SOCIAL DISTORTION An all-American band explores its rock ’n’ roll roots and its own checkered past If well-inked Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness doesn’t already have a “Lucky Seven” tattoo somewhere on his body, now’s the time to get one. On Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, the California band’s seventh album, Ness continues his streak of building fresh songs from familiar ingredients. By now, the singer and guitarist should have... 

SOCIAL DISTORTION Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes [Epitaph] The nihilistic Mike Ness of Mommy’s Little Monster, Social Distortion’s 1983 debut, has long since disappeared. The singer and guitarist is still a tough guy, but ever since embracing country and rockabilly influences in the mid-1980s he’s played a more sympathetic sort of antihero: the ruffian with the heart of gold. On Social Distortion’s first album since 2004, Ness remains very...