Black Flag

As even they may realize eventually, they never were much of an art band--just such a good rock and roll band you'd sit still for their bullsh*t. Despite the uneven pre-Damaged tracks, this beer-party compilation sums up their contribution to Western civilization quite neatly. In retrospect, their rampaging anomie seems pitilessly self-critical. They always knew their fun was f*cked; they even knew it wasn't all that much fun. But that didn't fool them into concluding it was no fun at all, much less bad or something. (Grade: A)