In the late '70s and early '80s, punk burst onto the Southern California scene, thanks in no small part to Social Distortion [ tickets ], aka Social D. Inspired by The Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Who [ tickets ] and Johnny Cash, frontman Mike Ness formed the band in 1978. Not long after, the band caught the attention of KROQ-FM's DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, and the rest is history.

Social D's early sound was kinetic, angry, and accessible--a combination that resulted in "Bad Luck," the first single off their 1992 set "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell," which landed in the No.2 spot on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The band has continued with an often changing line-up ever since, even weathering the 2000 death of founding guitarist Dennis Danell.