In many respects Keith Morris remains the voice of first-wave American hardcore. Ian MacKaye may be more ideologically righteous, H.R. more cross-culturally versed, Bob Mould and Grant Hart more technically nuanced, and the late-great D. Boon more politically engaged and unpredictable. But as the voice of late-70s era Black Flag—and later, as frontman of the Circle Jerks—Morris helped define the genre’s then-burgeoning dynamic of youthful rebellion and pent-up aggression. As far as I’m concerned, “Nervous Breakdown” is not only the inception point but also the epitome of hardcore punk, and 33 years later it remains every bit the contentious clarion call it was as the Panic moniker gave way to Black Flag in late 1978. Much of this has to do with Morris, of course, who delivered one of the era’s most lasting and invigorating vocal performances on the band’s debut release, embodying the restless fury that Southern California was then breeding in its adolescent community. That Morris only lasted a couple years in Black Flag is no surprise; what has continued to impress, however, is the man’s resilience and dedication to the movement that spawned this suburban blitzkrieg in the first place. After many failed attempts at officially reuniting the Circle Jerks as an actual recording entity over the past couple of years, Morris instead opted for an entirely new band. Operating under the awkward banner OFF!, Morris’s new group traffics in two-chord, one-minute hardcore like it never went out of style, and as its title suggests, their first widely available release, First Four EPs, gathers the entirety of their output to date.
