1. Background

2. Recording

3. Cover art

4. Critical reception

5. Reissues

6. Track listing

7. Personnel
    The Teen Idles  Untouchables  State of Alert  Minor Threat  Government Issue  Youth Brigade  Red C  Void  Iron Cross  Artificial Peace  Deadline 

8. Notes

9. References

10. Further reading

11. External links

Flex Your Head is a sampler album featuring early hardcore punk bands from the Washington, D.C. area.^[1] It was originally released in January 1982 on Dischord Records,{{refn|group=nb|Dischord #DIS 7}} with a pressing of 4,000 copies on vinyl record that sold out within one week;^[2] 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.{{refn|group=nb|Alternative Tentacles #VIRUS 22}}^[3] 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^[1] 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

Cover art

While the back cover of Flex Your Head has remained almost the same, its front cover has changed throughout the years.^[5] 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:

Reissues

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

A remastered CD version was released in 2002.

Track listing

Personnel

The Teen Idles

• Nathan Strejcek – vocals
• Geordie Grindle – guitar
• Ian MacKaye – bass
• Jeff Nelson – drums^[7]

Untouchables

• Alec MacKaye – vocals
• Eddie Janney – guitar
• Bert Queiroz – bass
• Rich Moore – drums^[8]

State of Alert

• Henry Garfield − vocals
• Michael Hampton − guitar
• Wendel Blow − bass
• Simon Jacobsen − drums^[9]

Minor Threat

• Ian MacKaye – vocals
• Lyle Preslar – guitar^[10]
• Brian Baker – bass
• Jeff Nelson – drums

Government Issue

• John Stabb – vocals
• John Barry – guitar
• Brian Gay – bass
• Marc Alberstadt – drums^[11]

Youth Brigade

• Nathan Strejcek – vocals
• Tom Clinton – guitar
• Bert Queiroz – bass
• Danny Ingram – drums^[12]

Red C

• Eric L. – vocals
• Pete Murray – guitar^[13]
• Toni Young – bass
• Tomas Squip – drums

Void

• John Weiffenbach – vocals^[14]
• Bubba Dupree – guitar
• Chris Stover – bass
• Sean Finnegan – drums

Iron Cross

• Sab Grey – vocals
• Mark Haggerty – guitar
• Wendle Blow – bass
• Dante Ferrando – drums^[15]

Artificial Peace

• Steve Polcari – vocals
• Pete Murray – guitar
• Rob Moss – bass
• Mike Manos – drums^[16]

Deadline

• Ray Hare – vocals
• Christian Caron – guitar
• Terry Scanlon – bass
• Brendan Canty – drums^[17]

Notes

References

Further reading

• Blush, Steven (2001). "Minor Threat & DC: Flex Your Head". 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.
• [https://www.discogs.com/Various-Flex-Your-Head/master/9740 Flex Your Head]. Discogs.

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