Damaged

Not for me

Made me want to go drink a brew!

Great album

Pretty solid album. Rise Above is a great track. Beyond that, never was huge on hardcore punk ir Black Flag. But still good album.

Really not my style. Low production quality and the guy almost spits his british words through the screen in my face

I listened to 🏴 on the way to work this morning at as loud of a volume as I could tolerate, which to be fair, was not very. It gave me the impression of a small man yelling at me from a distance. He seemed angry about a number of things. Listening caused me a measure of actual physical discomfort, which I believe would make Henry Rollins quite pleased. ** Because it was funnier than I expected (“TV Party”) and was only 35 minutes, but this was not at all for me (which I believe was the intention).

I think I get this album now. Its still not my favorite, but I appreciate the chaos brought by Rollins and whoever is playing lead guitar. The songs are dumb, which is kind of endearing, but its still not essential for me. Going to give it a 3, 7.3/10

I've never really understood the appeal of Black Flag. Henry Rollins is an interesting, crazy dude, but the music itself has never done much for me. This wasn't my first time hearing Damaged, but lately I've had some surprisingly revelatory experiences revisiting bands I previously disliked, like Drive-By Truckers, so I went into this hoping for a similar experience. I get that the shitty production, sloppy playing, stupid songs, and DIY aesthetic are kind of the point. Doesn’t make it any less shitty. I enjoy plenty of rough-around-the-edges music, from early Ramones to Nirvana's Bleach. There are even moments here where I genuinely like the guitar playing, particularly some of the power-chord rhythms. But then Rollins starts screaming about how he's stupid, confused, hates himself, hates his life, hates the world, wants to die, etc., and I just cringe. Maybe that kind of adolescent angst was groundbreaking in 1981, but listening to it now feels like being screamed at by a Spencer Gifts T-shirt. There are two positive things I can say about this record. First, "TV Party" is genuinely funny and fun, and probably the only song I'd ever voluntarily listen to again. Second, I can absolutely imagine Black Flag being a blast at some sweaty basement show, blackout drunk in the middle of a circle pit. But sitting in my office listening to this album through headphones? Fucking torturous. I understand the historical significance, and I can appreciate what they were going for, but this particular brand of hardcore punk has never resonated with me. I was hoping this album might change my mind. The last few albums I've approached with negative preconceptions have been revelatory. This one was reaffirming. 2.4/10

A red flag for Black Flag. Don't bother listening to this or your hearing may be damaged. Poor in the extreme.

Not my taste. 1.5/5

Adding a 5th bar to the flag.

One of the best ever and one of the easiest 5’s on the list.

ehhhh not my favorite

Excellent early punk album, not much to say. black flag always one of those bands I just never really felt the urge to really explore,but I loved it.

This would be awesome to see live - I feel like a studio album format doesn't do them justice. But I really liked the high intensity performances. Some of the songs are homogeneous but I like it. 3.5/5 -> 4/5

Not my jam- my pet peeve is vocalists who yell with no attempt at melody. But I’ll give it two stars instead of one, because a) I know that’s the genre, b) I do like the overall energy and c) they kept it brief.

I’m a simple man who enjoyed this.

Even though this album is only 35 minutes long, I did not make it all the way through. I got through half of “Damaged ll” and felt I did not want to hear more. I appreciate that this is an important record in punk music history, but punk is just not my taste.

6.8/10. The defining sound of American Hardcore Punk, it brings vocal intensity with very heavy music behind, and it's clear a lot of anger was put into it. It doesn't have much musical complexity, but rather sounds very raw, with specific creation to make it harder to listen to. I thought it was a solid punk album, but I don't think any of the songs will be making into my rotation, they're just too raw and heavy.

Bien.

I remember really disliking this particular Black Flag album when I first heard it way back; I thought the absurdity and overly angsty frat-bro delivery were completely antithetical to the cooler, rebellious image of hardcore in the early '80s (whether that's true or not is really up to the listener). I also found it to be a huge downgrade from their debut EP 'Nervous Breakdown,' which has one of the greatest hardcore songs out there. Buuuuuut I've sort of come around to it, especially after this listen. I've come to enjoy Henry Rollins' sort of restrained, yet still very in-your-face delivery and lyrics of songs like 'What I See' or 'Police Story'. And at its absolute worst, you get the self-loathing of a song like 'Depression ', which I maybe don't hate as much as I should; it comes off vulnerable more than anything. Songs like 'Six Pack' and especially 'TV Party' have always been absolute killers; hardcore songs that emphasized grooves and catchy melodies weren't exactly that common around this time. I mean if you want angry, manly, beat-shit-up hardcore, given that's your image of it, there is no record out there quite like this one. Not particularly as fast or noisy as you might expect out of hardcore, especially when compared to Minor Threat or Bad Brains, but still very much in that lane. Still not my favourite of theirs, and I think their future, more sludge-metal-adjacent stuff is far more compelling and mature, but I did enjoy this a fair bit and the bangers still stand the test of time.

Sinnloses, blödes Rumgebrülle. Nur noch Scheiße hier!

When I think of punk music Black Flag is among the top bands that come to mind. They check all the punk boxes with attitude and riffs. The fact that this came out in 1981 is a little mind bending. I can't imagine how this must have hit back then. It still has in impact all these years later.

Yuck - angry punk garbage

Jesus Christ, nope.

6/10

It's unreal that this is rated almost on par with Scritti Pollitti. Maybe I have to check to see if it's people downrating for Gregg Ginn being cancelled or doing something weird. That's kind of justified. Before all of that though was this album, I enjoy it simply for what it is. Even if it wasn't a significant cultural touchstone and massively influential to musicians that came after, I would still enjoy it.

Probably crazy for 81, not really for me

The type of album that makes you go "YEAH TEAR IT ALL DOWN" before logging off of your WFH job, ordering DoorDash, watching Netflix, and going to bed at 9 PM. Makes me feel like Daniel Desario in that one Freaks and Geeks episode where he tries to convince everyone that he's not a poser and gets kicked in the head

Какой же трэш

Not for me.

5/10

It's okay, I am just not into this type of music.

2 stars I like punk rock music. It’s actually one of my highest rated genres in this so far. And I love a lot of bands that have been inspired by Black Flag. But I never listened to this before. This is not my favorite. I like a little more pop in my punk, or at least some melody. There were moments of enjoyment, but a lot of generic nothingness. I won’t put this on again.

That's not music that's just bloody noise

Not bad, dated but then that's punk!

This was great, like tightly contained chaos. 4.5*

good lord no

It's alright. I completely agree that it's one of the most influential albums on the list, but the best I can do for listening is "it's alright".

Música de Trevor Phillips. Parece que entregaram um microfone pro doidinho do centro. Vibe de um grupo de bêbados tocando e fazendo barulheira. Não é necessariamente algo ruim, consigo certamente ver o apelo, mas não é minha pira particular. Menos subjetivamente, achei a produção do álbum bem fraca, nada se destaca na mixagem, não que há imensa proficiência técnica para se destacar, mas mesmo assim. Tudo nivelado é bem chato de escutar, e a barulheira desordenada fica cansativa rapidamente. 1/5

I can see what they’re going for and in small doses hardcore punk can be interesting. But a full album gets to be a bit too much and a little repetitive. Influential and important and definitely deserving to be on the list, but not my favorite listen

I'm aware of this album, and I have listened to it before, but maybe only once. I recognize a few of these tracks by title, but I'm also familiar enough with Black Flag's style to know what to expect. So I'm not really going into this blind. I am looking forward to listening to this again though. I'm quite enjoying this. I'll add this to my list of albums to listen to again. And I probably need to check out more Black Flag stuff too.

Influential - of course. Actually any good - underwhelming. Indecisive 3 stars it is then

My hearing is damaged from from this album, not in a good way! Did not have the stomach for it sorry.

A classic for a reason. These dudes obviously felt aggrieved by reality and turned to art to face that which shows a level of emotional maturity you may not expect from the sound and lyrics. Sometimes you gotta get dumb to get the bad feelings out.

Album que je ne connaissais pas jusqu'à aujourd'hui, l'un des premiers de punk hardcore, donc évidemment, ça rigole pas. Le chanteur braille avec classe, les guitares tabassent la gueule avec efficacité et en plus, c'est sorti en 1981 ! J'aurais pu facilement le dater beaucoup plus tard, tellement il a bien vieilli. Et après un mois consistant essentiellement en des albums complètement osef, un truc intéressant et véritablement culte, ça fait du bien !

What the fuck is this? mmm malisimo amigos, ni siquiera fuí capaz de terminarlo

The album started off well but quickly became repetitive. I quite like punk rock, but I find the best albums are those with distinct songs each with it's own tune, despite remaining in the same genre (take for example The Clash's London Calling album). At some point I felt like the album was noise without meaning.

80s hardcore. Shouty, fast punk rock.

3.5

Álbum rápido e visceral. Clássico do link hard core. Letshuoer D13.

The top review is all about reviewing albums where context is given appropriate weight. We can all agree. Context is very important when considering if an album is deserving of being included here. All the more embarrassing that a band as seminal and important as The Gathering is not included. But I digress. Context and importance are....important. But they don't mean the album is any good. This is fast, brash, loud, smart even...but it's too limited in scope, music, emotion to get much out of it.

This album is only 34 minutes and yet it felt like forever and couldn't wait for it to end. I'm usually a punk fan, but there is a certain point where it is just too harsh to enjoy; that's where this album falls. ⭐️⭐️

Too much.

Punk rock isn't really my thing.

I know this is unpopular to say, but I want Henry Rollins to STFU. We get it, the world sucks and we have to take control of ourselves, ourselves. That's not what this is all about though. This is about Damaged. And Damaged can play on a loop for all I care. This is a top 10 punk album of my youth. It was great when I was 14. It's great now! It holds up, and I don't say that strictly in the memory lane way. If you're just getting into punk, I think you can love this album just as much today as I did in 1988. But what do I know about new punk? I haven't paid much attention since Maxium Rocknroll went out of print. To the reviewer who saw Black Flag with Mike Vallely... you have to go see FLAG with Keith Morris (the original singer of Black Flag). It has original BF members and it doesn't sound like a cover band when you watch them.

Well, they have a few good songs, but I get tired of the sound pretty fast. Good thing it has the correct length for a punk album. Favourites: Rise Above, TV Party.

This was pretty rad. 4/5

Classic punk record, here full of so much energy and it's just very consistent in quality, borders the line between punk and metal

I'm pretty sure only grumpy record store owners actually listen to this shit.

1056 - "Here's your juice box and orange slice. Thanks for coming."

Jag har mycket respekt för punk, både som kultur och musik. Men efter Rise Above som jag ändå tycker om, blir det långtråkigt.

Very good. It is aggressive, angry, energeric, noisy, direct... I enjoyed several songs: "Rise Above", "Spray Paint" (this is great), "Six Pack", "Police Story", "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie", "Depression", "Room,13", or "Damaged II" (probably my favourite). I think this is between 4 and 5 stars. Probably up to 5 stars if taking into account its influence. In any case, at least for now, I'm awarding this 4 stars (may need to revisit though).

Sellaista rääkyä kuuluu tästä punkista, mutta melodinen sähkökitara auttaa kuuntelu kokemuksessa

This music is for people who have never had a soft-boiled egg. If this music was a food, it would be a child's mudpie. This does what it tries to but sucks to listen to. It's influential and high energy and is a jigsaw piece to what music has become so far.

I get it. I get why it's not for a lot of people. With art you check how close to the edges you can get. Energy and angst. Perfect track and album length for a punk album.

I knew from the first 30 seconds I wasn’t gonna like this. I thought it was weirdly charming in parts. But it’s a tough listen. I’ve read that it is hugely influential in understanding how punk and heavier music progressed into the modern era. But I’m just not familiar enough to let it override how little I enjoyed what’s on the tape. 2/5.

'Damaged' is tried-and-true album, but I hardly ever listen to it. Right now, after a tough day at work and my very first-ever Hyrox session, it hits the spot and feels quite refreshing. Star-wise, it's three point something, but I'm rounding up to four because Black Flag's significance to hardcore punk has been so major.

I had high hopes and was thoroughly disappointed.

There's some stuff to like. The lyrics are sometimes funny, otherwise they are basic. It's an influential album. The production is awful. Altogether, though, pretty good.

это энергично, но слишком уж однообразно не могу оценить влияние альбома на музыку, не знаю контекста и времени запомнилось ли мне что-то? нет буду ли переслушивать? намеренно - нет 2.5

I am not a punk fan. The things that make it what it is, messy guitars, aggressive lyrics, and layered loud playing just is not for me. That being said I think Henry Rollins is supremely talented, and I understand that Black Flag has had a significant impact on not just punk music but all music. I just could not wrap my head around this album thought. The lyrics were simples, the sound was annoying and not enjoyable for me.

Pazzi

Such angry young men!

I imagine this was influential but just wasn’t for me

Screaming

I don’t love this era of punk music and I hated the vocalist. Not much more to be said.

Been listening to punk and hardcore for 20+ years and this has always been a band I just cant get into. I respect its importance but just not my thing.

I don’t think this is gonna be for me based off of the first track repeating ‘rise above we’re gonna rise above’ for 2 minutes yeah this is not for me…I don’t like the guys voice and I don’t really care for the instrumentals of this one either. And on the last track it sounded like the singer was throwing up for like 30 seconds. Tbh this is the first album on this list where I really don’t see why it’s on this list at all. Maybe there’s some historical context I’m missing cause it was release in 1981 but regardless this was not something I enjoyed. 1.2/5

one of the best feelings is actually recognising samples and this record ringed a bell so strong right off the bat with the first song's drum pattern and intro: it's athoth a go go by machine girl yummm! it is so embeded in my mind i could only loop that intro endlessly, which i think also didn't help to enjoy the source material. it is very punk-y and loud, not usually my stuff, but sounds fun, the rough vocals actually do something (not a fan of the male choir tho). the songs blend into each other and it's hard to differentiate the instrumentals. maybe a big part of not enjoying this sort of music is how i can almost smell the sweat, blood and hecticness of a mosh pit - for some it's amazing, but it's a no return to me.

Yet again, I can hear how influential this is, but that doesn’t mean I necessarily enjoyed it

Day966 - it’s a green flag to me

Took my a couple of listens, and I'm still not familiar enough with the histories of hardcore on both sides of the Atlantic to know whether this is groundbreaking or merely a good, solid hardcore album. But I really like it: raw, fast, angry.

Raw, intense, amazing hardcore guitar work, Henry Rollins screamo vocals at their best. Some HC punk from the 80’s now feels dated, but this one holds up hella well.

Outside of the couple of hits on this album, it ends up sort of a homogeneous angry blob of LA punk. I don't know why, but Black Flag just never really did it for me.

Quick, fun songs with a raw, late punk feel. Not bad.

I wish 3.5 existed. I like this a million times more than the Sex Pistols. Some songs are amazing and others are bad. I understand the live for Black Flag now. Best Songs: Rise Above, Six Pack, TV Party Worst Songs: What I See, Padded Cell

Good punk. I get other people don't like it, but I love it.

I thought this band was metal originally but I guess its hardcore punk. It is said to be influential to the punk genre, something I've seen many times from the generator punk albums, and its overall fine. Its still better than the majority of punk albums on here. Cool cover.

I only listen to this in the dark.

I like punk, but this was kind of exhausting. It wasn't bad, but it just kept going and not adding anything knew. Great riffs, good solos, and yelling lyrics. Liked Songs: "Rise Above" , "TV Party" , "Thirsty And Miserable" , "Room 13" , "Damaged II" , "No More"

I listened to part of two songs. Too angry, not for me.

Not an enjoyable listening experience for me.

rough-ish punk. not bad

Classic!

didn’t care for this :/

Noted for being key in the development of Hardcore punk once Henry Rollins became the lead singer. He's quite a good contributor to programmes on punk and the rise of grunge and the visceral nature of the music is undoubted. That's where the positives run out - the music is diabolical and to my ears is not a fusion of the Ramones and Johnny Thunders atonal guitar solos. I hear a recording of a band sounding like a live Iggy Pop bootleg at best. I've heard it now and I hope I die after hearing some better albums.......

Ok for 1981 this sounds a lot more 90s and from reading global reviews thats why its important and included. Thats awesome. Glad its here. I still hated it.

Nah this started off as a 2 given i didn’t really like it but would understand that others would like the rage this album coveys, but then it went off in the deep end and I got sick of listening. I am damaged after listening to this but maybe that’s what they were going for.

Punk is down there with rap