The First Four Years

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The First Four Years album cover
Album Information
EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 16   Total Length: 24:40

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The First Four Songs

benkissinger

Get the first four tracks from this, and more urgently, "Depression" from "Damaged." If you want more, consider "I've Got to Run" from "T.V. Party" - it's like watching someone you know driving an ATV around in the living room of someone you don't know. Think of your brain as a single muscle, and flex it to the churning riff of "Fix Me." Give Greg Ginn his due - he's great - and then enjoy how overrated Black Flag was, and still is. There was so much to this band, but so much of it wasn't musical, and they made more good music than they made good songs. There are also plenty of other underrated bands to overrate.

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Essential, Bona Fide

bobbly

We will never again agree on anything like we agreed on pre-Henry Black Flag.

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The Greatest album of All Time!!!

bikepower1234

Black flag is not my favorite band, though I do love them. After great contemplation, I've come to the conclusion this is the greatest album of all time. That is a little misleading since this is really a compilation of other records (singles and comp tracks up to damaged). Great stuff. No collection is complete without it. Damage is also very good, but there are some of the same songs (different versions with rollins singing).

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If you don't have this you need it!

OlDtImEpUnK

If you don't like these songs, then you don't like hardcore. It's that simple. I first got a tape of these songs (more or less, this is a complilation) in the early '80s. It rocked then, and it still rocks. They set so many hardcore/punk traditions - especially the cover of Louie Louie.

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the best there was

Ju

I got this record in 1986, I was 11 years old. It was one of my first punk records, well tape that is. Since thats pretty much what you bought in 86, tapes. It changed my life for ever and I still relate to this the same way I did back in 86, plus it makes me feel like a little skate punk again, I love it :)

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Yes...oh yes...

Pikg

As the reviewer says... "it's the best collection of pre-Henry Rollins-era Black Flag." And, excellent as it is... and it certainly is... when Mr. Rollins joins up, and the band unleashes "My War" and "Slip It In" ... well... for a short time in history Black Flag was the greatest band on planet Earth. These tracks probably made all of that possible since, as the story goes, Mr. Rollins desparately wanted to be lead singer of Black Flag. As it turned out it was his destiny... his birth right.

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"as heard on the o.c.!"

fdr daddy o

My TV guilty pleasure, FOX's The O.C., just had young emo-boy Seth Cohen smoking a fatty while "Wasted" played in the background (2.02.06's episode). Hopefully Greg & co are able to get some nice lettuce from the needle-drop!

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One CD that got me started with Black Flag

JoeyJoeJoJrShabadoe

Back in da day, I guest I'm annoying my friends

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They Say All Music Guide

The best collection of pre-Henry Rollins-era Black Flag. Much of The First Four Years finds the band in developmental mode, but the sonic anarchy and political vituperation met head-on more than once, creating a ferociously good time. Not simply for completists, this is an important recording of the then-burgeoning L.A. hardcore scene. – John Dougan