After punk's initial explosion of the mid-70's, bands that actually had some musical ability albeit in varying degrees of prowess would start writing songs with some actual structure and a bit of variety, and the musicians were learning how to play more effectively, as opposed to rigid three chord garage style that in the case of early Ramones, for example was long on attitude but short on dynamics. The Clash were better players right out of the gate, culminating with the legendary "London Calling". Wire would release two great punk albums, "Pink Flag" and "Chairs Missing" before morphing into more of a punk flavored but much more sophisticated style of rock and roll that is pop rock at its best ever, and do not confuse that with Top 40 dreck.
Los Angeles had their share of punkers, The Germs and X probably the best known. However, Greg Ginn would soon form Black Flag, a gnarly nasty band that was punk through and through at its beginning, found SST Records, and sign dozens of great bands that would come to define hardcore, the period of the very early 1980's that showed punk bands learning how to play and write some of the greatest rock and roll of their day, in the face of New Wave, the onset of hair metal, and AOR rock that still kept creeping around, with some old outfits trying to catch up with punky hairdos and skinny ties. Those wanting real rock and roll had post punk/hardcore, a few bruising and wonderfully Neanderthal bands out of Britain, Motorhead and Venom by name, or indie rock that featured more accessible music but was still not fit for mainstream tastes.
Ginn reportedly as head of SST has never paid royalties to any of his bands, and that's bad. But Black Flag was at the top of the heap, and was crucial in appealing to the punkers and even metal fans who thought the hair stuff was too slick. Like Motorhead, they served notice that punk/hardcore and the best metal that hadn't forgotten how to rock and roll weren't that far apart.
"Slip It In" is the third full length BF with Henry Rollins, following "My War", an album that divided itself between the fury and speed of hardcore on the first side with the great title track leading off a salvo of anger peppered with Ginn's twisted sometimes atonal guitar screeches that fans of lead guitar done differently dug - noisy and full of attitude, to hell with the flashy shit - and Rollins' demented vocals the perfect counterpoint. Side two was sludge Black Flag style - like Sabbath stuck in a pool of quicksand.
"Slip It In" was a slab of some of their fastest stuff since the pre-Rollins days, Ginn's playing still deranged but his rhythm work precise and slamming, showing that he was actually a damn good player. The title track is a slam against sexism, as Rollins approximates a horny sex fiend and succeeds in making himself sound stupid as hell, deliberately of course. "Black Coffee" is a fast and heavy track, "Rat's Eyes" is a lurching tune that shows Ginn's affinity for some odd interval chords that take on even more of a role on the instrumental track that follows, "Obliteration". The album does not let up, and closes with "You're Not Evil", a diatribe against somebody who thinks they're just that, but are outed as a poser by Rollins, with appropriate riffing backing him up.
"Slip It In" is great, although I must say that until I buy "Damaged", and I haven't because so much of the tracks appeared over and over on "Everything Went Black", that "Loose Nut" remains my favorite as the songs were never stronger and the production was the best of their career. Nonetheless, hardcore music is and probably will always be a true underground music phenomenon, a style that predated alternative, and that's a bad thing, but not hardcore's fault, helped fuse the anger of punk and fury of metal to create thrash, death and tragically, deathcore and metalcore, two horrendously noisy and largely aimless styles that are defined by terrible songs, no real hooks, dynamics or melody. Again we can't blame the original hardcore for that.
For those interested in this critical link between punk and more modern metal that may not be aware it existed at all, Black Flag and the SST bands are truly the treasure trove of the best of the era. Now if Ginn will just pay them their dues.

Brand	N/A
Rating	4.8 (138 ratings)
Price	$23.99
Category	American Punk

Slip It In

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