No mention of either of my favorite songs by them yet? “Pleasure Seeker” & “Reach For The Sky.” These songs are much more rockin’ than their more familiar tunes.
The first Social Distortion song I heard was “Could’ve Been Me,” off their self-titled album. I borrowed that album from someone, maybe one of my little brother’s friends, and fell in love with Social D. Later, I briefly dated a guy who claimed to have been present at one of Social D’s first shows in the 80’s, a house party in somebody’s backyard in Orange County. He said Mike Ness was really skinny then and may have been doing heroin at the time. (He is a recovering addict, from what I’ve heard.)
Also, I should mention that a couple of years ago, I bought my daughter a child-sized Social D T-shirt with the band logo and the words “Mommy’s Little Monster” on the front. She liked running around yelling “Mommy’s little monster! Mommy’s little monster!” when she had it on. Sadly, she outgrew it and they don’t make them in older kid sizes.
I’ve seen them 4 times. For this conservative, every time is riding the line of danger. You can imagine a knife fight at an SD show, and I’ve seen a fistfight.
Mike is a modern street bard par excellence.
Don’t Take Me for Granted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdZb2inh4YM&feature=related Proof that they haven’t lost it. Of course, every position has changed at least twice, including RG.
Even though I’ve loved them since HS (the 80s), the show at The Fillmore last month was my first time seeing them. Not sure how I managed to miss them all those years, but I am glad I remedied that!
Actually, I somehow missed the announcement of the shows (all January) and they were all sold out when I heard it on the radio on the way home from work one night. So I scoped out craigslist for a ticket. (I went solo, since my husband doesn’t like them.) Found a guy that had 2 tix but needed a ride to the show. So we emailed back and forth for a bit and were a go on that arrangement. I get a ticket, he gets a ride. I risk being chopped to bits and thrown in the San Francisco Bay for a chance to hear Mike Ness croon out Prison Bound. So worth it! 
Anyway, I’d planned to meet this guy at a certain time and place, but figured I’d check the status of the show since it was during a nasty storm. - Show Postponed due to illness. - I called the guy and told him, he confirmed, I said thanks anyway, maybe we can try again when they reschedule.
They ended up adding a couple of additional shows in Feb. so I just bought myself a ticket. No psycho killer for me.
I did score a nifty Social D Fillmore poster that is now hung in my husband’s computer lounge though. And I’ll definitely catch them whenever they are in the area. They put on an awesome show. Actually, there is a very brief recap of my night at the show here.
Southern fried Clash. Love 'em.
Well done sir - fire up the faithful.
Dayum, that’s a cool poster.
My golf buddy’s got a golf shirt with the dancing skelli for when he really wants to be stylin on the links. I covet that shirt!
I like them OK. I’ve never been a fan of bands consisting of one guy and a revolving cast of sidemen. (I know this wasn’t the case early on, but it sure has been for the last, oh 20 years).
Having said that (please don’t hurt me), I’d rather they be popular than (throws up in mouth) Ryan Adams.
I’ve only ever heard their self-titled album, but it’s a definite classic.
[QUOTE=Ol’Gaffer]
Wow. I’ve never heard their version of Death or Glory - what is it on?
Don’t know if it was on an album. IIRC, it was a single or B-side. I found this on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpDss-qZe_E
Love Social D.
I see that it’s on the soundtrack to Lords of Dogtown. I got an iTunes Store card for Christmas and that song will be my first purchase.
They’re an Orange County band. Dennis Danell, the guitar player, was a well liked local. He was a friend of a friend and I’ve actually met him and played him in beer pong in my friend’s garage (the REAL SPORT with a paddle). Completely down to earth guy. He died in 2000 after apparently suffering a brain aneurysm. R.I.P.
I didn’t know Social Distortion at all till I bought Guitar Hero for my 10-YO (OK, for me too) and discovered Story Of My Life. This thread – especially Scissorjack’s “Southern fried Clash” comment – makes me want to learn more. Count me in the newly initiated.
**Cluricaun **- you gotta convert! Your work here is done; your shirt has been vindicated!
Son of a bitch. I checked the iTunes Store for Social D’s Death and Glory and I see that it’s “Clean”. I looked it up and I guess that means the lyrics are “cleaned up”, i.e. censored. After listening to the video I can see that they silenced the all important word in:
WTF? I’m not buying that! I got all excited getting some Social D CDs so I was looking at the album artwork on Amazon and thought, shit I think I have that album (the eponymous one). Heh, it came in my last Amazon shipment and is sitting in a box next to my desk.
Well with your help of course my good man. Now I wonder if I buy a gold tooth display that I can turn some people on to ZZ Top…
Cluricaun- Hideous fashion choices helping others improve musical taste since a few days ago. 
well, are you smokin’ Lucky Stripes and wearin’ nylons, too?
<for those not familiar, these are the lyrics to one of my all-time fave ZZ Top songs, I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide - which has a truly amazing, grimy, rattling little solo in the middle featuring the Rev. Willy G playing his guitar Pearly Gates using, as always, a quarter for a pick - just too cool.>
I saw them twice at UCLA in the Mommy’s Little Monster days, once on the student union patio at lunchtime (1984), and once opening for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in the student union Grand Ballroom (1985). No fights, but a crowd surfer got dropped on his head during “Under My Thumb”. Apparently he got passed over to where the Joan Jett fans were concentrated, and nobody wanted to catch him. It was a strange crowd that had self-imposed segregation between who was there to see which band, and surprisingly little overlap.
I wonder what would have happened if there were really fans of the opening band for Something Corporate when I saw them. (I don’t remember the opening band’s name.) A group of the concert-goers sat down on the standing room only concert floor to protest the perceived lameness of the opening act (they weren’t great, but I’ve seen worse.) If a crowd surfer woulda gone there…bam!
One of the greatest American rock and roll bands - in any subgenre - of the past 25 years. I love all of Social D’s albums, and have seen them live four times, but what I’ve been spinning the hell out of recently is Mike Ness’s solo album Cheating at Solitaire. It’s one part rock to two parts billy, and has a couple of great cameos (Bruce Springsteen, Brian Setzer). It’s like a really heavy old-school country album.