Nervous Breakdown

Laying down the groundwork for what would become one of the most visceral bands of all time, Nervous Breakdown was the first release from Los Angeles' Black Flag. While it 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.