JiggyJay's Full Review: Everything Went Black by Black Flag (Punk)
In the midst of a ton of great punk bands like Antiscism, Naked Aggression, Bleeding Rectum, and Toxic Waste, Black Flag had a lot of competition or should I say teammates. For their time (the whole 80s decade), the band progressed from immature punk band to being an immature, heavy, old-school punk rock band and dominated the whole 80s with such great records as My War, Process of Weeding It Out, Family Man, In My Head, and Slip It In, but I consider the band’s finest hour to being the ones spent listening to Everything Went Black because the album is like a virtual boxing match with every song coming one after the next pounding against your speakers and all of the songs are great.
Black Flag is a band that gives a middle finger to everything everyone stands for and criticizes the ways that cop’s work, their thoughts on suicide, being wasted, and just plain being angry at the world. The lyrics that they create are some of the best I’ve heard and are up to par with Dead Kennedy’s and Minor Threat (Which were on top of the lyrical food chain back then). What I love best about Black Flag is that they are so rough and are fast as hell and sounds so unlike any other punk band out there. They have a fierce sounds that just forces it’s way savagely out of their music that stomps you with aggressive madness reminiscent of 7 Seconds and you can tell that a lot of today’s punk bands have worked on the formula that Black Flag set forth: Fuxk everyone.
Everything Went Black consists of different versions of already released tracks and rare versions of certain songs along with unreleased tracks, but something that people might not like is that a lot of the repeating tracks just with another singer at the helm, but they sound so different that it’s fine for me. There are three versions of the band’s almost worshiped song of Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie with the last one being at the very end of the CD that’s almost like a heavy metal ballad with the one in the middle being the punkest and totally hard, and the first one being slower, but still has the velocity of being a punk song. Also, there’s a cover song of Louie, Louie and it sounds much better than any version of the classic that you will be blown away.
Black Flag’s political lyrics return with a full blast of angry and humor, but they also have really different songs than normal like a song called Wasted that’s hilarious to listen to about the lead singer going on about how his whole life he’s wasted and then at the last minute (after saying “I was so wasted!”) saying, “I still am” and it’s just a perfect addition to the already incredible album. Also, you have a couple renditions of the fantastic classic Damaged with the emotions being turned on really high, and you have a couple versions of my favorite Black Flag song, Police Story, which remains one of the best songs about police officers along with Jealous Again, I Don’t Care, and Clocked In.
What got me into Black Flag (and punk rock in general) was my brother. While growing up, I heard everything he listened to (since I bunked outside of his room for a bit until we moved into a bigger house) from the beginning music he listened to like Paula Abdul, Nirvana, and Stone Temple Pilots to Minor Threat, Black Flag, and Dead Kennedy’s and is now centered on the Death Metal genre getting me into Macabre, Sepultura, and other metal bands you’ve heard me talk about. Back then, I didn’t really appreciate music, but now that I’m 14 years of age, I’ve come to better understand different types of music, but I just have a natural connection to punk rock because it fits my personality. Aside from Dead Kennedy’s, Black Flag is my favorite old school punk band. Even though they’re a really old band (1978-1986), they are still one of the best and will ever always rule the old school punk rock genre along with Minor Threat and those boys. Okay, enough of this hearty crap; let’s get to the songs, baby!
Favorite Songs
2. I Don’t Care
The drums of I Don’t Care remain my favorite of Everything Went Black because of the really hard cymbal crashes that can make you flinch. The fast, firm guitar strumming is another awesome part of the song and makes you really excited. Although the bass could have been better with a bigger emphasis on faster strumming, clearer riffs, and more solos, this short second track is really good and very negative—perfect for anyone.
9. Wasted
What I hate about this song is that it’s only 45 seconds long, but for being that long, it surprising has lot of depth and great lyrics. The lyrics, as you might tell, are about being wasted and are comedic and have the sickest melody and you will be singing just after hearing it once because it grows on you. The chorus is also very well done and catchy, but like I said earlier, the shortness of the track drags the goodness of it down so savor the seconds that you have with it.
10. Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie
Okay, this Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie is with a new singer and I think that it’s much better than the previous one because it’s much faster and the drums have more of a dramatic tempo change with faster base stomps and snare hits. The song is pretty straightforward where he’s telling you that nothing can stop his mouth from moving and that he wants some drugs. The lyrics are really good and that’s a plus in my book along with the amazing guitar and bass riffs. Overall, this is the best version of the song on the record (besides the heavy metal based one later in the record).
11. Depression
I can totally mimic the guy’s voice in Depression because he’s snarling and really snotty, which sounds so sick. If I knew the guy’s name, I would look him up and buy his records because he is incredible and his melodic, angry voice captures the interest of your ears in the first listen. As you can tell, the lyrics are about being depressed and they are good (some of the best Black Flag has ever come up with). The scratchy and murderous guitar lines are action-paced and pack a big pound next to the wrapping bass riffs. The drums could have been better with a more complex, non-repetitive beat, but I don’t have really a big problem with it, so it’s fine. Depression is just another great song among other great tracks.
12. Police Story
Holy, crap this song is great and it remains my all time favorite Black Flag song. “They hate us, we hate them” is just one of the many lines about the officers of the law and they are intelligent and make perfect sense (because I know what the band is talking about). One of the most powerful lines in the song is “I walk down the street, I flip them off, they hit me across the head with a billy club”. That’s the most heartwrenching line I’ve read in a while even if the guy’s singing it in his snotty, snub-nosed voice that sounds like the guy is a smarta$$ (my type of dude). The song is one of the best songs about cops ever win and how you can’t fight city hall and is lyrically one of the best on Everything Went Black.
18. Louie, Louie
Admit it, you love this song. Louie, Louie is one of the best classic songs ever created, but Black Flag’s version is much better. It’s savage and wild and so hardcore that it will knock your socks off. The guitar work is certainly the best of the record and being fiercely strummed so it sounds like the guy is ripping the strings off of his guitar. Although the song is ultra short, it’s really memorable and overall is one of Black Flag’s best songs because of the harshness in the singer’s voice, the rough edges, and the hardcore/punk theme. This is a great song and one you should definitely hear because of it’s wickedness.
Conclusion
I’ve owned this hand-me-down copy of Black Flag’s Everything Went Black for two years now and I’m still loving it as much as the day I bought it and this was my brother Jeff’s first punk rock album that he ever owned and he got it in…㥥, I believe so it’s like a family emblem and it certainly lasts a long time. I recently took a trip to Brownsville, Texas and I listened to this CD 3 times over without getting tired of it, and as you might think that 3 versions of the same song on one album might be a tad bit repetitive, it isn’t at all since all of the versions are much different from one another and hold a replay value of years. If you like old school punk rock like Reagan Youth, Dead Kennedy’s, or even The Clash and The Ramones, you should definitely give BlacK Flag a shot, because they are the ones who started the Hardcore/Punk genre and no one else can imitate them (although they try). Even if the band split up a while back with Henry Rollins (vocals) starting his own band (and selling out) and doing childrens movies and with one of the guys starting The Circle Jerks (which I’ll review one of their albums soon), and with another member of the band going solo and touring, I will always remember their finest record—and that’s Everything Went Black.
Jason
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Track Listings
1. Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie [5/5]
2. I Don’t Care [5/5]
3. White Minority [5/5]
4. No Values [5/5]
5. Revenge [5/5]
6. Depression [5/5]
7. Clocked In [5/5]
8. Police Story [5/5]
9. Wasted [5/5]
10. Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie [5/5]
11. Depression [5/5]
12. Police Story [5/5]
13. Clocked In [5/5]
14. My Rules [5/5]
15. Jealous Again [5/5]
16. Police Story [5/5]
17. Damaged I [5/5]
18. Louie, Louie [5/5]
19. No More [5/5]
20. Room 13 [5/5]
21. Depression [5/5]
22. Damaged II [5/5]
23. Padded Cell [5/5]
24. Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie [5/5]
25. Crass Commercialism [5/5]
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