Anti-Parent

2008, in terms of record collecting, was defined for me by Black Flag. After listening to Black Flag for several years, something clicked, and I had gained a deeper understanding of the band - and yes that includes the last 2, 3, or 4 + albums depending on how much of a skeptic you are. So a search began to gain ownership of a large chunk of hardcore history; the mighty Black Flag discography, with as many pressings as I could. This would unfortunately be a hunt largely carried out over the internet, but I also found some good stuff in Montreal and through trades. If I compare this scavenger hunt to a baseball games, I've easily covered first base (current pressings), 2nd base has mostly been cleared (Original pressings and promos that aren't too rare) and I've been running to 3rd base (90s reissues on coloured vinyl, which are surprisingly more costly than most first presses). Home base would of course be an original copy of Nervous Breakdown with the Black Cover in a baggie sealed with an SST sticker... one day.

Anyway, I began to document the pressing information of the records, in an effort to createsomething similar to misfitscentral.com, but stopped because I had no scanner for LPs, but you can see my work in progress here.

Creating that site made me change the way I looked at records. Like my Black Flag worship, I dove deeper than ever before, and a hobby became a historical archive. Going through every fine detail of each record, including noting the matrix engravings, uncovered things I would have never noticed before, and hadn't read anywhere else before. Example? 4th Pressing (red cover, gold vinyl) and onward of Nervous Breakdown has a typo of the timing for Nervous Breakdown (2:55 instead of 2:05). A discovery only titillating for assholes I guess.

This is my scan, please don't steal.