Black Flag: Loose Nut

Black Flag: Loose Nut

1985

SST Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1.  Loose Nut  2. Bastard in Love  3. Annihilate this Week  4. Best One Yet  5. Modern Man  6. This is Good  7. I'm the One  8. Sinking  9. Now She's Black


This was Black Flag's first album (of many) in 1985...I was only in 2nd or 3rd grade at the time, so I wasn't mail-ordering sweet  SST colored vinyl just yet...I  probably spent most of that year in the Minus World, since 1985 was the year "Super Mario Bros" was released...

(And this was before GPS, so someone apparently gave Mario shitty directions and he kept ending up in the wrong castle...)

This was the same year that Coca-Cola replaced their original formula for the blasphemous "New Coke" which managed to turn the whole world upside down for six months there...

I didn't really care one way or another...I was more of a Cherry Slice, kind of kid...

This was also the year that Doc Brown invented the Time Machine, so I actually got my chance to go back in time and kill Hitler...Seriously, go ahead and re-read your history books...He's not there anymore...

I can also remember watching the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus on television where they debuted their "Unicorn". (Which was discovered in 1985 to be a mere goat with a bull horn attached to its head...Which I think everybody on Planet Earth was able to determine in one second after seeing it...). Oddly enough even the Barnum & Bailey Unicorn has never heard of "Unicorn Records"...




And yes, this was also the year that "Loose Nut' came out. This was the last Black Flag album I bought, and oddly enough it turns out it's likely one of my favorite ones...Why didn't anybody tell me this album was that good?! I hardly ever hear anybody mention it, and when they do it's usually mentioned in the context of Black Flag's decline...Like they made "Damaged" and "My War" and then put out a bunch of sub-par metal albums...That assessment is waaayyy off...

I loved this as soon as I put it on...The title track kicks things off and it's straight up hard rock! Well, you're never going to hear this next to "Hot For Teacher" on the radio or anything, It's still got too much punk in it (sludgy, bass-heavy sound, vocals that sound like Henry is shouting from the bottom of a well, offensive lyrics) but boy when you want a good hard riff and a catchy chorus this thing does the job...

And unlike "Slip It In' where they attempted a similar feat, nothing on here goes on for too long...In fact, "Best One Yet" and "This Is Good" could go on all day for all I care...I love them that much...The only time things feel a little slow is the trudging "Sinking" (which wouldn't sound too out of place on "My War")  and the extended outro of "Now She's Black."

So yea, a highlight of  the punk-metal genre as far as I'm concerned...Let's check out "Loose Nut" by Black Flag...Enjoy...