The story of Social Distortion began in 1978 somewhere in California. It was formed by frontman and guitarist Mike Ness, he was 16 years old and included future members Tom Corvin, Rikk Agnew, Frank Agnew and Casey Royer. The famous Los Angeles, California radio station KROQ (106.7FM) is who discovered the band and made them successful.
The band regrouped in 1979 when the Agnew brothers went to form their next band
The Adolescents and long-time guitarist
Dennis Danell, bassist
Brent Liles and drummer
Derek O'Brein all joined. In late 1980, Ness designed his own label Posh Boy Records and 13th Floor Records and released 3 7" vinyls "
1945"/"
Playpen", "
Mainliner" and "
Justice for All", they were both released in 1981. The band finally started packing up tours (venues, countries, states, etc.) for also rehursal. Their songs have also appeared on the "Rodney on the ROQ" series, a compilation by the KROQ disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer.
On December 24, 1982, the band headed to the studio to record their first album "Mommy's Little Monster" and it was released in 1983 featuring a single "Another State Of Mind". Also during the year, they released a documentary called "Another State Of Mind", featuring other bands like: Minor Threat and Youth Brigade. The film was about punks traveling across the country in a broken down school bus, getting drunk, being punk and all sorts of thing's you'll never know!
Despite their early success within the punk community, Social Distortion quickly ran into trouble as Ness' drug habit worsened to the point of overdoses and run-ins with the law. Ness was able to get clean and the band finally returned in 1988 with their second album after a five year hiatus, entitled "Prison Bound" on their short-lived label TimeBomb Recordings with 2 newcomers: John Maurer (bass) and Chris Reece (drums). The songs on the album are based on Ness' stay in jail during the hiatus and also a young boy named Johnny. The album also included a Rolling Stones song cover "Backstreet Girl".
After that, the band left TimeBomb Recordings and signed a contract with Epic Records in 1989 and began recording their third album (produced by Dave Jerden (Anthrax, Jane's Addiction, The Offspring)) and called it "self-titled" then it finally arrived in spring 1990, including the well-recognized hit "Ball And Chain". But the album was still more successful "Mommy's Little Monster" and "Prison Bound". However, you may say that 1990 was a good year for the band, because that's when they shook the world exploring their main influences of 70's styles like hard (Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones), progressive (King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Rush) and punk (The Clash, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols) rock. Also during the year, they have visited the first annual of the KROQ concert Acoustic Christmas.
The band soon recorded the fourth album in 1991 (produced by Dave Jerden (Anthrax, Jane's Addiction, The Offspring) again), entitled "Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell" and arrived in winter 1992 with smash hits like "Bad Luck" and "When She Begins". It was the last to feature the drummer (Chris Reece) who has now left the band and Social Distortion regrouped in 1993 while looking for a new drummer Randy Carr.
In 1994, the band announced that they would be recording their next album (produced by Michael Beinhorn (Ozzy Osbourne, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden)) and spent all following year trying to get it done. Soon after, Carr left the band and was replaced by Chuck Biscuits (D.O.A., Danzig) who would appear on the album. It was finished in mid-1996 with "White Light, White Heat, White Trash" given as the official tltle and finally released it in September. It included a single "I Was Wrong". It was also the last to feature guitarist Dennis Danell. In the following year (1997), the band has left Epic Records to return to their short-lived label TimeBomb Recordings. After all, the band would never stop touring, otherwise they have released a live album "Live At The Roxy" in June 1998, which was recorded live on April 8-10 of the same year.
In 1999, Ness released two solo albums, Cheating At Solitaire and Under The Influences, covering tunes from the likes of Bob Dylan and Marty Robbins, and toured to promote the efforts, leaving Social Distortion on the backburner after 20 years together. As the group started planning a new album, Danell passed away due to a brain aneurysm on February 29, 2000, leaving Ness to contemplate moving forward without the one constant member of the band that had been by his side since the beginning.
After hiring ex-U.S. Bombs and Cadillac Tramps guitarist Jonny Wickersham to replace Danell, and drafting in Charlie Quintana from his solo project to replace the departed Biscuits, the revamped Social Distortion began touring semi-frequently again in 2001, playing strings of sold-out shows in the Los Angeles area around the New Year for three straight years.
In 2004, their first album in eight years was finally completed, and Sex, Love, and Rock N' Roll was released on September 28, 2004. Upon completion of the album, longtime bassist John Maurer left the band to spend more time with his family, being briefly replaced by Rancid's Matt Freeman on tour. Freeman was soon replaced with Brent Harding, another former member of Ness' solo band.
As of 2005, the band is still active today. They will soon be working on a new album coming out sometime in 2006.
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