Nursery rhyme rhymes became associated with the idea of political correctness. Most attempts to reform nursery rhymes on this basis appear to be either very small scale, light-hearted updating, like Felix Dennis's "When Jack Sued Jill – Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times" (2006), or satires written as if from the point of view of political correctness in order to condemn reform. The controversy in Britain in 1986 over changing the language of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" because, it was alleged in the popular press, it was seen as racially dubious, was apparently based only on a rewriting of the rhyme in one
Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes focus on the New York punk of the 70's and early 80's. At a show in Poughkeepsie, New York on July 27, 2010, Ness revealed that the new Social Distortion album would be called "Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes" and also promised a November release date. A September 2010 issue of "Rolling Stone" magazine claimed the album would be released on November 23, 2010. However, Ness later said that its release date had been pushed back to January 2011. In October 2010, Social Distortion announced that "Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes" would be released on January 18, 2011. They also