NERVOUS BREAKDOWN was the first of these EPs and may seem insignificant with a mere four tracks amounting to 5 minutes and 13 seconds of playing time but it’s this very short yet explosive slab of raw primeval outrage in sound that qualifies as the very first example of hardcore punk upping the levels of intensity with more caustic distortion, faster tempos and more erratic unpredictabilities.

The band started out as Panic in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, CA and adopted the simplistic punk rock constructs of the Ramones in which they added more atonal dissonance, bizarre tempo shifts and a much more exaggerated hardcore attitude which same say qualifies BLACK FLAG as the very first hardcore punk band to emerge after punk’s explosive assault on the world however there is some who claim Sweden’s The Rude Boys to have emerged first with their single “Stranglers (If It's Quiet Why Don't You Play) / Punk Will Never Die!” While the band would firmly cement their classic sound once lead singer Henry Rollins joined in time for the debut full-length “Damaged,” BLACK FLAG released three EPs with completely different with only Ginn as the common denominator. BLACK FLAG was and always has been guitarist Greg Ginn’s baby in that he developed the concepts and has remained the primary songwriter and head honcho through the band’s many incarnations and stylistic shifts.

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