Fullerton declares Mike Ness Day in honor of Social Distortion’s famed front man
Social Distortion fans descended by the hundreds to Downtown Fullerton Plaza on Wednesday in celebration of Mike Ness, the band’s longtime front man and their hometown hero.
In a special afternoon ceremony, Fullerton officials declared April 3 as Mike Ness Day and handed the punk rock icon a key to the city on his birthday.
“Beyond our love for music is our love for our community,” said Fullerton Mayor Nick Dunlap. “That’s what brings us here today because we are able to celebrate a living legend who is among our greatest exports to the world, right there with the Fender Stratocaster.”
Ness, wearing a tucked-in retro yellow polka dot shirt and a pair of black sunglasses to shade his eyes from the sunny day, joined the stage soon after.
Cellphones sprouted from the crowd to capture the moment.
Dunlap recited some lyrics from “Story of My Life,” one of Social Distortion’s biggest hits, before presenting Ness with the key to the city.
The singer, songwriter and guitarist lifted the plaque with the key triumphantly into the air as his fans broke out in an impromptu “Happy Birthday” serenade. With a recent diagnosis of Stage 1 tonsil cancer and past addiction battles behind him, the musician celebrated turning 62 with the key as a unique birthday gift.
“Forty years ago, they might have wanted to lock me up and throw away the key,” Ness quipped. “But things change, and now I’ve got a key.”
Ness grew up in Fullerton when his parents moved to Orange County in the early 1960s. He counted himself as one of a handful of punks at Troy High School alongside Dennis Danell, a fellow classmate and close friend who was later recruited by him to play guitar in Social Distortion, which was founded in 1979.
Kicked out of his family home as a teenager, Ness eventually rented a one-bedroom apartment in Fullerton on East Wilshire Avenue.
Immortalized as the “Black Hole” in song by legendary Fullerton punk band the Adolescents, whose members lived in the apartment at one time, it served as an incubator for O.C.’s emerging punk scene in the late 1970s.
In his speech to the crowd, Ness recounted fond memories of his Fullerton upbringing.
“Dennis and I would walk down the railroad tracks from his house to Harbor Boulevard and Commonwealth [Avenue],” he said. “There was a little studio where a band called the Mechanics used to practice every night. That was like a hub of this early punk scene. They were the older guys and we looked up to them.”
Ness said the Mechanics influenced him musically just as much as the Ramones and the Rolling Stones.
After playing local Fullerton haunts like the Galaxy and Ichabods, Social Distortion released their debut album “Mommy’s Little Monster” in 1983 but found mainstream success on Epic Records seven years later with an eponymous album that featured hits like “Ball and Chain,” “Story of My Life” and a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”
It’s part of the city’s indelible musical history that the Fullerton Museum Center is looking to honor with a punk rock exhibit in April 2025.
Before that, musical performances by Greg Antista and the Lonely Streets and Kid Ramos helped round out Mike Ness Day, which also featured various vendor booths and a beer bar.
Luis Zuñiga, a Santa Ana resident, attended the event to honor the punk legend. He pointed to Social Distortion’s influence on him as a musician as well as “Another State of Mind,” a 1984 documentary that followed the band on its first international tour.
“That’s where I saw punk rock legends talk about the music that gave me inspiration to create music of my own and to join a band,” Zuñiga said. “The feeling that this was in our backyards, and that gave us hope to create and do things for our community, as well.”
Mike Ness Day in Fullerton brought a community of punks, young and old, together again in a sea of black Social Distortion band shirts.
With the key to Fullerton in hand, Ness looked forward to heading out on a national tour with Social Distortion starting this weekend.
“What a ride it’s been,” said Ness in his closing remarks. “I’m 62 today but I’m living to 102, so we’ve got 40 more years of Social D!”
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