Mommy's Little Monster by Social Distortion

Mommy's Little Monster, Social Distortion's debut, came out in 1983 on 13th Floor Records with Thom Wilson producing, and it's a snapshot of the Fullerton band still deep in the Orange County hardcore scene they came up in with Agent Orange and the Adolescents. Mike Ness sings and plays guitar alongside Dennis Danell, with bassist Brent Liles and drummer Derek O'Brien making their only album with the band before both were gone by early 1984.

This is a different animal from the country- and blues-tinged Social Distortion that came later: fast, bratty, snotty punk and hardcore with Ness's sneer front and center and guitars that sound like they were plugged in five minutes before the tape rolled. The title track is a leering, hook-heavy sing-along. Punk fanzines loved it, and it went on to be counted as a key influence on the pop-punk and skate-punk bands coming up behind them.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.