation, boredom, disenfranchisement), were capable of making one laugh out loud, especially the protoslacker satire "TV Party." Extremely controversial when it was released, Damaged endured the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism (some reacted as though this record alone would cause the fall of America's youth) to become and remain an important document of its time. ~ John Dougan
Perhaps the quintessential California punk band, and one of the founding fathers of hardcore, Black Flag is to America what the Sex Pistols are to the U.K. DAMAGED is the band's most loved album, featuring some of its best-known songs. Though the group's speedy, full-frontal assault laid the groundwork for the faster-and-louder generation of punks to come, the guitar interplay of Greg Ginn and Dez Cadena is still melodic, and often even hook-filled.
The songs, delivered in an impassioned rant by a young Henry Rollins, are classic Cal-punk, mocking American complacency ("Six Pack," "TV Party") with a winning combination of anger and satire, as well as an ingratiating sense of structure. Also included on the disc is the early, pre-Rollins EP JEALOUS AGAIN, on which the band similarly rages against the machine, though the attack is a bit less refined. DAMAGED is an American punk classic, and the cornerstone of any punk collection.Spin (5/01, p.109) - Ranked #18 in Spin's "50 Most Essential Punk Records" - "...Orange County angst at its most devastating..."
Q (5/02 SE, p.134) - Included in Q's "100 Best Punk Albums".
Q (1/96, p.146) - 3 Stars - Good - "...[DAMAGED] catches them at the point where Exploited-style ramalams like `TV Party' were giving way for tricksier, more obtuse material..."
Mojo (Publisher) (3/03, p.76) - Ranked #18 in Mojo's "Top 50 Punk Albums" - "...This is the album that screams and shimmers with fury, nihilism, claustrophobia and excess..."
Mojo (Publisher) (3/01, p.114) - "...Features the debut of new vocalist Henry Rollins....For 45 minutes he screams until his innards dilate, then screams some more..."