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In 1983, Social Distortion released «Mommy’s Little Monster».
That album came out when their native Orange County was overwhelmed by the hardcore fury, and those were times when hardcore really took no prisoners, not even punk veterans.
In fact, hardcore thrived on the decline of punk philosophy, something like “your death for my life.”
To say that Ness, Danell, Liles, and O’Brien didn’t find fertile grounds to cultivate, so much so that the following «Prison Bound» took several years to arrive, although it’s true that the wait was largely due to Ness’s personal issues.
It’s also true that Social Distortion never gave much weight, then as now, to the ritual appointment with a new album to send to the shelves, and when things went well, they waited “only” two years between one release and the next, those passed between «Prison Bound» and the self-titled third, and then between that and «Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell».
But nothing will shake from my head that it is better that way, that Social Distortion reappeared on the scene when even in Orange County the hot hardcore passions had largely cooled down.
In those five years spent in silence, «Mommy’s Little Monster» had meanwhile circulated among a few but good ones, those who welcomed the follow-up story as the return of the Savior, because it’s one thing to have «Punks Not Dead» by the Exploited in hand, another to have «Mommy’s Little Monster» under your skin.
That album delivered them to punk history, Social Distortion, regardless of all the good they managed to do later.
However, there are those – few or many, I can’t say – willing to put both hands in the fire that they would have made it into history anyway, even if they had never written, sung, and played the songs of «Mommy’s Little Monster».
Because first came a handful of equally essential songs, collected in 1995 in «Mainliner», songs like heavy drugs injected intravenously, destined to end up under the skin and remain there forever.
Ten tracks in total.
«Moral Threat» and «All the Answers» were already known for being part of «Mommy’s Little Monster», but already knowing them did not in any way diminish the passion of listening to them again and again.
And then this “new” «Moral Threat», halved in length and much rawer, was truly a new sensation.
The same goes for «Justice for All», which later appeared on «Prison Bound» under the modified title «It’s the Law»; indeed, here it really is a different track, drawn out to the limit but with a melodic and even classic vein prominently displayed, something that from the very beginning was a distinctive characteristic of Social Distortion and then of much of the Californian punk scene.
Then, the rest were all tracks never heard before, at least around here, because imagine who knew about the semi-clandestine singles and b-sides that Social Distortion had recorded when «Mommy’s Little Monster» was still a mirage.
And here it came to the point that even the toughest temperament of the toughest punk was put to a very tough test, let alone me, who has never been punk, neither by temperament nor by attitude, at most by affinity.
Because «1945» and «Playpen», «Mass Hysteria», and that explosive «Under My Thumb» which shattered even the rolling stones into pebbles, gave no escape and, if they had received the deserved visibility at the time, the rising hardcore fanatics wouldn’t have been able to dominate Orange County with impunity.
Not to mention «Mainliner», by far the best among the tracks that Strummer and Jones would have wanted to write, without ever succeeding.
And so yes, I will put both hands in the fire that Social Distortion would have passed into history even if they had never recorded «Mommy’s Little Monster».
These barely twenty minutes would have been more than enough.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 1945 (01:52)
[Chorus:]
Atom bomb,
TNT new disease,
Poor city flying over hiroshima,
1945 the city looks small from way up here i wonder who'll survive,
[Chorus]
Poor city a blinding flash hotter than the sun,
Dead bodies lie across the path the radiation colors the air finishing one by one,
[Chorus]
02 Playpen (02:40)
When the cat's away, the mice will play
Beer and drugs and things to say to you, to you
Lots of girls and lots of boys
Loud music and all the toys we need,
We need
Chorus:
We have to go
the neighbors have complained
We have to go
the walls have all been stained
They have to know
they cant stop us now
They have to know
we could burn this town
Old men and kids on the run
Missing teeth and now the damage is
Done, it's all been done
Losing battles, losing fights
The police would love to take away our
Rights, our rights
Chorus:
03 Mainliner (02:30)
Nothing she can do, She's so confused
Something should be done, But she'll refuse
She's got a new fix, to ease her pain
She's got a new fix, to control her brain
Oh, no no no mainliner, mainliner
Out of frustration, she unwraps the foil
Takes out her spoon, starts to boil
She used to be pretty, To all her friends
But the hypodermic needle
Took her to the end
Oh, no no no mainliner, mainliner
She's boiling up, always in heat
Stick it in again
Just to keep her beat
This time she'll try a little more
This time we found her on the floor
Oh, no no no mainliner, mainliner...
04 Moral Threat (03:35)
You beat us up when we're alone
Come back later and then you're gone
Now you're tucked away in your bed
And I've got stitches in my head
Cause you didn't like my looks
Cause I'm not in the fashion books
Admit it, you had some fun,
Just remember, I'm not the only one
You made a show for all your friends
But they're not gonna stick around to the end
Then you're gonna think, "Was it really worth it?"
Then your head is rolling in all that shit
Cause you didn't like my looks
Cause I'm not in the fashion books
Admit it, you had some fun,
Just remember, I'm not the only one
The justice system is slow it's true
So we'll have to take care of you
You're only safety is suicide
Face it buddy it's the end of the ride
Cause you didn't like my looks
Cause I'm not in the fashion books
Admit it, you had some fun,
Just remember, I'm not the only one
Moral Threat
05 All the Answers (02:12)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7
You won't see these kids in heaven
Colored hair and funny clothes
They are the menace of today
And they won't listen to what you say
But don't forget that they're your future
They're loud, they're obnoxious and proud
They are conscious
But don't forget that they're your future
They're loud, they're obnoxious they're proud
They are conscious
But don't forget that they're your future
These kids are accused for all the violence
You can't even keep them silent
You thought you had all the answers
You won't be able to make them pay
Cause they're not gonna fade away
Don't forget that they're your future
They're loud, they're obnoxious and proud
They are conscious
But don't forget that they're your future
They're loud, they're obnoxious they're proud
They are conscious
But don't forget that they're your future
Don't forget they're your future
And you thought you had all the answers
06 Justice for All (02:03)
We're sitting here in this hell
You know it's like a living hell
Was what you did really a crime?
The judge says you'll have to serve time
It's the law that you're in jail
It's the law that sets your bail
Don't bother to try and fight
It's only a few more nights
The deputy, had a bad night
He had a little fight with his wife
And so he's gonna be pised at work
And he's gonna bum out your life
It's the law that you're in jail
It's the law that sets your bail
Don't bother to try and fight
It's only a few more nights
07 Under my Thumb (02:04)
Under my thumb' the girl
Who once had me down
Under my thumb's the girl
Who once fucked me around
It's down to me
The way she does when she stole the truth out of me
Change has come, she's under my thumb
Under my thumb's
The squirmin' dog who's just had her day
Under my thumb's
A girl who has just changed her ways
It's down to me
The difference in the clothes she wears, down to me
Change has come, she's under my thumb
Under my thumb
It's a siamese
Cat of a girl
Under my thumb
Well, she's the sweetest
Pet in the world
It's down to me
The way she does as wash your soul out of me
Change has come, she's under my thumb
Under my thumb
Her eyes are just kept
To herself
Under my thumb
Well, I
I can still look at someone else
It's down to me
The way she comes when I tell here to laugh at me
Change has come, she's under my thumb
Yeah
10 Mass Hysteria (02:41)
An emotional outbreak, stepped on by
people's feet, controlling panic, who'll
be the next one in line, a nervous
disturbance, there's a sniper on the top
of the roof, the masses of people, fitting
through one single door
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