Black Flag – Live Jockey Club, NewPort, KY 1984

With a very agressive Henry. Early in 1981, Black Flag signed a record contract with Unicorn Records, a subsidiary of MCA. The band delivered their first full-length album, Damaged, to Unicorn; the label refused to release the record, citing the content of the music as too dangerous and vulgar. Undaunted, Ginn released the album on his own SST Records. Upon its release, the album received considerable critical acclaim. Soon after it appeared on the shelves, Unicorn sued Black Flag and SST over the release of Damaged. For the next two years, the band was prevented from using the name Black Flag or their logo on any records. During that time, the group continued to tour, and surreptitiously released Everything Went Black, a double-album retrospective that contained no mention of the band, although it listed the names of the members on the front cover. The dispute ended in 1983, when Unicorn went bankrupt and the rights to the Black Flag name and logo reverted back to the band (by this time, Cadena had left to form his own group). As if to make up for lost time, Black Flag became impossibly prolific when it returned to recording in 1984. A new version of the group — featuring Ginn on guitar and bass (the latter was credited to the pseudonym Dale Nixon), Rollins, and drummer Bill Stevenson — recorded the albums My War and Family Man. After those two albums were recorded, the group added bassist Kira Roessler and cut Slip It In, its third official album of 1984. In addition to …