This is a
complicated, often
confusing subject and I'm hoping to shed a little light on it. Here's a
timeline that might help:
Keith Morris -
1977 to
1979
Ron Reyes A.K.A.
Chavo Pederast -
1979 to
1980
Dez Cadena -
1980 to
1981
Henry Rollins -
1981 to
1983
(NOTE:
Black Flag technically
existed until
1985, but they did not release anything during those
last two years other than the great live album
Live '84, and
Who's Got the 10 1/2, another (although much shorter) live album.)
Black Flag was formed by
Greg Ginn and the first
vocalist,
Keith Morris. Keith left because he was basically sick of
taking orders. He went on to form the
Circle Jerks. Material featuring Keith can be found on
Nervous Breakdown and
Everything Went Black, a
compilation featuring all the
pre-Rollins vocalists on one CD. He is also on
The First Four Years, another compilation of early material.
Keith was replaced by
Ron "Chavo Pederast" Reyes.
Chavo quit two songs into a show at the
Fleetwood and walked offstage, leaving the band to do their rendition of "
Louie Louie" for an hour, with anyone who wanted doing vocals. His stuff is on
Jealous Again,
The First Four Years, and
Everything Went Black.
Next up was
Dez Cadena. He was a
stable vocalist, and didn't have any
conflicts with the band, but he had to quit due to the
serious strain touring put on his voice. He continued to play guitar with
Black Flag until
1983. His vocal work can be found on
Six Pack,
Everything Went Black, and
The First Four Years.
And finally there was
Henry Rollins. After jumping onstage with the band in
New York,
Dez called him and offered to jam. Soon
Rollins was
Black Flag's singer. He released a large amount of material. Here is a list of all notable recordings:
So there you have it. The history of
Black Flag's vocalists. Black Flag was a brilliant band, and I highly recommend checking out any of their material - it's all good stuff. Many feel that the later work with
Rollins was weaker, I think it's excellent. It is different, but that's expected - a band has to
evolve. Pick up
The First Four Years,
Everything Went Black, or
Damaged, and hear one of the
best punk bands ever.
Thanks to http://www.ipass.net/~jthrush/flagline.htm for providing some of this information.