Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell
Studio album by
Social Distortion
Released February 11, 1992
Recorded June–October 1991 at El Dorado Studios in Hollywood, California
Genre
Length 44:33
Label Epic
Producer Dave Jerden
Social Distortion chronology
Social Distortion
(1990) 		Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell
(1992) 		Mainliner: Wreckage From the Past
(1995)

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell is the fourth studio album by the American punk rock band Social Distortion, released on February 11, 1992. Following up on the surprise success of their breakthrough singles "Ball and Chain" and "Story of My Life", Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell became a popular album and received positive reviews from music critics. It also spawned their highest-charting single "Bad Luck", which peaked at number 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell was one of the best-selling albums of Social Distortion's recording career, achieving gold sales certification in the United States by 2000, and by 1996, the album had sold 296,000 copies. It peaked at number 76 on the US Billboard 200 and topped the Heatseekers chart, and was also Social Distortion's last to feature drummer Christopher Reece, who left the band in 1994.

The cover art features Ness mid-jump, while playing one of his Gibson Les Pauls. The cover is reminiscent and possibly an hommage to Joan Jett jumping with her Gibson MelodyMaker over a canary yellow background on her third album, Album.

Music style

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell continues the melding of country and rockabilly influences with punk rock that began with Social Distortion's 1988 album Prison Bound. Clear influences include Hank Williams (on "This Time Darlin'") and Johnny Cash (on "99 to Life"). Critic Robert Christgau referred to the album as a "new meaning of hard-honky-tonk," referring to the band's mixing of honky-tonk style of country music and hardcore punk.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly B+
Los Angeles Times
Q
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Village Voice B+

Reviews for Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell have generally been favorable. AllMusic's Paul Tinelli awards the album four-and-a-half stars out of five and praised the music as a "share of rollicking, straight-ahead hard rock." He also claims that Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell "had all the earmarks of a major commercial success with some radio friendly tunes and strong production, but it never found the large audience Epic Records expected."

Covers

In 2008, Danish rock band Volbeat released a cover of “Making Believe” on their third album, Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood. In 2018, the German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen covered the song "Cold Feelings" on their "Laune der Natur" single.

Track listing

All songs written by Mike Ness unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Cold Feelings" – 3:31
  2. "Bad Luck" – 4:26
  3. "Making Believe" (Jimmy Work) – 4:12
  4. "Born to Lose" – 4:09
  5. "Bye Bye Baby" – 3:06
  6. "When She Begins" – 5:04
  7. "99 to Life" – 4:28
  8. "King of Fools" (W.E. Bruce) – 2:50
  9. "Sometimes I Do" – 4:01
  10. "This Time Darlin' " – 4:08
  11. "Ghost Town Blues" – 4:38 (CD bonus track)
  12. "Alone and Forsaken" - 3:12 (Hank Williams; Japanese bonus track)
  13. "Mainliner 1992" - 2:59 (Japanese bonus track)

Track 11, "Ghost Town Blues", is a CD bonus track and it did not appear on the cassette or vinyl version of the album.

Personnel

Charts

Album

Chart (1992) Peak
position
US Billboard 200 76
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) 1

Singles

Year Title Chart Peak position
1992 "Bad Luck" US Modern Rock Tracks 2
1992 "Cold Feelings" US Modern Rock Tracks 11
1992 "When She Begins" US Modern Rock Tracks 14

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA) Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.