| White Light, White Heat, White Trash | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 17, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | August 1995 – June 1996 | |||
| Studio | Bearsville Studio, Woodstock, New York, U.S. | |||
| Genre | Hardcore punk | |||
| Length | 46:33 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Michael Beinhorn | |||
| Social Distortion chronology | ||||
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| Singles from White Light, White Heat, White Trash | ||||
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White Light, White Heat, White Trash is the fifth studio album by American punk rock band Social Distortion, released on September 17, 1996, by 550 Music and Epic Records. The album was produced by Michael Beinhorn. After the release of Social Distortion's 1992 album Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, the band toured until the end of 1993 and needed a break. After dealing with court battles over early recordings and attempting to retrieve them, package them up, and release them, Social Distortion wrote many songs to plan a new album.
Social Distortion guitarist and singer Mike Ness was disappointed with the way music was during the 1990s, including punk rock and rock music in general. He wanted to make a new album that would be considered Social Distortion's best album and wanted to bring back the characteristics and emotions of 1970s punk rock. White Light, White Heat, White Trash includes fewer rock and roll, country and blues influences than the three previous Social Distortion albums, and instead, White Light, White Heat, White Trash is a stylistic return to the band's 1980s hardcore punk-era such as their debut Mommy's Little Monster. The album has more introspective and personal lyrics about topics like grief, regret, looking back to the past, and making changes or improvements in one's life. The lyrics were inspired by Ness' past, which involved drugs, alcohol, and jail.
Reviews for White Light, White Heat, White Trash were mixed-to-positive, with the musical style and lyrical content being praised by some critics and criticized by other critics. The album experienced moderate success and peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200, selling 30,000 copies in its first week of release in the United States. Selling 10,000 to 12,000 copies weekly, White Light, White Heat, White Trash sold 277,000 copies in the United States as of December 31, 1998, according to Nielsen SoundScan, making it Social Distortion's third best-selling album. The album's two singles are "I Was Wrong" and "When the Angels Sing". "I Was Wrong" experienced chart success on the Billboard charts, playing frequently on rock radio and MTV. "When the Angels Sing" lacked chart success compared to "I Was Wrong". Social Distortion planned to tour both inside and outside the United States, given that the band began to attract people outside the United States instead of solely attracting Americans. Social Distortion also performed at Warped Tour 1997 along with bands like Lagwagon, Less Than Jake, and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.