Black Flag -- "TV Party" (1981)

WE'VE GOT NOTHING BETTER TO DO!

THAN WATCH T.V. 

AND HAVE A COUPLE OF BREWS!

You're probably wondering why I used ALL CAPS above!  The main reason is that I cut and pasted these lines from a song lyrics website that had them in ALL CAPS, and I was too lazy to type them all over again!

Henry Rollins

But ALL CAPS is how Black Flag lyrics should be printed!  That's the way lead singer Henry Rollins sang their songs, after all!

Black Flag was a hardcore punk band that was formed in Hermosa Beach (a small beachfront city just south of Los Angeles) in 1976 and stayed together for a decade.  

Like most punk bands, Black Flag's politics were anti-authoritarian and nonconformist.  They took their name from the black flag that has been associated with anarchism since the 1800s.  Because national flags are usually colorful, the black flag is sort of an anti-flag -- which is fitting, given that anarchists are opposed to the whole idea of nation-states.  

A black flag is also the opposite of a white flag.  If a white flag means surrender, then a black flag symbolizes resistance.

I first became aware of Black Flag when I saw the movie The Decline of Western Civilization, a 1981 documentary about the Los Angeles punk rock scene.  The movie was directed by Penelope Spheeris (who later directed Wayne's World and the Beverly Hillbillies movie) and featured not only Black Flag but also the Circle Jerks, the Germs, and X (one of my personal favorites).

Here's a scene from the movie showing X performing "Nausea":

Here's the entire movie:

"TV Party" begins with the band members shouting "TV party tonight!/TV party tonight!"  They reject the outside world -- "it's such a fright!" -- preferring to hang out on the couch, watching their favorite shows and drinking beer.

Every so often, one the band members shouts out the name of a favorite show -- That's Incredible, Hill Street Blues, Dallas, Quincy, Saturday Night Live, Monday Night Football, Dynasty, etc.  With great shows like that to watch and plenty of beer in the fridge, why would you ever do anything else than watch TV?

That's Incredible was a very strange show:




It's hard to believe that Hill Street Blues went off the air almost 25 years ago:




Victoria Principal was the best reason to watch Dallas.  (Maybe the best two reasons.)

Back to the song:

I WOULDN'T BE WITHOUT MY TV FOR A DAY!

OR EVEN A MINUTE!

I DON'T BOTHER TO USE MY BRAIN ANYMORE!

THERE'S NOTHING LEFT IN IT!

A small price to pay, don't you agree?

Sadly, the TV party the band members have been eagerly anticipating is not to be:

WAIT A MINUTE, MY TV SET DOESN'T WORK!

IT'S BROKEN!

WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO TONIGHT?

THIS ISN'T FAIR -- WE'RE HURTIN'!

Well, that really throws a spanner into the works -- or a sabot, if you prefer a more traditional anarchist symbol.  (A sabot is the French word for the traditional peasant's wooden shoe, which early-day Dutch unionists would throw into the gears of factory machinery when they were on strike.  Sabot is the root of the word sabotage.) 

Here's the song:

Here's a link you can use to buy it from Amazon: