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Rating: That cubicle was a hovel filled with the most rancid smell that half a dozen living human bodies could generate. The kind of thing that if you ran your hand through your hair and then shook it over the salad, it was already well dressed with oil, salt, and everything else. The big room where parents left us to spend the summer months was full of all those things that, once bought and chewed for a more or less long period, had finally been digested and dumped here, far from sight and memory. Because sometimes even just seeing how they squandered their money so disgracefully can hurt the heart and bloat the bile. In that poorly soundproofed stube, we could make all the noise we wanted, and it was there with a never-tiring stereo always on that we spent the fullest summers of our lives. We drank gasoline with quite a few octanes with a cigarette in hand and sandpaper shaped like a nice pair of abrasive riffs to clean our mouths. That year a tight punk rock CD came out, but with a hint of melody that drove us crazy. I still remember the copied cassette, with the title half-written since it was too long to fit on that strip of paper. Social Distorsion, with an s, the name: English in a small Alpine provincial town in the middle of nowhere hadn't arrived yet, and there was no internet, and even if there was, the connection was a slow and sticky luxury not accessible to everyone.
Whole days writing identical songs in broken English, abusing and mistreating a couple of guitars. Two crooked, warped six-strings, rotten and toxic voices trying to imitate Mike Ness and Social Distortion (with a t this time): our idols of the moment. Our girlfriends were either completely deficient or truly loved us, unlike our current partners/wives, because staying on that worn-out couch listening to ten hours of uninterrupted hellish metal had no other reasonable explanation. When we finished the demo, we were convinced we had birthed a new masterpiece of music and were ready to sing at the village fair. Well, that was just the first step of a dazzling career now on the launch pad.
Born in 1978, I first got to know "Social Distortion" that summer of 1997 when I devoured with my crew the already mentioned, or perhaps not if I reread it correctly, "White Light, White Heat, White Trash": a clear mockery/sarcastic tribute to the Velvet Underground. I immediately fell in love with that imposing sonic wall generated by the Ness/Dannell riffs. In this album, it is undeniable to notice a heavier sound that leans towards hard rock with strong punk hues compared to the past. I remember my throat screaming in pain while trying to get that angry, rusty, yet melodic wheeze out as I sang the verses of "I Was Wrong": a sort of mea culpa for the frontman's past mistakes, who had enormous drug problems. And how could I sweep under the rug (the memory) the wild pogo with friends while "Don't Drug Me Down" flashed by: a track against those who try to drag you down into oblivion and don't accept you for who you are. Reminiscences of classic punk in "Through These Eyes" which, in three minutes without variations, charges the listener. Mike Ness's band in this latest work with Dannell on guitar alternates more paced and melodic tracks ("When The Angels Sing" and "Crown of Thorns") with others decidedly more metallic and abrasive like "Down On the World Again", "Pleasure Seeker", and "Gotta Know the Rules" which recall the lyrics and sound of the debut "Mommy's Little Monster" thirteen years earlier.
Unlike most bands dedicated to this genre, Social Distortion over time had the courage to innovate by adding country, cowpunk, blues inserts to their early career repertoire, emphasizing a greater melodic streak (See."Prison Bound" and "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell"). Another factor that sets them apart from punk rock formations is the scanty production that marked their career; letting a few years pass between a new release and the previous one, Social Distortion is one of those few bands that can boast a high-level discography without skeletons in the closet.
More than once I've had to hear from the know-it-all bookworm of the moment, (in most cases a nerd who has never touched, for heaven's sake there's the risk of bubonic plague, a musical instrument in his life), stating with smug egocentricity like he had the truth in his pocket that adolescent music shouldn't be listened to in adulthood. Well, I grew up with Soundgarden, Rem, AC/DC, Metallica, Nirvana, Faith No More, Jam, Black Sabbath, and a thousand others that have been the soundtrack to my youth and I still listen to them. And when I put an album like "White Light, White Heat, White Trash" on the stereo, it feels like reading a famous novel by Oscar Wilde; only, I'm the painting that ages instead of the Dorian Gray of the moment who, damn it, continues to go around with the unchanged lightness of times gone by!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Don't Drag Me Down (03:51)
Children are taught to hate, parents just couldn't wait
Some are rich and some are poor, others will just suffer more
Have you ever been ashamed and felt society try to keep you down?
I begin to watch things change and see them turn around
Turn around, they'll try to keep you down
Turn around, turn around
Don't drag me down
Ignorance like a gun in hand, reach out to the promised land
Your history books are full of lies, media-blitz gonna dry your eyes
Have you ever been afraid, and felt society try to keep you down?
I begin to watch things change and see them turn around
Turn around, they'll try to keep you down
Turn around, turn around
Don't drag me down
*guitar solo*
Ignorance like a gun in hand, reach out to the promised land
Your history books, are full of lies, media-blitz gonna dry your eyes
You're eighteen, wanna be a man
Your granddaddy's in the Ku Klux Klan
Taking two steps foward, and four steps back
Gonna go to the White House and paint it black...
Turn around, they'll try to keep you down
Turn around
Turn around, they'll try to keep you down
Turn around, turn around
Don't drag me down
04 I Was Wrong (03:59)
when I was young I was so full of fear
I hid behind anger and held back the tears
it was me against the world
I was sure I would win
but the world fought back
punished me for my sins
well I felt so alone
so insecure
but I blamed you instead
made sure I was heard
they tried to warn me of my evil ways
but I couldn't hear what they had to say
I was wrong..
self distructions got me again
I was wrong...
I realize now that I was wrong
and I think about my loves
well I've had a few
i'm sorry that I hurt them
did I hurt you too?
well I took what I wanted
put my heart on the shelf
but how can you love when you don't love yourself?
it was me against the world
I was sure that i'd win
but the world faught back
punished me for my sins
they tried to warn me of my evil way
but i couldn't hear what they had to say
I was wrong...
self distructions got me again
I was wrong...
I realize now that i was wrong
I was wrong...
I was wrong...
well I grew up fast
and I grew up hard
something was wrong from the very start
I was fighting everybody
I was fighting everything
but the only one that I hurt was me
I got societys blood running down my face
somebody help me get out of this place
how could someones bad luck last so long
until i realized that i was wrong
09 Crown of Thorns (04:16)
Pretty much been alone now for almost 5 years
I could always find a way to hide those bitter tears
And still I'm a waiting a wishing somehow
I wish I knew then what I know now...
(Chorus:)
It's no bed of roses, it aint no crown of thorns
Better than lonely, I've been there before
Gotta bad reputation for playing with love
Gonna play again now and beat the odds above
And still I'm a waiting and wishing somehow
I wish I knew then, what I know now...
(Chorus)
(Bridge:)
Are you tired of being alone?
Or have you fallen out of love?
Do you care enough about yourself
I have wore your crown of thorns
10 Pleasure Seeker (03:33)
Here I come, I'm on a run
Who wants to fight temptation that's no fun
C'mon and play the games, don't you feel no shame
That's what Eve said to Adam before she came
chorus:
You can smile now cry later on
you know that it might be wrong
But it feels so good, like you know it would
There's damnation and disgrace, and guilt rears its ugly face
Yet you beg for more, just a little more
Stand in line, don't you lose your mind
Try like me to seek your pleasure three at a time
There's souls for sale, your gonna burn in Hell
And if tomorrow never comes, its just as well
chorus:
Feel the pain! I feel it too
Have your hedonistic ways got the best of you
Play the games, don't feel no shame
That's what Eve said to Adam before she came
chorus:
12 Under My Thumb (02:50)
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
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Other reviews
By Pinhead
This record has the song to the notes of which I will bring down the curtain, and this alone is enough to make it a small masterpiece.
I admit it, today I understand that I was wrong, I fought against the whole world sure of winning, but the world punished me for my mistakes.
