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| | Social Distortion / artists (S) |
| Real Name: | Mike Ness, Brent Harding, John Wickersham, Charlie Quintana | | Profile: | The legendary and influential punk/alternative quartet Social Distortion was formed in 1979 in Fullerton, California by frontman Mike Ness and then-guitarist Dennis Danell. The band underwent line-up changes before releasing their first album, Mommy's Little Monster, in 1982. During that year, Social Distortion embarked on their first national tour with fellow punk band Youth Brigade – a trip chronicled in the celebrated punk rockumentary, Another State of Mind.
Social Distortion disappeared for a while before releasing their second album, Prison Bound, in 1988, which would be their first recording with the classic line-up of Ness, Danell and newcomers John Maurer on bass and Christopher Reece on drums. In 1989, the band signed a deal with Epic Records and recorded their highly successful third album, which is self-titled, containing their popular hits "Story of My Life" and "Ball and Chain" as well as the Johnny Cash cover "Ring of Fire".
The band disappeared again after the release of their fourth album, 1992's Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, and Reece left Social Distortion in 1993. After auditions were held to play drums in the band, former D.O.A./Danzig drummer Chuck Biscuits joined Social Distortion to record their next album, White Light, White Heat, White Trash, in 1996, which would be their last release on Epic Records.
In 1999, while Social Distortion wasn't touring, Ness went solo, releasing two albums, Cheating at Solitaire and Under the Influences, in the same year. Although some of Social Distortion's songs paid homage to country music artists, Cheating at Solitaire was an unalloyed expression of Ness's country influences. His second solo album, Under the Influences, contains country covers.
Before the band could work on their sixth album, Danell passed away on February 29, 2000 in his Newport Beach home after apparently suffering a brain aneurysm, leaving Ness as the only remaining original member of the band. He was replaced by current guitarist Jonny Wickersham. Biscuits also left during that time, and was replaced by Charlie Quintana.
Following Danell's death, Social Distortion continued touring on and their sixth album, now-titled Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll, was released on September 28, 2004. After it was completed, Maurer quit the band and was briefly replaced by Rancid's Matt Freeman. Months later, Freeman was replaced by current bassist Brent Harding, who was also part of Ness' solo tour.
It is rumored that the band has returned to the studio working on a new album that is due out sometime in 2008.
| | URLs: | http://www.socialdistortion.com/ | | Members: | Brent Harding, Brent Liles, Casey Royer, Charlie Quintana, Christopher Reece, Chuck Biscuits, Dennis Danell, Derek O'Brien, Frank Agnew, John Maurer, John Wickersham, Matt Freeman (2), Mike Ness, Rikk Agnew |
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