Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown [EP]

Nervous Breakdown is a 7" EP, and the debut release, by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. Released in 1978, it was the inaugural release on SST Records and is often considered the first ever hardcore punk record.


While the EP is certainly more "punk" than their later work (singer Keith Morris sounds like a graduate from the Johnny Rotten school of diction, and Greg Ginn's guitar work is less modal), all the songs have the basic elements of what made Black Flag special: rage, anger, intensity, cynicism. Most definitely the blueprint for what would be termed L.A. hardcore, Nervous Breakdown is one of the quintessential releases in the history of American punk/independent music.

01. Nervous Breakdown
02. Fix Me
03. I've Had It
04. Wasted

Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown [EP]