Social Distortion

Like their sceneboys Bad Religion, these hardcore holdouts get over on a saving touch of trad: where Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz break into anthem, Mike Ness gives new meaning to hard honky tonk. And where Graffin and Gurewitz ponder the fate of humanity, Ness universalizes his personal problems like millions of unhappy male chauvinists before him. Me, I'd rather the other guys had made a career album. But as all four of us know, life is unfair. (Grade: B+)