In My Head

***In My Head*** is the seventh studio album, and tenth long-player overall, by Black Flag. It was released in the fall of 1985 and is the final studio album to feature Henry Rollins, Kira Roessler and Bill Stevenson in the lineup.

## Background

The initial backing tracks were recorded at Total Access Studio at the same sessions as Loose Nut. By the time the overdub sessions had begun for completing *In My Head*, there had already been some behind the scenes turmoil. Bill Stevenson had already quit the group by the time *Loose Nut* was hitting store shelves, postponing the start of a tour behind the album until a replacement (Anthony Martinez) couple be found. The final overdub sessions for the album ended up overlapping with the opening dates of the tour, forcing Henry Rollins and Greg Ginn to fly back and forth to Los Angeles to complete tracks -- an odd luxury that the band had never been afforded before.

It has been claimed that the songs on the album were initially meant for either a Black Flag instrumental album or a Greg Ginn solo album 9stories vary depending on who you ask) before deciding to add Rollins' vocals. Although the album only lists Total Access as the location for the album, by the time mixing and overdubbing sessions occurred, Black Flag had moved over to Hit City Studios. (This is mentioned in *Get In The Van*.)

Greg Ginn took the primary producer credit for the finished album, while sharing a "tracking production" credit with Stevenson and engineer David Tarling (who also got a "tracking engineer" credit on the album.

Thirteen songs has been leftover from the *Loose Nut* sessions; nine were used on the vinyl LP, three more songs were added as bonus cuts for the cassette and later CD editions. A thirteenth track, "Kicking And Sticking", would not see release until the posthumous *I Can See You* EP in 1989.

*In My Head* is notorious amongst many Black Flag fans for the production style Ginn used on the final album, as Rollins' vocals are put through reverberation or mixed slightly behind the guitars.

*In My Head* would be the last Black Flag album to feature artwork from Raymond Pettibon. Pettibon had fallen out with his brother Greg Ginn after two original copies of his panel cartoons had been cut up and pasted into the layout of *Loose Nut's* inner sleeve. The drawings used by SST for the album cover were at least a year old and duly noted as such on the back sleeve's credits.

On the Loose Nut tour, the band were already playing "In My Head" and "Drinking And Driving" live, as evidenced on *Who’s Got The 10 1/2?*.

## Track Listing

### Original Vinyl Edition

#### Side One

1. Paralyzed (Henry Rollins, Greg Ginn)
2. Crazy Girl (Greg Ginn)
3. Black Love (Greg Ginn)
4. White Hot (Henry Rollins, Greg Ginn)
5. in My Head (Henry Rollins, Greg Ginn)

#### Side Two

1. Drinking And Driving (Henry Rollins, Greg Ginn)
2. Retired At 21 (Greg Ginn)
3. Society's Tease (Greg Ginn)
4. It's All Up To You (Greg Ginn)

### Cassette and CD Edition

*On the cassette edition, the first seven tracks compromised set one, and the rest compromised side two.*

1. Paralyzed (Henry Rollins, Greg Ginn)
2. Crazy Girl (Greg Ginn)
3. Black Love (Greg Ginn)
4. White Hot (Henry Rollins, Greg Ginn)
5. in My Head (Henry Rollins, Greg Ginn)
6. Out Of This World (Bill Stevenson, Kira Roessler)
7. I Can See You (Greg Ginn)
8. Drinking And Driving (Henry Rollins, Greg Ginn)
9. Retired At 21 (Greg Ginn)
10. Society's Tease (Greg Ginn)
11. It's All Up To You (Greg Ginn)
12. You Let Me Down (Henry Rollins, Bill Stevenson)