''The First Four Years'' is a compilation album by the American

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...

band Black Flag. It was released in 1983 on

SST Records SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Tuners, a small business through which he sold electronics equipm ...

. The compilation consists of all of the group's material released before

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Roll ...

became the band's vocalist in 1981. It essentially collects the extended plays ''

Nervous Breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

'' (1979), '' Jealous Again'' (1980), '' Six Pack'' (1981), and the single "

Louie Louie "Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a standard in pop and ...

", with two tracks from various artists' compilation albums. Tracks 1–4 are taken from ''Nervous Breakdown'', tracks 5–9 are taken from ''Jealous Again'', tracks 11–13 are from ''Six Pack'', and tracks 15–16 are taken from the "Louie Louie" single. Tracks 10 and 14 were originally released on the

New Alliance Records New Alliance Records was an independent record label founded by American musicians D. Boon and Mike Watt (of The Minutemen) and longtime friend and associate Martin Tamburovich. They were inspired by the example of their friends in southern Cali ...

compilation albums ''Cracks in the Sidewalk'' (1980) and ''Chunks'' (1981).

Track listing

Personnel

Keith Morris Keith Morris (born September 18, 1955) is an American singer and songwriter known for his role as frontman of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!. Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, he formed Black Flag at the ...

– lead vocals on tracks 1–4 *

Ron Reyes Ron Reyes (born July 24, 1960) is an American musician most noted as the second singer for the Los Angeles punk rock group Black Flag. Reyes joined Black Flag after original vocalist Keith Morris had quit to form the Circle Jerks. Black Fla ...

– lead vocals on tracks 5–8 *

Dez Cadena Dez Cadena (born June 2, 1961) is an American punk rock singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1980 to 1983. Cadena played guitar with Misfits from 2001 to 2015, init ...

– lead vocals on tracks 10–16 *

Greg Ginn Gregory Regis Ginn (born June 8, 1954) is an American guitarist, bassist, singer and songwriter, best known for being the leader, primary songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

* Chuck Dukowski – bass, lead vocals on track 9 *

Brian Migdol Black Flag is an American hardcore punk band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California by Greg Ginn, the band's guitarist, primary songwriter, and sole constant member. During Black Flag's 10-year existence, the band went through 16 distinct ...

– drums on tracks 1–4 *

Robo Robo may refer to: *robot, an electro-mechanical device that can perform autonomous or preprogrammed tasks *Automation (robo-), roboticization *Robo (musician) (born 1955), Roberto Valverde, drummer in punk bands Black Flag and The Misfits *Robo ( ...

– drums on all other tracks Production *

Spot Spot or SPOT may refer to: Places * Spot, North Carolina, a community in the United States * The Spot, New South Wales, a locality in Sydney, Australia * South Pole Traverse, sometimes called the South Pole Overland Traverse People * Spot (prod ...

;

Geza X Geza Gedeon (born September 28, 1952), professionally known as Geza X, is an American producer. He was a personality in the Los Angeles punk scene in the late 1970s. He is now a producer. He was born in Indiana and moved to California when he was a ...

, Black Flag –

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Raymond Pettibon Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn, June 16, 1957) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art mainly for ...

– artwork

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:First Four Years, The Black Flag (band) compilation albums Albums produced by Spot (producer) Albums produced by Geza X 1983 compilation albums SST Records compilation albums