SSQ first released their debut album Playback in 1983 under Enigma Records. The band's first live performance was held at the Greenworld Distribution warehouse in Torrance, which was then the location of the Enigma label. The video for "Synthicide" later premiered on West Coast television and brought greater notoriety for the five-member band. By 1984, Stacey Swain was already eclipsing her bandmates in popularity. The band ultimately shifted its focus on Swain specifically, with Moet, West, Skip Hahn and St. James as backup performers. Hahn officially replaced John Van Tongeren on keyboards, vocoder and bass just before the release of Playback.
"Synthicide", "Big Electronic Beat" and "Clockwork" appeared on the soundtrack of the 1984 comedy Hardbodies, while "Synthicide", "Walkman On", and "Anonymous" appeared on the soundtrack of the 1985 comedy Cavegirl. St. James served as composer of the latter film, with Swain having a brief appearance as the character "Brenda". SSQ also contributed two tracks, "Tonight (We'll Make Love Until We Die)" and "Trash's Theme", to the soundtrack of the 1985 zombie flick The Return of the Living Dead. "Tonight" is the track played by boom box when Trash, played by Linnea Quigley, performs the film's famous graveyard striptease.
