SS Decontrol The Kids Will Have Their Say

What is there to say about SS DECONTROL’s long out-of-print 1982 debut, The Kids Will Have Their Say, that hasn’t already been written? Long heralded as the first straight-edge album, this collection of songs captures a time and an era in the nascent hardcore scene before formulas and posturing. In other words, it’s an unfiltered, artistic statement that’s singular in scope and vision. The Boston act’s debut was extremely limited, never repressed, and has gone on to have a life of its own despite the fact the only affordable way to listen to it has been low-quality streams on YouTube. Now, after being out of print for 40 years, the album will be available on cassette by Trust Records with remastered audio and a painstaking recreation of the iconic cover art courtesy of Bryan Ray Turcotte. Over the years, the mythology of the album has only grown—and this reissue of the album is sure to introduce this prescient and powerful collection of songs to a new generation of fans who never had the opportunity to see the original lineup of guitarist Al Barile, vocalist Springa, bassist Jaime Sciarappa, and drummer Chris Foley perform live. In many ways, SSD launched the hardcore scene in Boston as we know it and the band’s kinship with Minor THREAT’s Ian MacKaye arose out of the fact that both acts refused to conform to society’s still shifting standards at the time. From the unbridled aggression of SSD’s “Boiling Point” to the stripped-down groove of “How Much Art,” the album was as reactionary as it was revolutionary and is an artistic statement that remains to be remarkably complex for a group of guys barely into adulthood.