Flex Your Head

Flex Your Head
Front cover since 2010.
Compilation album by various artists
Released	January 1982
Recorded	April 1980 – December 1981
Studio	Inner Ear Hit & Run C.A.B.
Genre	Hardcore punk
Length	41:49
Language	English
Label	Dischord
Producer	Skip Groff Chris Haskett Ian MacKaye Bert Queiroz Lyle Preslar
Early cover art
First pressing cover.
Alternative cover
Second pressing cover.
Alternative cover
1985 reissue cover.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic

Flex Your Head is a sampler album featuring early hardcore punk bands from the Washington, D.C., area. It was originally released in January 1982 on Dischord Records, with a pressing of 4,000 copies on vinyl record that sold out within one week; an additional 3,000 copies were released shortly after. In 1982, a third pressing of 2,000 copies was released under license in the United Kingdom by Alternative Tentacles. Each of the first three pressings featured a different front cover.

Background

The compilation takes its title from the Minor Threat lyric shouted in the song "12XU", included on the album, originally by the English band Wire.

Dischord assembled Flex Your Head as a way to record the many punk bands that had started up, and sometimes also ceased, in the previous years in the D.C. area. The album served as either a debut or sophomore release for every band on it except Minor Threat, for whom it was their third.

At the time of the album's release not only had most of the bands on it already have broken up, but many had gone on to start other bands, some of those bands also appear on the album. The Teen Idles had broken up in late 1980 and by the time of the release of Flex Your Head members had already started Minor Threat and Youth Brigade. The Untouchables broke up in 1981 and with the former members joining a multitude of bands including The Faith, The Warmers, Rites of Spring, One Last Wish, Skewbald, Happy Go Licky, Youth Brigade, and The Meatmen. State of Alert had also folded in early 1981 as singer Henry Garfield had joined Black Flag. Minor Threat had disbanded (although they would reunite a few months after the album's release) and since then Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson had founded Skewbald while Lyle Preslar joined an early version of Big Black. Youth Brigade and Red C both existed solely during 1981, and both Artificial Peace and Deadline would break up within a few months of the release of Flex Your Head, aside from Youth Brigade these band's only recorded output is on the compilation, though from those bands would come the longer lasting Beefeater, Marginal Man and Fugazi. Only Government Issue and Iron Cross would survive past the next year.

The songs "12XU" and "Steppin' Stone" were extremely popular covers in the D.C. punk scene. "Steppin' Stone", which was performed by State of Alert on this album, was also covered by Minor Threat on their second EP In My Eyes, while the song "12XU" was so commonly covered that several shows would have multiple bands playing their renditions.

Recording

Flex Your Head was recorded between April 1980 and December 1981. The Teen Idles, Untouchables, and Red C songs were recorded at Hit and Run Studios with engineer Steve Carr, Iron Cross' tracks were recorded at C.A.B. Studios with engineer Tom Scott, while all the other songs were recorded at Inner Ear Studios with engineer Don Zientara.

Cover art

While the back cover of Flex Your Head has remained almost the same, its front cover has changed throughout the years. When the album was first released, featured a stock photography of a painting of a violin, roses, and sheet music. The second pressing, released almost immediately, came with a stock image of stalks of wheat. A third early cover, designed by Jeff Nelson and used for the British pressing of the album, displayed a black and white version of the flag of Washington, D.C., with the stars replaced by Xs. Later, in 1985, the record was re-released with a new cover featuring a blurry photo of a man in a hat, which was used until 2008. The most recent version, a variation in red and white of the D.C. flag cover from 1982, came in 2010 on a remastered LP re-release.

The CD editions of the album came with all versions of the front cover to be used interchangeably.

Critical reception

Justin M. Norton, contributor at the online magazine Stereogum, was of the view that:

"[Flex Your Head is] a Rosetta Stone not just for the DC scene but all of American hardcore ... Almost every niche of DC hardcore –- and a young performance from almost every crucial DC performer -- is covered in this must-own collection ... In addition to Bad Brains' debut, this is the jumping-off point for everything that followed..."

Reissues

Flex Your Head was re-released on CD in August 1993.

A remastered CD version was released in 2002.

Track listing

Side A

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Contributing artist	Length
1.	"I Drink Milk"	Ian MacKaye; The Teen Idles	The Teen Idles	1:07
2.	"Commie Song"	I. MacKaye; The Teen Idles	The Teen Idles	0:59
3.	"No Fun" (originally performed by The Stooges)	Iggy Pop; Dave Alexander; Ron Asheton; Scott Asheton	The Teen Idles	2:25
4.	"Rat Patrol"	Alec MacKaye	Untouchables	0:59
5.	"Nic Fit"	A. MacKaye	Untouchables	1:01
6.	"I Hate You"	A. MacKaye	Untouchables	1:24
7.	"I Hate the Kids"	Lyle Preslar; Henry Garfield	State of Alert	0:39
8.	"Disease" (originally performed by UK Subs)	Nicky Garratt; Charlie Harper	State of Alert	0:27
9.	"Steppin' Stone" (known by Paul Revere & the Raiders and The Monkees)	Tommy Boyce; Bobby Hart	State of Alert	1:56
10.	"Stand Up"	I. MacKaye	Minor Threat	0:52
11.	"12XU" (originally performed by Wire)	Bruce Gilbert; Graham Lewis; Colin Newman; Robert Gotobed	Minor Threat	1:09
12.	"Hey, Ronnie"	Brian Gay	Government Issue	1:08
13.	"Lie, Cheat, and Steal"	John Stabb Schroeder	Government Issue	0:52
14.	"Moral Majority"	Nathan Strejcek	Youth Brigade	1:06
15.	"Waste of Time"	Bert Queiroz; Tom Clinton	Youth Brigade	0:51
16.	"Last Word"	Strejcek; Queiroz	Youth Brigade	1:23

Side B

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Contributing artist	Length
1.	"Jimi 45"	Eric Lagdameo; Peter Murray; Toni Young	Red C	1:19
2.	"Pressure's On"	Murray	Red C	1:40
3.	"6 O'Clock News"	Lagdameo; Murray	Red C	2:03
4.	"Assassin"	Lagdameo; Murray; Young	Red C	0:56
5.	"Dehumanized"	John Weiffenbach	Void	1:15
6.	"Authority"	Weiffenbach; Bubba Dupree	Void	0:48
7.	"My Rules"	Sean Finnegan	Void	0:59
8.	"War Games"	Wendel Blow	Iron Cross	1:22
9.	"New Breed"	Sab Grey; Dante Ferrando	Iron Cross	1:21
10.	"Live for Now"	Ferrando	Iron Cross	2:13
11.	"Artificial Peace"	Rob Moss	Artificial Peace	1:38
12.	"Outside Looking In"	Mike Manos; Rob Moss; Peter Murray	Artificial Peace	0:58
13.	"Wasteland"	Mike Manos; Peter Murray	Artificial Peace	2:02
14.	"Stolen Youth"	Ray Hare; Brendan Canty	Deadline	1:43
15.	"Hear the Cry"	Canty	Deadline	1:02
16.	"Aftermath"	Hare; Canty	Deadline	2:12
Total length:				41:49

Personnel

The Teen Idles

• Nathan Strejcek – vocals
• Geordie Grindle – guitar
• Ian MacKaye – bass
• Jeff Nelson – drums

Untouchables

• Alec MacKaye – vocals
• Eddie Janney – guitar
• Bert Queiroz – bass
• Rich Moore – drums

State of Alert

• Henry Garfield − vocals
• Michael Hampton − guitar
• Wendel Blow − bass
• Simon Jacobsen − drums

Minor Threat

• Ian MacKaye – vocals
• Lyle Preslar – guitar
• Brian Baker – bass
• Jeff Nelson – drums

Government Issue

• John Stabb – vocals
• John Barry – guitar
• Brian Gay – bass
• Marc Alberstadt – drums

Youth Brigade

• Nathan Strejcek – vocals
• Tom Clinton – guitar
• Bert Queiroz – bass
• Danny Ingram – drums

Red C

• Eric L. – vocals
• Pete Murray – guitar
• Toni Young – bass
• Tomas Squip – drums

Void

• John Weiffenbach – vocals
• Bubba Dupree – guitar
• Chris Stover – bass
• Sean Finnegan – drums

Iron Cross

• Sab Grey – vocals
• Mark Haggerty – guitar
• Wendle Blow – bass
• Dante Ferrando – drums

Artificial Peace

• Steve Polcari – vocals
• Pete Murray – guitar
• Rob Moss – bass
• Mike Manos – drums

Deadline

• Ray Hare – vocals
• Christian Caron – guitar
• Terry Scanlon – bass
• Brendan Canty – drums

Further reading

• Blush, Steven (2001). "Minor Threat & DC: Flex Your Head". American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. pp. 149–176.
• Hurchalla, George (Zuo Press, 2005). "Wild in the Streets". Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989. Second ed., 2016. Oakland: PM Press. ISBN 9781629631134. pp. 105–111.

External links

• Flex Your Head. Dischord Records.
• Norton, Justin M. (October 17, 2012). "13 Essential DC Hardcore Albums: Various Artists - Flex Your Head (Dischord, 1982)". Stereogum.
• Flex Your Head. Discogs.