Top 10 of 2009: The Cro-Mags' Harley Flanagan

Top 10+ Influences

• Bad Brains Roir cassette STILL one of my favourites [sic]
• Black Sabbath "Masters of Reality"
• Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bollocks"
• Motorhead "Ace of Spades"
• The Clash first album
• Venom "Black metal"
• Cockney Rejects "Greatest Hits Vol 1"
• Misfits "Walk Among Us"
• Circle Jerks first album
• Black Flag "Jealous Again" of course I like "Damaged" as well
• Discharge "Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing" was one of my favourite hard records of all time
• of course I also love old Minor Threat; I can't leave them out that wouldn't be right hahaha
• Slayer "South of Heaven"
• and I did like some Pantera a lot
• as well as some of Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of the Puppets"

Favorite Records He Put Out

• "Age of Quarrel" demos later released as "Before the quarrel." "Age of Quarrel" was all right I didn't feel it did us justice.
• "Revenge" was my favourite Cro-Mags release
• the new Harley War CD/DVD that is distributed by MVD is pretty cool and it sums up a lot of the influences I mentioned above in its songs and style anyway. To hear some of it and to see lots of photos of me and some of the bands I mentioned above including The Clash and many others check out my MySpace page

I also have a book coming out early next year Called "Life Of My Own" NYHCOG - it looks like Feral House is putting it out, they put out the American hardcore book by Steve Blush.

I know that's [more than 10] but I tried, now bare in mind I like a lot of other kinds of music, but I grew up on Old Punk and Reggae, I'd have to say almost any Bob Marley, I like a lot of reggae and old ska as well as Jazz and all kinds of crazy "world" music but I hate that term, hell I sit here and listen to Paco De Lucia. I like a lot of different stuff: Return To Forever, I like a lot of crazy stuff, I like Native American music, Indian music, I even like Viking flute music; it's awesome stuff.

Not to go on, but old school [']70s reggae, uptown top ranking by Althea and Donna, Jacob Miller, I also like some early rap type shit I mean it was all happening when I grew up the beginning of that and hardcore etc. early [']80s "The Message" - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. "The Message," that was such a classic song.

And a lot of the early pre pre hip hop stuff, Jimmy Castor that was like pre B-boy, I mean I grew up hanging out with the Beasty [sic] Boys back when they were fans of my old punk [band] in the late [']70s early [']80s etc. I even liked some Biggie Smalls and some old PE and Wu-Tang, Cro-Mags was on profile with Run DMC and Rob Base back in the day if u [sic] grew up around then u couldn't not be around KRS1 and all that stuff all the early NY vibe. But I'm really mostly a old school head.

Of course when I was a little kid I liked [the] Jackson Five and shit, I also liked Hendrix though and I loved Billie Holiday and still do! I was always into music as far back as I can remember but what happened was in '77 I got the [Sex] Pistols' album when I was ten and that fucked it all up for me hahahahaha, then I got the Damned's first 45s and their first album, all the old Stiff Records releases, as well as the first Clash record, Dead Boys, Ramones and so on.