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.

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.

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.

Social Distortion then had to be involved in some court battles to retrieve some of the band's early recordings.

He claims there's a few songs on each Social Distortion album that he hated "because we just did 'em, and settled for it and didn't challenge it.

[1] The album was recorded from August 1995 to June 1996 in Bearsville Studio in Woodstock, New York.

"[4] Ness claims that Social Distortion "used all analog equipment until the very last moment", which he considered similar to 1970s rock.

Rejecting grunge, Ness was inspired by the style of 1970s punk bands like The Clash, the New York Dolls, Generation X, the Dead Boys, and Johnny Thunders.

Ness said that 1970s punk rock "was also the only music at the time accurately portraying how I felt inside.

"[1] Expressing his opinion of the way music was during the 1990s, Ness said: "Our intention is to bring back the soul and emotion of that first wave of punk in the late '70s, which I feel is sorely lacking today".

"In Orange County in 1979, if you walked down the street in a leather jacket and spiked hair, you made a decision that you would have a confrontation that day.

He then criticized grunge bands like Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots, describing them as "just Led Zeppelin with a pierced nose and short hair."

"This album is about going back to the genuine emotion and rock basics that fueled the first wave of punk."

Social Distortion's 1983 debut studio album Mommy's Little Monster was inspired by bands like the Ramones, the Rolling Stones, and X. Ness considered White Light, White Heat, White Trash to be a "regression back to" Mommy's Little Monster and believes the album shows Social Distortion going back to the band's roots, but still considers the album an evolution because Ness "had to dig really deep", citing songs like "I Was Wrong" and "When the Angels Sing" as examples of this.

"[11] Nonetheless, Dan McGarry of The Yale Herald wrote: "If Ness wanted this record to demonstrate that unique quality that puts Social Distortion above and beyond current "alternative" music, he has succeeded.

The album veers far from the alternative trend, which seems to sneak its way into newer punk rock.

Although a couple of songs are more political or about social issues, the lyrical content on the album are instead personal or introspective.

Ness' struggles in life with drugs, alcohol, and jail inspired the lyrics of the album.

"[13] "Don't Drag Me Down" is about racism and how Ness witnessed it when touring in the United States and seeing it at punk rock concerts, leading to him engaging in physical fights.

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, however, called the album a "conscious attempt to cash in on the alternative 'revolution" of the early '90s" and expressed mixed feelings towards the band's musical direction, stating, "Underneath the layers of glossy hard rock production, the band still hold fast to some of their punk roots, but too often they sound like a heavy hard rock band.

Of course, that commercial sheen is intentional – it's the only way they could appeal to the legions of post-grunge alternative fans who appeared since Social Distortion released Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell in 1992.

"[11] Chris Moran of Punknews.org praised the album and wrote: "with its passionate lyrics, laced with heavy undertones; this is unquestionable a milestone in the legacy of Social Distortion.

"[20] Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "After more than a decade of hard playing and harder living, Southern California's Social Distortion have made their first truly transcendent album.

"[8] Ira Robbins of Rolling Stone wrote: "the band's musical and emotional values are timeless.

[18] Sam Dillon of The Chanticleer praised the album and wrote: "You just can't go wrong with Social D. they've got everything you could ask for in a punk-rock band.

[24] Social Distortion performed at Warped Tour 1997 along with other bands like Blink-182, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Sick of It All, Descendents, Pennywise, the Suicide Machines, Lagwagon, Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, and Limp Bizkit.

[29] The song also peaked at number 12 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, remaining on there for 19 weeks.

[25] The song, however, did not have much success on rock radio and peaked at relatively low positions on the Billboard charts.