Nervous Breakdown

Greg Ginn paid for the sessions with money from his mail-order radio electronics business. Through Spot, then an apprentice engineer, the band found Media Art, a newly built studio. Bomp! Records was meant to release the tapes, but the band felt the label was too slow, took back the master rights and put the record out itself, which is how SST began. Ginn found a pressing plant in the phone book, and the first run was 2,000 copies. Spot's role was limited to setting up microphones and making rough mixes, though the record is commonly misconstrued as produced and engineered by him.

Four other songs recorded during the sessions, Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, I Don't Care, White Minority and No Values, were released later on Everything Went Black. Michael Azerrad wrote that the EP could well be Black Flag's best recording and that, with music and lyrics by Ginn, it is rude, scuzzy and exhilarating. Rollins wrote that the cover art said it all: a man with his back to the wall and his fists up.