Largely regarded as the punk band you have to hear if you like punk (I made that up but I think it’s true), Black Flag offers you a punk starter kit: filled to the brim with forceful, white-hot pace, hard energy and infectious tunes in all their bold, primary-coloured vibrancy.

And the album kicks off with two of the greatest contributions to punk of all time so if you’re impatient, you don’t need to wait around much longer – Nervous Breakdown‘s timeless riff bursts to life and rips along like a big, dirty engine, the filthy electric coursing through Fix Me as cymbals fly everywhere. Keith Morris’ vocal I think makes it: his acrid vibrancy really lifts the track up to ‘summer’s-day-in-the-skatepark-with-a-can-of-beer’ level. Same thing with I’ve Had It – the point-blank lyrics give off this kind of young, sunny aggression that runs alongside the torrential pace of the iconic, 50-second number Wasted. Jealous Again is one of my favourites and Dez Cadena on vocals does well to match up to Morris’ adolescent vigour because when you listen to it, all you want to do is drop out of school, tell your girlfriend to fuck off and crack open a couple with your 16 year old mates Gaz and Rick. And this feeling reigns unaged in Black Flag’s sound, preserved in lacquer like thick, acrylic paint. Jesus, I’m only 20 and I’m feeling old.

Along with Dez Cadena comes the gruffer, hardcore tone heard in tracks like I’ve Heard It Before and American Waste, which both brood and burst from cockeyed electric sirening and stormy distortion, guitars rearing and toms palpitating. Six Pack is another one with lyrics to live by, the bumbling bassline and thonk of the kick bracing us for yet another hit of focused power –

35 dollars and a six pack to my name! /SIX PACK/ spent the rest on beer so who’s to blame!

my girlfriend asked me which one I like better /SIX PACK/ I hope the answer won’t upset her /SIX PACK/

now I got a six so I’ll never run out /SIX PACK/

If Dez Cadena wrote the bible I’d never sin again.

The last two tracks on this album are special. I was staying for a few days in a place in Whitby last year that sat directly under a pub where a lot of live bands played 60s music (bear with me), and one night I looked up in surprise and wondered aloud why one band was playing some weird garage-rock keyboard rendition of Black Flag’s Louie Louie. So obviously, it’s a cover of an older song, and it’s great – snares set off a gravelly electric guitar, carving out the old major-key riff as Dez rants some apparently completely made up lyrics. Damaged I is ace too in its own soiled, dour tones, with electric chords falling along the great backbone of a measured hi-hat and snare in a way that’s so repetitively addictive, you never want it to end.

In pretty much every way, if you want to get into punk, Black Flag is the perfect place to start. And I know “unlistenable” is my favourite musical genre as well as my middle name, but Black Flag’s easy, addictive and energetic tunes will always hold a special place in my heart.