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Boston (band)

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Boston's first, eponymous album cover
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Boston's first, eponymous album cover

Boston is an American rock band that achieved its most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on guitarist, songwriter, and producer Tom Scholz, the band is a staple of classic rock radio playlists. Boston's best-known works include the singles "More Than a Feeling," "Peace of Mind," "Foreplay/Long Time," "Don't Look Back," and "Amanda."

Contents

History

Boston formed in 1969 when Tom Scholz, an MIT engineering graduate, joined as keyboardist a band founded by guitarist Barry Goudreau, along with singer Brad Delp on vocals and Jim Masdea on drums. Although the band, Mother's Milk, did not last, it laid the foundation for the band that would become known as Boston. After the break-up, Scholz began to create a series of tape recordings in his home studio in a suburb outside Boston. At first he was primarily an engineer and keyboard player, accompanied by Goudreau, Delp, and Masdea. The first tapes failed to interest record companies; but a second set of tapes, performed largely by Scholz on guitar (which he learned to play while in Goudreau's band), drew the attention of executives at Epic Records, a division of CBS who earlier did not accept their demos. It was only after the label insisted on seeing the band perform that bassist Fran Sheehan was added; the label's unhappiness with Masdea's performance led to his replacement by Sib Hashian for the recording of Boston's eponymous first album in 1975 and 1976. Some debate remains about the circumstances surrounding the recording of the album, with Scholz claiming the album consisted (with the exception of "Let Me Take You Home Tonight") of his guitar work and Delp's vocals, and the new members (who were not actually officially signed to the label) just played during the band's concert tour. Regardless of the method involved, Boston was an immediate success, and helped revive the popularity of mainstream rock at a time when punk and disco were beginning to take hold. It ranks as one of the highest selling albums of all time, with more than 17 million copies sold. Boston's debut album still holds the record for the best selling debut album of all time.

The band embarked on a worldwide tour to support the album, establishing Boston within a short time as one of rock's top acts. However, tensions began to develop, at first between the band's label, which wanted a big follow-up album to capitalize on Boston, and Scholz who did not want to be rushed in his many duties.

The result was Don't Look Back, released in 1978, two years after the debut album; at the time, this was considered a fairly long gap between albums, but Scholz considered Don't Look Back to be a rush job, expressing unhappiness with the album's second side in particular which was confirmed on the Third Stage episode of In the Studio with Redbeard when he cited that quote "CBS had no confidence in a second Boston album" end quote and quote "said Epic/CBS was trying to cash in on the success of the debut album. Although it sold four million copies in its first month, Don't Look Back in the end sold about half as well as the first album.

Another tour followed, and the album's title track was a hit, but Scholz's relationship with both Epic and the other band members began to deteriorate. While Scholz began the slow process of working on Boston's third album, guitarist Barry Goudreau began work on his first solo album, also for Epic. Delp and Hashian appeared on the album, as did vocalist Fran Cosmo. They were each listed in the liner notes for the album, identified by their first names only. When Scholz saw a CBS album by Boston's other guitarist, with "Sib," "Brad," and "Fran" in the band, he suspected his label, and Goudreau, of forming a "Boston in exile." Regardless of whether this was true (later band members would be involved in outside projects without any objections from Scholz), Scholz demanded that the label stop promoting the album, which had gained significant radio play; Epic acquiesced. Scholz made it clear he would not be working again with any of the band members besides Delp.

A series of acrimonious lawsuits followed, and further slowed progress toward the next album, which was now being recorded in much the same way the original tapes were: in Scholz's home studio, with Delp, Masdea, and former Sammy Hagar guitarist Gary Pihl. (The by-now-former members of Boston would later claim that they also played on the tracks recorded during this time.) A tape of a song they had been working on, "Amanda," leaked out of the studio in 1984 and was widely bootlegged, but drew strong praise from the band's fans.

"Amanda" became the lead single two years later when Third Stage was finally released in 1986, after MCA Records bought out Boston's contract. Loosely built around the theme of life's "third stage" (the onset of middle age), the album was a big hit, and was widely discussed in the non-music press. Boston's subsequent tour, on which the new album was played, in sequence, in its entirety, sold out across the United States. In 1988, Boston participated in local charity concert sponsored by Tea Party Concerts to benefit AIDS. This move was lauded by local radio personalities, due to the stigma attached to AIDS that existed at that time. Boston has continued to be involved in a number of charities, including anti-domestic-violence groups and local homeless programs. (Boston Herald,1988;Boston Globe,1988; bandboston.com)

Another eight years passed before Walk On (1994), the first album without Delp, because of his prior commitment to Barry Goudreau's band RTZ, and ironically featuring vocalist Fran Cosmo, who had performed on Goudreau's solo album, in his place. Unlike the previous albums, it only went Platinum and reached #7(instead of the Multi-Platinum and Top 5 placing Boston were used to), and did not produce any hit singles although "I Need Your Love" did well on rock radio. The same timespan passed before Corporate America (2002), which featured Delp, Cosmo, and a different-looking line-up with drummer Jeff Neal, Fran Cosmo's son Anthony, and Kimberly Dahme, on which Dahme and Anthony Cosmo contributed songs, including a country song title "With You" written by Dahme. The band also released a greatest-hits album in 1997, which contained a handful of new songs.

As of 2006, a new Boston album is currently in the works, although no release date has been given. The band's first two albums for Epic Records will see re-release (remastered personally by Scholz) on June 13, 2006.

Innovations and style

During the early 1980s, Scholz formed the audio-electronics firm Scholz Research & Development, Inc., which he later sold, which marketed the highly-successful "Rockman" guitar amplifier. These pursuits garnered him at least as much wealth as his work with Boston. Scholz is also known for taking unusual amount of time to record albums This unwillingness to complete albums in the time frame set by the label has resulted in lawsuits filed by the label, Epic Records.Boston's albums are played on heavy rotation on Classic Rock stations.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, executives at radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications sent out a list of 150 songs apparently recommended not to be played. Boston's "Smokin'" was on the list.

Band members

Discography

Albums

Date of Release Title Label US Billboard Peak US sales
August 25, 1976 Boston Epic 3 17x Platinum
August 2, 1978 Don't Look Back Epic 1 7x Platinum
September 23, 1986 Third Stage MCA 1 4x Platinum
June 7, 1994 Walk On MCA 7 Platinum
April 22, 1997 Greatest Hits Epic/MCA 47 2x Platinum
August 27, 2002 Corporate America Artemis 42 Gold

Singles

See also

External links

Boston
Brad Delp | Tom Scholz
Barry Goudreau | Musicians
Discography
Albums: Boston | Don't Look Back | Third Stage | Walk On | Corporate America
Compilations: Greatest Hits

 

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