Formed by songwriter/guitarist Al Barile (then a machinist at the
General Electric plant in
Lynn, Massachusetts and a student at
Northeastern University), SSD started performing at smaller venues throughout the
Greater Boston 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. 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 on their own X-Claim label in 1982. 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. 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." ==Discography==