''TV Party'' is the fourth EP by American band Black Flag, released in 1982. It was self-produced with Ed Barton and originally released by

SST Records SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was first founded in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Transmitters, a small business through which he sold elec ...

on the

7" vinyl In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

format. The title track is a satire of boredom,

drinking Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely among ...

and America's obsession with television; the original version was also released on the band's 1981 debut album, ''Damaged''.

Production

The song "TV Party" was recorded three times. To promote the ''Damaged'' album in the United States, Unicorn Records had Black Flag enter the studio and re-record the song for the EP in March 1982, with their then-new drummer Emil Johnson.Chick, 2011. p.255 The EP version features a slower tempo and hand claps. The band again recorded the song at the request of Alex Cox, for his 1984 cult classic film '' Repo Man'' and the accompanying

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

. Each version of the song lyrically references different TV shows from the era in which each recording was made.

Style

"TV Party" is driven by

Chuck Dukowski Gary Arthur McDaniel (born February 1, 1954), better known by his stage name Chuck Dukowski, is an American punk rock musician. He is most well-known for being the bass player and an occasional songwriter for Black Flag. Career Early years ...

's bass line and features

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, comedian, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1 ...

on lead vocals and bellowed backing vocals from band members. The song is light in comparison to other songs from the band's ''Damaged'' era. Black Flag guitarist

Greg Ginn Gregory Regis Ginn ( , born June 8, 1954) is an American musician 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 from 1976 to ...

has stated that after "Rollins joined the band, we couldn't do songs with a sense of humor anymore; he got into the serious way-out poet thing."Chick, 2011. p.257 Rollins described the song as

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

, stating "it's about people who stay inside their house and live in a TV kinda world. And this has a very direct effect on us." Ginn echoed Rollins's interpretation, stating "It's basically a satire of people watching TV and partying at home, which is a sickness which is very prevalent in LA."Chick, 2011. p.256

Glen E. Friedman Glen Ellis Friedman (born March 3, 1962) is an American photographer and artist. He became known for his activities within rebellious skateboarding and music cultures. Photographing artists Fugazi, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Minor ...

referred to the song as "a parody of certain type of people". Comparing the song to the

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

' "

(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!) "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" (shortened to "Fight for Your Right" on album releases) is a song by American hip hop/rap rock group Beastie Boys, released as the fourth single from their debut album '' Licensed to Ill'' (1986). O ...

", he stated "They were both parodies that people took too seriously, and even the bands were found taking themselves too seriously after the fact."

Release

The ''TV Party'' EP was released in July 1982. To promote the EP, a music video of "TV Party" was shot featuring the members of Black Flag and their friends drinking beer and calling out their favorite television shows in front of a television set. Among the members is photographer (and the video's director)

Target Video Target Video (aka TargetVideo77) is a San Francisco-based studio, founded by artist Joe Rees, collaborating with Jackie Sharp, Jill Hoffman, Sam Edwards and others. The studio archived early art performance, punk and hardcore bands on video and fil ...

also released a home video titled ''TV Party'', in 1983, containing live footage of the group from 1980 and 1982 as well as the video of the title track. There have been several variations on the release of the ''TV Party'' EP. They include one released by

, one as a split between SST and Unicorn Records, and another simply by Unicorn.Popoff, 2010. p.136 All three versions have the same track listing. Several different slip covers were also issued. A new version of the song "TV Party" later appeared on the soundtrack to the film '' Repo Man'' (1984). In the film, Emilio Estevez can be heard singing "TV Party". The song also appears on other compilation albums.

Reception

The title song of the EP received praise from music critics. Online music database

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave a positive review of the song, describing it as "at once cutting and funny, an attack on television-inspired stasis that laughs both at and with its subjects" and "As a dumb anthem, it even beats out the band's cover of "

Louie Louie "Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a Standard (music), stand ...

". ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' referred to the song as the "greatest ode to the slacker sloth". In 1982, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' listed the song "TV Party" as "Recommended" in their "Top Singles" review section. The website

would later give the EP a retrospective rating of two and a half stars out of five, stating that "The other tracks are good, but this is a release for collectors or serious fans only."

Track listing

Personnel

Black Flag *

– lead vocals *

– lead guitar, composer *

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, initi ...

– rhythm guitar, vocals *

– bass * Emil Johnson – drums (side 1) * Bill Stevenson – drums (side 2) Production and design * Ed Barton – producer * Black Flag – producer * Jeff Stebbins – engineer *

– photography

Charts

Notes

* * * {{Authority control 1982 albums Black Flag (band) EPs SST Records EPs