BLACK FLAG — Nervous Breakdown

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BLACK FLAG - Nervous Breakdown cover
3.94 | 3 ratings | 2 reviews
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EP · 1979

Filed under Hardcore Punk
By BLACK FLAG

Tracklist


A1. Nervous Breakdown (02:07)
B1. Fix Me (00:55)
B2. I've Had It (01:20)
B3. Wasted (00:51)

Total Time 05:13

Line-up/Musicians


- Keith Morris / vocals
- Greg Ginn / guitar
- Gary McDaniel / bass guitar
- Brian Migdol / drums

About this release

7" 45 RPM black vinyl EP released February 1979 on SST Records (SST 001). Reissued 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1984.

CD and cassette released 1998 on SST Records (SST 001). CD reissued 2006.

7" 45 RPM translucent yellow vinyl EP released 1989 on SST Records (SST 001).

7" 45 RPM translucent red vinyl EP released 1990 on SST Records (SST 001).

10" 45 RPM vinyl EP released 1991 and 1994 on SST Records (SST 916):

- black vinyl
- 1000 copies on translucent blue vinyl

7" 45 RPM black vinyl EP released 1992 on SST Records (SST 001). Reissued 2007, 2010 and 2016.

7" 45 RPM translucent blue vinyl EP released 2011 on SST Records (SST 001).

Thanks to Unitron for the addition and Bosh66 for the updates

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BLACK FLAG NERVOUS BREAKDOWN reviews

Specialists/collaborators reviews

siLLy puPPy
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. 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. 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. This stuff made the Ramones look like school boys.

While Chuck Dukowski would play bass on the first two EPs, this was the only release that featured Keith Morris on vocals and Brian Migdol on drums. While Morris was certainly no match for Henry Rollins perfect demeanor and vocal angst, he did more than an adequate job capturing the spirit of punk. Hard to believe but this short specimen of music still is available as a CD single but can more easily be found on the more comprehensive compilation “The First Four Years” which covers all of the loose fodder of these early years. Perhaps not the longest introduction into the newly birthed hardcore punk scene but successful in shouting a big fuck you to the world at large.
Warthur
Hardcore punk - where if it's the length of an EP you can call it an album, and if it's the length of a single you can call it an EP. So much of hardcore was shaped by the good ol' SST label, and whilst detractors of the Rollins era may wish hardcore had different founding fathers, the Black Flag showcased on Nervous Breakdown is a better foundation for the genre than we might otherwise have hoped for. Note how the EP offers a comparatively conventional song on side A (at least in terms of length) before going for a brace of three hardcore micro-songs on side B.

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