black flag

1. a pirate flag, usually of black cloth with a white skull and crossbones on it; Jolly Roger.

2. a flag having two yellow and two black squares, signifying the letter L in the International Code of Signals: formerly so called when used by itself to indicate the presence of cholera on board a vessel.

3. a signal given to an automobile racing driver to stop, usually because the car may have a dangerous problem that requires inspection. Also called blackjack (for defs. 1, 2).

[1585-95]

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▪ American rock group

      American band whose extensive touring and prolific recording helped to popularize hardcore punk, the genre that arose in California in the early 1980s in response to the punk movement of the 1970s. The original members were Greg Ginn (b. June 8, 1954), Chuck Dukowski (b. Feb. 1, 1954), Keith Morris, and Brian Migdol. Later members included Henry Rollins (original name Henry Garfield; b. Feb. 13, 1961, Washington, D.C., U.S.), Chavo Pederast, Dez Cadena, Kira Roessler, and Anthony Martinez.

      Founded in 1977 in Los Angeles, Black Flag focused on themes such as boredom and the banality of suburban life and accelerated punk's blistering tempo to an even more breakneck pace, helping to establish many of the conventions of hardcore. Appealing to a largely white male audience that made “slam dancing” (the purposeful collision of bodies) in the “mosh pit” (the clump of audience members in front of the bandstand) a ritual at live performances, Black Flag brought a fury and aggression to its music and performance seldom equaled by other hardcore bands. After settling on Rollins as its vocalist, the band released Damaged (1981)—a classic of hardcore punk—on SST Records, the label founded by Ginn and Dukowski that went on to become one of the most respected alternative rock labels of the 1980s. Later recordings flirted with heavy metal, and the band also provided musical accompaniment to Rollins's poetry before breaking up in 1986.

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