Nervous Breakdown (EP)

Template:Use mdy dates {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |Template:Short description|noreplace}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Jealous Again1980EPNervous BreakdownBlack Flag - Nervous Breakdown cover.jpgyesBlack FlagJanuary 1979January 1978Media Art Studio
Hermosa Beach, CaliforniaTemplate:Hlist5:13SST
SST 001Black Flagx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}} Template:Album reviews Nervous Breakdown is the debut EP by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag, released in January 1979 by SST Records.<ref name="band">Azerrad, Michael. Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991. Little Brown and Company, 2001. Template:ISBN.</ref> It was the label's first release, and the only non-compilation release to feature Keith Morris on vocals.<ref name="DMT">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Recording

The recording was financed by Greg Ginn with proceeds he had earned from his mail-order ham radio electronics business, Solid State Tuners (SST).<ref name="band"/> Through Spot, then an apprentice engineer whom Ginn had already known from living in Hermosa Beach, California, the band found Media Art, a studio that had recently completed construction.<ref name="ewb">Spot with Chuck Dukowski, Liner notes of Everything Went Black, SST Records, 1983</ref>

The recording was originally supposed to be released by Bomp! Records, but the band felt that the label was taking too long to put the record out.<ref name=Morris>Template:Cite book</ref> Eventually, the band took the master rights back, and Ginn put some more earnings from his ham radio business, located a pressing plant in the phone book, and co-founded SST Records with Black Flag bassist Chuck Dukowski, borrowing the label's name from his business.<ref name="band"/>

It is commonly misconstrued that Spot was the producer and engineer of Nervous Breakdown. In his sleeve notes for the 1982 outtakes anthology Everything Went Black, Spot pointed out that as an apprentice engineer, his involvement in the sessions was limited to setting up microphones during the tracking sessions, and doing rough mixes for the band to hear.<ref name="ewb"/>

The initial pressing of Nervous Breakdown was 2,000 copies. Black Flag were able to use the record as "a badge of legitimacy" (according to Dukowski) to begin getting live gigs in the Los Angeles area.<ref name="ewb"/>

Four other songs were completed during the recording, "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie", "I Don't Care", "White Minority" and "No Values", which were later released as part of the Everything Went Black compilation album.

Release history

The EP is still in print both in its original form (a 7" vinyl EP), as a 5" CD single, and as part of the anthology The First Four Years. It was also available at times as a 3" CD single, a 10" colored vinyl EP, and as part of the various artists compilation of SST singles, The 7 Inch Wonders of the World.

Personnel

Adapted from the album liner notes.<ref name="First Four Years"/>

Black Flag

• Keith Morris – vocals
• Greg Ginn – guitars
• Gary McDaniel – bass
• Brian Migdol – drums

On the first pressings of the original 7", Black Flag's second drummer Robo is credited instead of Brian Migdol, despite not performing on the EP, as Migdol had left the group a few months before the EP's release.<ref name=Morris/>

Production

• Black Flag – producers
• David Tarling – recording engineer
• Spot – recording engineer, mix engineer
• Raymond Pettibon – artwork