In 1982, Social Distortion took part in the tour with Youth Brigade Shortly afterwards while playing a show at the infamous Hollywood punk hang out, "Cathay De Grande" Brent Lyles, 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 4th of July 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 vinylLP 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. The 1995 version has remained in print ever since. The 13th Floor and Triple X versions are out of print. 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, but it is rare.
Cover art
MONK ROCK, Original manager and 13th Story Records and Music designed and produced this Album. Monk released a GATEFOLD, limited edition of 100 copies on the first pressing. With this in mind it was the only Punk Record of its kind to date. The inside was a collage of his photographs of the band from various shows. He also incorporated the lyrics from each song. Cover art was by Art Morales. Sticking with the theme of their first single release, of the song 1945. The front cover depicts the devastation of the Nuclear bomb dropped on Japan. Monk was also responsible for the band's iconic logo of the "skeleton Man" w/Martini glass and smoke. While living with another musician, Mac MaAlear, it was a drawing of hers for a New Year party they were having. The design was used for the first time on "Mommies Little Monster" for the albums Dink. It was also used by him when he releases the only single from the album Mommies little Monster. Monk released this single after the "Another State of Mind", tour with Youth Brigade. This single again featured Monks photographic art in a high contrast black and white photo which then was colorized. His idea was to create the girl depicted in the song. The back cover features a photograph of the band taken by Edward Colver.
Reception
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." 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."
Track listing
All songs were written by Social Distortion.
"The Creeps " – 2:03
"Another State of Mind" – 2:38
"It Wasn't a Pretty Picture" – 3:10
"Telling Them" – 3:12
"Hour of Darkness" – 2:49
"Mommy's Little Monster" – 3:33
"Anti-Fashion" – 2:19
"All the Answers" – 2:23
"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 '. "All the Answers" and "Moral Threat" were originally recorded in 1981 and can be heard on the 1995 compilation '. "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
