On subsequent albums, Black Flag experimented with avant-garde jazz, psychedelia, spoken word, and other very non-punk sounds, all while staying punk as fuck. 1984's My War helped pioneer grunge and sludge metal and it's been cited as a cornerstone of those genres by Cobain and his peers like Melvins and Mudhoney. They helped draw the blueprint for hardcore as we know it in the late '70s, and after perfecting it, they started to branch out into other territory, exploring slower, more off-kilter rhythms and more experimental, dissonant guitar work. They faced their detractors at the time, but their constantly-evolving music has held up well over time and gone on to influence tons of artists across punk, metal, indie rock, and more. But Black Flag were never afraid to take the risk.

Branch out from the typical formula, and you risk being seen as no longer punk and betraying the community that first supported you. Punk may be musical freedom, but it's also had a pretty strict definition over the years. So many punk bands have historically been averse to musical evolution. It's saying, doing and playing what you want,' Kurt Cobain once famously said, and few bands embodied this sentiment more than one of Cobain's biggest influences, Black Flag.

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