I Don't Care (Version #2 / "Nervous Breakdown" Outtakes)

Black Flag - I Don't Care (Version #2 / "Nervous Breakdown" Outtakes) (2/2) *continued from: Wasted (Version #2) Keeping this timeline in mind... The debate over which band or record was "the very first hardcore/punk ___ ever" becomes a moot point. A couple other bands may have beaten Black Flag to the punch by having their records RELEASED before they did... but even those bands themselves would acknowledge that they were already aware of what these guys were doing well before them. If they hadn't sat on these recordings for an entire year... waiting around on Greg Shaw, who had wanted to release it on Bomp! Records... who knows how different things would have turned out? Would "Black Flag" ever have existed? So yeah, let's put that endless debate to bed already? Not only is this session the absolute Genesis of the entire "hardcore/punk" genre... But the "Nervous Breakdown" record eventually proved to be the most IMPORTANT release of it, ever. Period. Let's take it a step further... Considering everything that Black Flag as a band, and SST as an independent record label ultimately achieved... Only Elvis Presley's "That's All Right" 45 on Sun Records in 1954 is a more historically significant independently released single. Don't get me wrong, many other people had released records on their own before. But nobody else would ever build the career of such a monumental band... along with a record label that would completely redefine "indie" music... on top of it. Before Black Flag, the notion of a successful, popular band choosing to operate in a completely independent manner over the course of their entire career was unheard of. Not only that, it was simply impossible. Think about the THOUSANDS of bands, record label employees, venue owners, recording engineers, etc whose livelihoods literally would never have even existed if not for the path these guys created. Before them, not only did bands who weren't on major labels not tour, or even gig so frequently... They didn't even own their own vans! Nobody had ever taken the DIY approach in rock n' roll this far before... or this deep. The maps hadn't been drawn yet. It was beyond a pipe dream. Every single band you've ever bought a t-shirt from at their "merch table" has stood on the shoulders of these giants. It's inconceivable trying to imagine what the musical landscape would look like today if they'd never existed... And the whole thing traces back here, to SST #1... "Nervous Breakdown". The session was engineered by the studio's owner, Dave Tarling, who was assisted by Glen Lockett. Lockett, AKA "Spot", was living in the studio at the time, and had even been one of Panic's bass players for a smidge. Greg's younger brother, Raymond Ginn, had also briefly occupied the bass player position. By 1977, Gary McDaniel... who had played high school football at Chadwick of all places... became the group's permanent bass player. Gary didn't begin going by his new alias, "Chuck Dukowski", until around the time of the band's second release, "Jealous Again". Coincidentally, the only true outtakes from Black Flag's first era that could possibly exist, would be from the initial stages of tracking the "Jealous Again" record at Media Art. When that project began in late 1979, Keith had not yet quit the band. Before the end of 1979, Keith had already started his new band, Circle Jerks. Raymond Ginn had his own alias as well, "Pettibon". It was Raymond who had the idea for the band name "Black Flag". He also eventually designed "The Bars" logo... But contrary to popular belief, not until some time after the release of "Nervous Breakdown". The classic font in which the band name was also seen forever after did not exist until around the time of "Jealous Again" as well. Initially, after acknowledging his position in Panic wasn't meant to be... Raymond's concept for his new group, which was to have operated almost as a "side project" alongside Panic... was his own band called "Black Flag". However, when Panic soon discovered at least one other band with the same name, they changed their name to "Black Flag" instead. But that wasn't until later, after the band had also recruited a new drummer, Roberto. Anyhoo, back to Panic... This session was Panic's first, and only "professional" multi-track recording session. The studio was located at 111 Pier Avenue in Hermosa, and was built on top of a bar. While they were recording, a cover band was playing in the bar downstairs. The volume level at which Panic were playing though easily drowned out everything else. Coincidentally, it has been suggested that British football star, George Best, was in attendance downstairs during the session. He had recently opened a bar of his own nearby, and enjoyed ending his nightly "pub crawls" wherever any live music was taking place. "The Church", where Greg was operating SST at the time, was just spitting distance away from the studio on Manhattan Avenue.

Added 5 Apr 2026