BIOGRAPHY
The band that really ignited what became the Boston Straight Edge scene, SS Decontrol, were very influenced of what was going on in Washington DC and the two scenes had a lot in common. Washington DC and Boston shared both a Straight Edge mentality and a suburban/upper middle-class upbringing. As opposed to New York were there was a big "from the street" mentality going on. However, Washington DC's Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson [both founding members of The Teen Idles then currently with one of Washington DC's biggest Hardcore band, Minor Threat] didn't want to release SS Decontrol material on their own Dischord label. This because when they had founded the label back in 1980, they had done so with the sole intention of releasing only local music. So, just as MacKaye and Nelson had helped The Necros launch the Touch & Go label, they helped SS Decontrol form their own label, XClaim!The XClaim! label quickly became a crucial component in the Boston Hardcore scene, releasing only a few but important records. The records were: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. | | "The Kids Will Have Their Say" "Kill for Christ" "Get It Away" "Brotherhood" "My America" "Is This My World" | 1982 1982 1983 1983 1983 1983 |
However, the problem was that no one really ran the label and by the mid-eighties, it had more or less faded out of existence [and the, since long, out-of-print XClaim! releases are therefore collectors items by now]. XClaim!'s demise was, at least partially, the reason why fellow Bostonian Curtis Casella founded the Taang! Records in 1984. Taang! Records has also reissued most of the XClaim! releases [all but the SS Decontrol albums] in one shape or another. So you don't have to pay big bucks to listen to the Boston classics. Alan Barile [of SS Decontrol] has a website about the label - XClaim.com. Found Any Inaccuracies?Please don't hesitate to e-mail the webmaster at webmaster@oldtimehardcore.com if you for some reason think the information found on this page is inaccurate or if there's anything you think should be added.
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