Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Bergamo stated: "I'm not the kind of guy who believes in burning books, but this record bothered me.
"[13][14] Subsequently, the members of Black Flag personally visited the pressing plant and apply a sticker over the MCA logo which read, "As a parent ...
[19] Unicorn ended up filing even more legal briefs, claiming that Black Flag had violated a court injunction against releasing new records.
Ginn and Dukowski ended up doing several days in Los Angeles County Jail for contempt of court, but the case fizzled out soon afterward when Unicorn went out of business, freeing Black Flag of any further obligation to the label.
Henry Rollins later stated on his radio show's blog that alternate versions of "What I See" and "at least one other song that I can't remember" also came out of the Damaged sessions, and that other outtakes from Black Flag's other albums also exist.
[20] According to Black Flag's engineer and live sound man Spot, a nearly complete version of Damaged was recorded at Golden Age Studios with Dez Cadena doing vocal duties.
No official version of the remainder of this recording session has ever been released, although unlicensed copies have circulated in tape trading circles for years.
[7] Reviewing for The Village Voice in January 1982, Robert Christgau was generally positive toward the album: "Although the B side drags more painfully than I bet was intended, this is powerful stuff.
Greg Ginn is the greatest noise guitarist since Johnny Thunders, new vocalist Henry Rollins can snarl along any tortured contour they serve up, and 'Rise Above,' 'Six Pack,' and the uproarious 'TV Party' prove they can write songs as well as gnash fragments.
Rolling Stone in their retrospective review says that "Black Flag lived up to it, defining L.A. hardcore punk with violent guitar and the pissed-off scream of Henry Rollins, especially on "TV Party" and "Rise Above."
"[3] Pitchfork in their retrospective review from 2002 says "Black Flag took on the essential ferocity of men about to snap, and combined that with an acidic sense of humor and these things called 'songs', a concept that many of the wannabe punkers of the day were still trying to sort out.
Conflicting feelings of violence, apathy, rage, and self-satire course through this one, the essential touchstone of the entire genre of West Coast hardcore, crystallizing the turmoil of the movement.
Also, guitarist/mastermind Greg Ginn wrote a slew of great songs for this record that, while suffused with the usual punk conceits (alienation, boredom, disenfranchisement), were capable of making one laugh out loud, especially the protoslacker satire 'TV Party' ..." and also noted "...
Extremely controversial when it was released, Damaged endured the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism (some reacted as though this record would alone cause the fall of America's youth) to become and remain an important document of its time."