Social Distortion

This album is more than a punk classic to me. The title track, "Little Monster," was written about my girlfriend at the time, and still best friend, giving me a compelling connection to a record that helped define the SC scene. I miss hanging out with Dennis and Monk, both in Vegas and Newport, cruising in the Citroën Ghost. Wild, dreamlike times, when the California scene was still something you experienced. Mike was a mess back then and thank god he's still alive. He hadn't yet developed the polished, rockabilly-influenced sound that would characterize the band's later records. This was pure California punk, driven by a restless energy of youth. Ness delivers every line with the conviction of someone who actually lived what he was singing about. Because he did. What makes this record special is that it wasn't manufactured rebellion. These were real kids, real relationships, real problems, and real experiences being turned into music. Dennis was an integral part of that sound and that era, and having known him and spent time around the band makes listening to this record especially sad now that he's gone. More than four decades later, it still sounds dangerous, immediate, and alive. It isn't perfect, and that's precisely why it is. Punk was never supposed to be perfect. Mommy's Little Monster remains one of the essential documents of early California punk. For most people, it's a great debut album. For me, it's a piece of my own history.