The Black Flag/Unicorn/MCA injunction is one of my favorite stories about the music business. Flag signs a deal with Unicorn Records to co-release "Damaged", gaining Black Flag access to better distribution. Al Bergamo at MCA, Unicorn's parent company, hears (about) "Damaged", decides it's "anti-parent", and blocks it from release. SST restickers the 25,000 LP run on Unicorn. Unicorn files suit against Black Flag for breach of contract, leading to contempt of court charges against Greg Ginn and Chuck Dukowski and a three year embargo against any releases under the Black Flag name.
So it came to be that it took three years, and two lineups, until the Flag would fly again. Robo left his drum stool shortly after recording "Damaged", and in his place would sit Chuck Biscuits, formerly of D.O.A. While nothing official was ever released from this five-piece, they did record a number of demos, collected here on this bootleg CD-R. We get a mix of tracks from "My War" and "Slip It In", featuring Rollins on vocals, Ginn and Cadena on guitars, Dukowski on bass, and Biscuits on drums. I really prefer the '82 quintet. I think Bill Stevenson's drumming continues to get better over time, but Biscuits was at the top of his game on these demos. Hank still hasn't dove full-blown into LSD poet, and Dez on second guitar allows Greg Ginn to go wild, while still retaining an underpinning on the songs. It's also the Dukowski's last recordings with the band before the Duke would move onto SWA. In short, it's a leaner, meaner version of a pair of classic hardcore/grunge records that wouldn't come out for another two years.
And, because I'm a giver, I've left on the 1984 Radio Tokyo sessions that typically appear on CD versions of the 1982 demos. It's three songs from "My War" and an interview, featuring bearded Henry Rollins, stoned Greg Ginn, Kira Roessler on bass and Bill on drums. It's a cool tack on, considering Kira didn't otherwise record any of the "My War" cuts, and I'm always a fan of a "live in the studio" session.
5 comments:
When Damaged came out a set of us who had decided punk was dead were destroyed.
No criticism implied, but I wonder why this is one of your favorite music biz stories? The lawsuit left Black Flag dead in the water in terms of their recording career, and who knows what it cost them. If they could have put that time and money into making records, who knows what they might have done to build on the momentum of Damaged, especially with two guitarists and two Chucks? My War was a game changer in 84 -- what impact would it have made in 83?
@jonder: it was not the best choice of words. I love the part where Flag signs a backdoor deal to get 25K of "Damaged" pressed; I hate that it lost us three years of their prime.
Ah, now I get it! SST could not have pressed 25K albums without the Unicorn deal, and Damaged would not have turned so many kids against their parents.
That version of "Can't Decide" is epic. Thx!
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