SSD was a hardcore punk band from Boston. They released two records as SS Decontrol and then formally changed their name to SSD. However the group is often simply referred to, including all its periods, as SSD.
Formed by guitarist Al Barile, the band started performing at smaller venues throughout the greater Boston metropolitan area in the summer of 1981. They quickly gained notoriety within the local music scene for intense performances and the provocative antics of their core group of followers, the "Boston Crew."
The band were strict adherants to and proponents of "the straight edge." Also advocates of the nascent DIY hardcore philosophy, the band started their own independent record label, X-Claim.
In 1982, the band released the classic The Kids Will Have Their Say. By putting out the record as a split release with Minor Threat's Dischord Records, they hoped to use the DC label's already established reputation to jumpstart X-Claim. It worked, as the label would later put out records for fellow Boston bands DYS, the F.U.'s, and Jerry's Kids.
In 1983 they added second guitarist Francois Levesque and released Get It Away. It is widely regarded to be their best record.
Like many hardcore bands - particularly those in the Boston area - SSD, as they were now officially called, were heading in a heavy metal direction. In 1984 they signed to the Boston label Modern Method and released How We Rock, which was rooted in the hardcore sound but exhibited overt heavy metal characteristics, such as a relatively high number of lengthy guitar solos. After signing to Homestead they released Break It Up in 1985. It had both feet planted in the metal genre, leaving behind all trappings of punk and hardcore.
SSD broke up in 1985.
