''The Complete 1982 Demos'' is an unreleased set of demo tracks intended for a follow-up album to Black Flag's debut album '' Damaged'' (1981). The tracks recorded show the band moving in a riff-driven, heavy metal-inflected direction, away from the pure

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...

of the first album. Due to legal issues, the album was never recorded, though most of the tracks were re-recorded for later albums. Though never officially released, the recordings have been widely bootlegged. A version of the album called "The Complete 1982 Demos Plus More!" exists, which includes a separate bootleg named "1984 Radio Tokyo Demos". These were recorded live on radio in 1984, as the name would suggest. The original Tokyo bootleg consisted of 5 songs, along with an interview, an intro, and an outro, bringing the total to 8 songs. However, only "I Love You", "My War", "The Swinging Man" and the interview were included on the re-release of the 1982 demos.

History

Following their debut album '' Damaged'' (1981), Black Flag underwent several personnel shifts and debuted a number of songs in their live shows. In contrast to the straightforward hardcore punk of the debut, the new songs tended toward being slower in tempo with pronounced

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

elements and included funk and jazz touches. The band found themselves locked in a protracted legal battle with Unicorn Records, a subsidiary of

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

, who had distributed ''Damaged''. A legal injunction prevented Black Flag from recording under their name, severely cutting into the band members' income. Drummer Chuck Biscuits, tired of the group's legal battles, left in the winter of 1982 amid personal clashes and creative disagreements. He was followed by guitarist Dez Cadena, who left in 1983 to form the band DC3. The recordings have never been officially released, but have been widely bootlegged. Patrick Kennedy of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

described this edition of Black Flag as "possibly their strongest lineup" and the demos as "the most visceral and brutal set of Black Flag recordings available".

Recording

The band recorded demos of ten songs at the studio Total Access. Recording and mixing took one night.

Track listing

Personnel

The lineup for the recordings never played together on an official album. *

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Roll ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Greg Ginn Gregory Regis Ginn (born June 8, 1954) is an American guitarist, bassist, singer and songwriter, best known for being the leader, primary songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

, rhythm guitar on "What Can You Believe?" and "Yes, I Know", 1st guitar solo on "Slip It In" *

Dez Cadena Dez Cadena (born June 2, 1961) is an American punk rock singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1980 to 1983. Cadena played guitar with Misfits from 2001 to 2015, init ...

– rhythm guitar, lead guitar on "What Can You Believe?" and "Yes, I Know", 2nd guitar solo on "Slip It In" * Chuck Dukowski – bass *

Chuck Biscuits Chuck Biscuits (born Charles Montgomery on April 17, 1965) is a Canadian drummer best known for his work in several punk rock bands. Biscuits was a member of D.O.A. from 1978 to 1982, playing on the band's first two albums before briefly join ...

– drums

References

Works cited

* Black Flag (band) albums 1982 albums Demo albums {{1980s-rock-album-stub