MIKE NESS EXPLAINS WHY THE CALIFORNIA PUNKS TOOK A DECIDEDLY ROOTSY LEFT TURN WITH THEIR SELF-TITLED 1990 ALBUM (YEAH, THE ONE WITH “RING OF FIRE”)
By Mark McStea
NEWS + NOTES
SOCIAL DISTORTION FORMED in 1978, and amid ever-changing lineups, the presence of singer/guitarist Mike Ness has been a constant. With the release of their self-financed debut album, Mommy’s Little Monster, in 1983, they rapidly became one of the biggest names on the California punk scene, influencing countless bands in their wake. Ness’s well-documented addiction problems then saw the band stall, with a five-year gap between their debut record and its 1988 follow-up, Prison Bound. Ness knew he had to prioritize his recovery over the band’s progress at that time. “There wouldn’t have been a band if I didn’t sort myself out,” he says.
Social Distortion continued to play regularly, maintaining their hardcore, loyal fan base even when they were dormant on the recording front. Those followers were initially taken by surprise with the release of Prison Bound, which saw Ness draw heavily on the rootsy American genres of blues, rock ’n’ roll, country and rockabilly to deliver a record that was considerably different from the straightforward punk of their debut.
Two years later, the band signed to Epic, giving Ness some much appreciated financial security. “I was able to give up my day job as a house painter and focus on music,” he says. With the machinery of a major label behind them, the band’s third album, simply titled Social Distortion (1990), saw them achieve their best sales to date and established them as major-league players. The record firmly defined the Social Distortion blueprint for every album that followed, with Ness utilizing the soulful roots of Americana harnessed to the raw energy of punk, as the ultimate means of expressing his unique musical mojo.
Ness has been out of action for more than a year since receiving a diagnosis of tonsil cancer at the end of 2022; but he has come a long way down the road to recovery, scheduling live dates for Social Distortion this spring.
How’s your health?
I’m doing a lot better, continuing to make progress and working hard on my rehab, but it’s been a tough time. It’s been almost a year now. Head and neck cancers are a lot different from other cancers; it’s not an easy surgery. I’ve had to go through intensive rehab just for speech and swallo
