Group Sex (album)

Background

The recording sessions for Group Sex took place in July 1980 at Byrdcliffe Studios in Culver City, California. Two songs on the album, "Wasted" and "Don't Care", were originally songs Morris had co-written and performed with Black Flag. "Wasted" appears on the extended play Nervous Breakdown, while "Don't Care" was recorded during an early recording session for what was supposed to be Black Flag's debut studio album. After Morris left Black Flag, the tapes were shelved. Black Flag version later appeared on compilation album Everything Went Black. The songs "Red Tape" and "Behind the Door" were also performed with Black Flag. "Red Tape" was a Lehrer/Morris collaboration nodding to Lehrer’s background as a jazz drummer. The jazz principle of “trading fours” was co-opted by Lehrer in an effort to expand the narrow range of musicality that then-existed in hardcore punk. The Circle Jerks’ "Behind the Door" was re-written and released as "Room 13" on Black Flag's debut studio album Damaged in 1981.

When Morris recorded and released "I Don't Care" with the Circle Jerks (without crediting Greg Ginn, who composed the music), Black Flag responded by rewriting the lyrics, recording and releasing the song as "You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!" for the Jealous Again twelve-inch extended play, which was also released in 1980. "Live Fast Die Young" is a reworking with new lyrics by Morris of "Cover Band", a song written and composed by Greg Hetson for his previous band, Redd Kross, who featured it on their EP from 1980, Red Cross.

Cover art

The image used for the cover art of Group Sex is a stylized version by graphic designer Diane Zincavage of a photo taken by punk photographer Ed Colver after a Circle Jerks/Adolescents performance at the Marina del Rey Skate Park in Marina del Rey, California. Morris had seen Colver in the audience and after the show gathered the members of the crowd into the bowl of the skate park and asked Colver to take a picture of it. Members of the audience included Darby Crash and Lorna Doom of the Germs, as well as Germs manager Rob Henley. Though the photo itself features Casey Royer of the Adolescents and Circle Jerks bassist Roger Rogerson along with his girlfriend at the time Laura Bennett and various other people of the California hardcore punk scene. Two members of the audience can be seen wearing Public Image Ltd shirts.

Reception

Group Sex was met with generally positive reviews and ratings, and the album has been called a classic of the hardcore punk genre. Mark Deming of Allmusic rated the album four out of five stars and stated "as such things go, it's tight, reasonably well played, the songs kinda sorta have hooks, and Keith Morris is a pretty good frontman, but if you're looking for nuance, you're pretty much out of luck. Then again, if you were looking for nuance in a Circle Jerks album, you've obviously been misinformed as to how this punk rock stuff works."

Well known rock critic Robert Christgau gave it a "B+" (which was one of his highest ratings at the time) saying that "Like the Angry Samoans, although not as clearly or catchily, these slammers double-time metal riffs behind the rants, yielding such indelible plaints as "Deny Everything" ("I'm being framed"), "Paid Vacation" ("It's Afghanistan!"), and "Group Sex" (sensitive reading from the personals plus screaming title chorus)."