SSD (Society System Decontrol) was an American

straight edge Straight edge (sometimes abbreviated as sXe or signified by XXX or simply X) is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs in reaction to the punk subculture's excesses. Some ...

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

band from

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. They released two records as SS Decontrol in the early 1980s and then formally changed their name to SSD. As SSD, they released two more records with a heavy metal influenced sound. However, the group is often simply referred to, including all its periods, as SSD.

History

Formed by songwriter/guitarist Al Barile (then a machinist at the

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

plant in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

and a student at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

), SSD started performing at smaller venues throughout the

Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...

metropolitan area, like Gallery East, in the summer of 1981. The band quickly gained notoriety within the local music scene for intense, charged performances and the provocative antics of their core group of followers, the Boston Crew.Cogan, Mike (2006) ''Encyclopedia of Punk Music and Culture'', Greenwood Press, , p. 216 The original lineup was Al Barile on guitar, Springa (David Spring) on vocals, Jaime Sciarappa on bass and Chris Foley on drums. They released their debut LP ''

The Kids Will Have Their Say ''The Kids Will Have Their Say'' is the debut album by the Boston hardcore punk band SS Decontrol SSD (Society System Decontrol) was an American straight edge hardcore band from Boston. They released two records as SS Decontrol in the early ...

'' on their own X-Claim label in 1982.

Ian MacKaye Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye (; born April 16, 1962) is an American musician. Active since 1979, he is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.–based independent record label, and the frontman of hardcore pu ...

Minor Threat Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C., by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guita ...

was a friend and supporter and his

Dischord Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.–based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson (musician), Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release ''Minor Disturbance'' by th ...

label's logo appeared on the back cover. In 1983 they added second guitarist Francois Levesque and released the EP ''

Get It Away ''Get It Away'' is the second release from the Boston hardcore punk band SS Decontrol. It is the first release to feature Francois Levesque. The cover art, featuring a trash-strewn city street, was done by Pushead Brian Schroeder, better kn ...

'', widely regarded as their best record, and one that helped define Boston's straight-edge scene. The X-Claim pressings of it and ''The Kids Will Have Their Say'' are both highly collectable. Like many hardcore bands in the mid-1980s, particularly in the Boston area, SSD began heading in a heavy metal direction. In 1984 they signed to the Boston label Modern Method and released the ''

How We Rock ''How We Rock'' was the third release from the Boston hardcore punk band SSD (band), SSD. It was rooted in the hardcore sound but exhibited overt Heavy metal music, heavy metal characteristics, such as a relatively high number of lengthy guitar s ...

'' EP, which was rooted in the hardcore sound but exhibited overt heavy metal characteristics, such as a relatively high number of lengthy

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

s. After signing to Homestead they released the '' Break It Up'' LP in 1985 which saw the band expand further into the metal genre, leaving behind all trappings of punk and hardcore. SSD broke up in November that year. Barile went on to form Gage, Sciarappa joined

Slapshot A slapshot (also spelled as slap shot) is a powerful shot in ice hockey. Its advantage is a high-speed shot that can be taken from a long distance; the disadvantage is the long time to set it up as well as its low accuracy. It has four stage ...

, and Springa went on to join Razorcaine and Die Blitzkinder. Barile died of rectal cancer on April 6, 2025, at the age of 63. Scott Schinder, in his book ''Alt-Rock-a-Rama'', described SSD as "The most important hardcore band to emerge from New England."Schinder, Scott (1996) ''Rolling Stone's Alt-Rock-a-Rama'', Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, , p. 1825

Discography

* ''

'' (LP, X-Claim, 1982) * ''

'' (EP, X-Claim, 1983) * ''

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" is a Christmas song that originated with a poem by Emily Huntington Miller (1833–1913), published as "Lilly's Secret" in ''The Little Corporal Magazine'' in December 1865. The song's lyrics have also been attributed t ...

'' (7",

Taang Records Taang! Records is an independent record label with a roster of hardcore punk, punk rock, Oi!, power pop, ska, indie rock, psychedelic, and ambient artists and bands founded by Curtis Casella in Boston, Massachusetts in 1983. History Taang! Re ...

) * ''A Boston Rock Christmas'' (various artists compilation, Boston Rock, 1983) – "Jolly Old St. Nick" * ''

'' (LP, Modern Method, 1984) * '' Break It Up'' (LP, Homestead, 1985) * ''Power'' (compilation, Taang!, 1993)

References

External links

* * * X-Claim Record
SSD biography
* X-Claim Record
Gage page

SSD music video for "Get It Away" on BlankTV.com
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1981 Musical groups disestablished in 1985 Hardcore punk groups from Massachusetts Musical groups from Boston Heavy metal musical groups from Massachusetts Straight edge groups Homestead Records artists

History

Discography

See also

References

External links