Social Distortion, "Another State of Mind"

Thom Wilson will be best-remembered for producing the Offspring's albums on Epitaph (especially the highest-selling independent album of all time), but his punk credibility was set ages earlier, with his name on records ranging from Christian Death's Only Theatre of Pain to the Dead Kennedys' Plastic Surgery Disasters. Like millions of kids who were in middle school in the mid-90s, I will best remember the late Thom Wilson for Smash, but more than enough will be written about that album this week. Let's take a look at Mommy's Little Monster.



It probably didn't seem likely that Social Distortion would last much longer in 1983. The heroin-addicted bandleader with an affinity for guyliner decades before it had a name and a fashion sense that owed as much to the Fonz as Johnny Rotten barely looked like he could keep his life together, much less a band. In the must-see punk doc Another State of Mind, the charms of Social Distortion and bandmates Youth Brigade (whom Wilson also produced) are far more apparent than their talents, even when we get a glimpse of Mike Ness writing a future punk anthem. Live, Ness barely knows what to do with his voice yet, but on Mommy's Little Monster he sounds not only self-assured but downright powerful, the bellowing old rockabilly hero in a hardcore kid's body any punk worth his or her patches today could instantly recognize. Orange County punk wasn't anyone's idea of a big seller in 1983, but the world would eventually catch up, as Green Day, the Offspring and Rancid could tell you, or even Social D, who have walked the line between punk and mainstream as well as any guitar slingers this side of Joan Jett. Maybe Ness was already more confident in the studio, but from Another State of Mind I'm guessing Wilson had to coax it out of him. Rock fans should be ever grateful.

California Punk

Punk rock songs about California deserve their own box set. None of these are making it to my final mix CD, but that doesn't mean that they don't deserve your ears. More outtakes:

Dead Kennedys, "California Über Alles" and "Moon over Marin"

The two most accidentally melodic DK tracks are dedicated to the state's Jerry Brown Part I-era conditions. Jello Biafra's lyrics sound dated, even escapist in a post-Dick Cheney America, but the tunes rescue them.





Fear, "I Love Livin' in the City"

Mr. Boddy from Clue croons of his favorite city and all the debauchery that it encompasses. Eat your heart out, Randy Newman.



The Stooges, "L.A. Blues"

Call it noise-rock, if noise-rock ever got this good. "L.A. Blues" ruined music for everyone (except for maybe Thurston Moore and G.G. Allin.)



Sleater-Kinney, "Hollywood Ending"

Proof that Sleater-Kinney's deep cuts run deep. Outside of the Beastie Boys, no alt-rock vocalists played off each other as well as Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein.



Frank Black, "Los Angeles"

"I want to live in Los Angeles, not the one in Los Angeles." Of course not, Frank.



Rancid, "Journey to the End of the East Bay"

I spent a week laboring over this bassline, and even tried playing with three fingers, like Matt Freeman. Somehow, it never sounded quite like this.



The Misfits, "Hollywood Babylon"

Laugh at Glenn Danzig all you want. No one, not even the Cramps, ever captured the macabre psychobilly sound quite like he did with the Misfits.



Local H, "California Songs"

It kills me to not include this. I've seen Local H play this for eight years, and every year there's a new terrible hit about California for Scott Lucas to dedicate the song to. When Local H write about hating California as much as they hate the music it inspires, it'll go on a mix for my sister.

New York for Talia

Last year, I made a New York City mix for my friend Ellen. In the process, I learned that there were far too many great NYC songs for one 80-minute CD, so I shaped it to Ellen's liking--she got Prince, Harry Nilsson, Leonard Cohen and Rancid. Last fall, I Frankensteined the mix for Richard. He got Nas, Jay-Z, Bill Withers and Lou Reed. Now, my buddy Talia has moved back to Brooklyn, and she enjoys Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen.




New York for Talia

1. Ramones, "Rockaway Beach"
2. Beastie Boys, "No Sleep Till Brooklyn"
3. Elvis Costello & the Attractions, "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea"
4. The Notorious B.I.G., "Juicy"
5. Bob Dylan, "Hard Times in New York Town"
6. Stevie Wonder, "Living for the City"
7. The Pogues, "Fairytale of New York"
8. The Drifters, "On Broadway"
9. Wu-Tang Clan, "C.R.E.A.M."
10. Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, "Drop Me Off in Harlem" 
11. The Rolling Stones, "Shattered"
12. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message"
13. Andrew W.K., "I Love NYC"
14. Fountains of Wayne, "No Better Place"
15. Tom Waits, "Downtown Train"
16. Simon and Garfunkel, "The Only Living Boy in New York"
17. Bruce Springsteen, "Jungleland"
18. Run-D.M.C., "Christmas in Hollis"

I'll take any excuse to put the Beastie Boys and Rolling Stones on a mix CD, or to argue that the Apple hosts the world's finest hip-hop. Here, "The Message" follows its clearest influence, "Living in the City," and there isn't much that can top "C.R.E.A.M." or "Juicy." But to Talia's liking, I'm giving her a Satchmo and Sir Duke team-up and of course "Jungleland," honoring her Springsteen fandom and the late Clarence Clemons' greatest solo.

Ellen returned my CD with her own terrific New York mix, and  I've cherry-picked "No Better Place" and "The Only Living Boy in New York" from her choices. Over all, I avoided the decibel levels that usually distinguish my mixes, though I couldn't imagine anyone resisting Andrew W.K.'s "I Love NYC."

One of my favorite parts of Ellen's and Richard's mixes was ending each one with the Sex Pistols' "New York." What better way to pay tribute to the Capital of the World than to end with one big raspberry blown by Johnny Rotten? Yet for all of Talia's intellectual curiosity, I couldn't picture her getting down to being called a pile of shit. Thus, I'm ending New York for Talia with the less divisive but equally satisfying "Christmas in Hollis."

Download here: New York for Talia