Hermosa Beach, CA · hardcore punk · punk

Black Flag

1 festival played

The band that effectively invented American hardcore's touring model — Greg Ginn's atonal guitar still sounds like nothing else from 1981.

Black Flag formed in Hermosa Beach, California, in 1976 around guitarist and songwriter Greg Ginn, who also ran the SST label that released most of their records. The band went through several vocalists, among them Keith Morris, Chavo Pederast, Dez Cadena and, from 1981, Henry Rollins. Raymond Pettibon's four-bar logo and artwork became as recognisable as the music.

Their early singles and the album Damaged set much of the template for American hardcore, while later records slowed the tempos and pushed into longer, more dissonant territory built on Ginn's angular soloing. Their relentless touring of small venues across the United States established a network that later independent bands relied on.

hardcore punkpunk