In March 1981, Black Flag played their first East Coast show at New York’s Peppermint Lounge. This show was the spark for groups like the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, and led to Henry Rollins joining Black Flag that summer.
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Almost 45 years ago, five punks were in the crowd at the Peppermint Lounge seeing Black Flag. Adam Yauch and Michael Diamond were in attendance, but it’s unclear if Adam Horovitz was there as well. Additionally, Thurston Moore was there, along with Henry Rollins. The Beastie Boys would officially form that year, initially hanging around the New York punk scene before making a foray into hip-hop. Sonic Youth would also come together in 1981, and that August Henry Rollins would officially join Black Flag as lead vocalist. He held that role until the band broke up in 1986.
Black Flag Started it All for the Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys unintentionally came together in 1981, becoming entrenched in the New York punk scene. They released their debut EP, Polly Wog Stew, in 1982, and the sound is complete and utter punk rock. However, at the time, Adam Horovitz wasn’t in the band yet. Yauch and Diamond formed the band with friends John Berry and Kate Schellenbach, but the two would eventually part ways after Polly Wog Strew‘s release. Horovitz then joined the crew.
“Henry [Rollins] and Ian [MacKaye] from Fugazi – or Minor Threat at that time – all those guys from DC came up to watch the [Black Flag] show,” Mike D told triple j magazine in 1992. “That was the first time we really saw an ill hardcore show like that. That was the start of the DC vs New York hardcore battle. A big thing back then.”
Now a trio, the Beastie Boys started dabbling in hip-hop with their next EP, Cooky Puss (named after a Carvel ice cream cake from the 1970s). When British Airways used the song without permission, the Beastie Boys sued, got $40,000, and bought an 808 drum machine with the money. This move firmly committed the boys to their hip-hop transition.
Sonic Youth’s Sound was Influenced by Hardcore Punk
Thurston Moore was also in attendance at the Black Flag show. In mid-1981, he would form what would become the core lineup of Sonic Youth with Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo, with Steve Shelley eventually joining in 1985. While Sonic Youth was primarily born of the no-wave scene in New York, they were heavily influenced by hardcore punk as well.
The band gained initial underground notoriety after signing to SST Records, which was founded by Greg Ginn of Black Flag. The experimental nature of Black Flag’s brand of punk quite possibly inspired Thurston Moore to take a more out of the box approach to Sonic Youth’s style, which included, among other elements, avant garde guitar tuning.
Henry Rollins Joined Black Flag in August 1981
Henry Rollins was already a burgeoning household name in the DC punk scene as the vocalist for State of Alert, and the band was allegedly corresponding with Black Flag prior to their East Coast debut. Apparently, Rollins saw them first in March, but saw them again in June 1981 when they played an unplanned show at the A7 club in New York. There, he suggested they play “Clocked In,” and the band invited him on stage to perform with them.
According to the 2006 documentary American Hardcore, Black Flag’s vocalist Dez Cadena was switching to guitar at the time, and the band invited Rollins to audition. He impressed the band with his stage presence and broad musical interests, and accepted with encouragement from Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat. For the remainder of Black Flag’s tour, Rollins acted as a roadie while learning their catalog.
Rollins brought a seriousness and intensity to Black Flag after that. According to Greg Ginn, per an analysis of the song “TV Party” from AllMusic, “We couldn’t do songs with a sense of humor anymore; he got into the serious way-out poet thing.”
Featured Image by Erica Echenberg/Redferns
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