Mommy's Little Monster (album)

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Mommy's Little Monster
Social Distortion - Mommy's Little Monster cover.jpg
Studio album by
Social Distortion
Released1983
RecordedDecember 24, 1982 at The Casbah in Fullerton, California[1]
Genre
Length27:14
Label13th Floor Records, Triple X Records
ProducerSocial Distortion, Chaz Ramirez, Thom Wilson
Social Distortion chronology
Mommy's Little Monster
(1983) 		Prison Bound
(1988)
Singles from Mommy's Little Monster
  1. "Another State of Mind"
    Released: 1983

Mommy's Little Monster is the debut studio album by American punk rock band Social Distortion, released in 1983.[4]

Background[]

In 1982, Social Distortion took part in the tour with Youth Brigade (as chronicled in the documentary Another State of Mind) Shortly afterwards while playing a show at the infamous Hollywood punk hang out, "Cathay De Grande" Brent Lyles, (Bass) and Drummer, Derek O'Brien, quit and walked off stage for the last time. Monk at that time called upon an old friend and Drummer Chris Reece. He was living in San Francisco at the time and was drumming in the band, "The Lewd". He tried out for the band and was accepted. The Bass player role fell into the hands of old band friend of Dennis and Monk, John Maurer. Their first show together was at the STARDUST BALLROOM in Hollywood for a July 4 show Monk produced with The Dickies. Monk did a highly produced 48 track live recording of this show but has never been released to this date. Mommy's Little Monster was recorded at The Casbah in Fullerton, California, on December 24, 1982. They recorded the album in a single session for numerous hours to cut down studio costs.

Reissues[]

Mommy's Little Monster was reissued several times, with different formats and labels. The album was originally released on vinyl LP in 1983 on 13th Floor Records, a label owned by their manager at the time, Monk Rock.

The Triple X Records label reissued the album on CD, vinyl, and cassette in 1989. Six years later, Mommy's Little Monster was re-issued once again when Ness started Time Bomb Recordings with some of the profits he made from Social Distortion's Epic releases and reissued Mommy's Little Monster on vinyl, cassette and CD through a distribution deal with Arista Records. A third reissue was released in 2010 on Epitaph Records in Europe and the United Kingdom. A gramophone picture disc version of Mommy's Little Monster was released in 2001.

Reception[]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4/5 stars[2]

Paul Tinelli of AllMusic gave Mommy's Little Monster four out of five stars and called it "the epitome of early-'80s suburban California punk and provided inspiration for many future Californians, including the Offspring and Rancid" and said that it "finds the band supplying plenty of attitude and aggression as they rip through nine tracks worth of hard, fast, power chord-filled tracks loaded with snarling anti-establishment lyrics and themes." Tinelli also stated that "The Creeps" and "Telling Them" "show a young punk group that is very angry, and they were going to let society know it whether they wanted to hear it or not", and adds that the title track "Mommy's Little Monster" "gives you a good idea of the characters Social Distortion was surrounded by in the scene of the day."[2]

Tim Yohannan of Maximumrocknroll said "You've got to know by now what Social Distortion sound like—those distinctive vocals, the harmonies, the rockin' guitars, and melodic hooks galore. Their album is filled with more of the same. Nothing here is too frantic except 'The Creeps', which really blazes forth. There's precious little exciting punky-pop around these days, but this is one of the rare examples of it."[5]

Track listing[]

All songs were written by Social Distortion.

  1. "The Creeps (I Just Wanna Give You)" – 2:03
  2. "Another State of Mind" – 2:38
  3. "It Wasn't a Pretty Picture" – 3:10
  4. "Telling Them" – 3:12
  5. "Hour of Darkness" – 2:49
  6. "Mommy's Little Monster" – 3:33
  7. "Anti-Fashion" – 2:19
  8. "All the Answers" – 2:23
  9. "Moral Threat" – 5:16

The title track was used in the game Tony Hawk's Underground, and the live version of the title track is used in the game Guitar Hero: Metallica. "All the Answers" and "Moral Threat" were originally recorded in 1981 and can be heard on the 1995 compilation Mainliner: Wreckage from the Past. "Another State of Mind" was covered by Green Day as a bonus track on 21st Century Breakdown when pre-ordered on iTunes. Blink-182 refer to the album name in their song "Easy Target". Face to Face covers "Telling Them" on their live album

Personnel[]

References[]

  1. ^ Mommy's Little Monster (liner notes). Social Distortion. Time Bomb Recordings. 1995. 70930-43500-2.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Allmusic review
  3. ^ Peake, Steve (January 7, 2019). "Top Punk Rock and Hardcore Bands of the '80s". LiveAbout. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  4. ^ Due to a typo on the Time Bomb Recordings CD reissue, many believe that this album was released in 1982, but this appears to be false. According to the liner notes, the album was recorded on Christmas Eve in 1982.
  5. ^ Yohannan, Tim (September 1983). "Mommy's Little Monster review". Maximum Rocknroll.
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