Highly lucrative side project of engineer Tom Scholz, who applied the same scientific, but soul-less, process he used for technology creation to his music career. Their biggest hit was the ironically entitled More Than a Feeling, which would have been more accurately called No Feeling At All, or As Much Feeling As The Equations Determined Were Necessary For Chart Success.
Tom Sholz graduated with a masters degree from MIT where he studied engineering, the art of constructing things precisely according to blueprints and mathematical equations. He applied this knowledge to the creation of a recording studio in his own basement and to the careful and painstaking writing of an album’s worth of songs. By 1973 he had assembled a group of self-recorded demo tapes, which were rejected by music industry types who showed a rare tendency to value quality over marketability.
Eventually, a record deal was signed and a debut album recorded. The label wanted the band (who then, and now, were made up of whoever Scholz gathered to replicate his home-made demos) to record in an actual studio. Scholz wanted to record at home with his own gear so he shipped the rest of the group off to the studio to pretend to record while he secretly made the entire album in his basement. Vocals were later added by singer Brad Delp and Boston’s debut album was finally released in 1976.
Despite having only eight songs and sounding like a meticulously engineered reproduction of stadium rock and roll, the album was a massive hit and Scholz rushed to recreate the success with a follow-up, which he managed to produce in a lightning-quick two years. Other artists might consider 24 months a long time to record eight songs, all of which sounded a lot like the first album, but Scholz was a perfectionist who wouldn’t be rushed and not only had to choose the right guitar effect pedal, he had to design and build it first.
While the record company felt two years was a long time between albums it was nothing compared to the wait they had to endure for album three, which finally came out in 1986. Battling legal issues from former management and his record company, and an almost pathological need to rebuild his home studio, Scholz worked solidly on album three and eventually produced a ten-track album which took 9.6 months per song to record. Another eight years passed before album 4 saw a release and another eight passed before 2002’s Corporate America was unleashed on a public who by this stage who only remembered Boston actually existed when More Than A Feeling was played on radio stations every 8 minutes.
Singer Brad Delp, who was the only member of the band anyone other than Scholz could actually name, took his own life in 2007, which set the timeframe for the next album back a few years and postponed Life, Love and Hope to 2013. At the time of writing, Boston is still an ongoing concern, essentially because Sholz is still alive and Boston only exist when he feels the need to record more home demos and commission another ridiculous spaceship cover.
In a 37-year recording career, Scholz managed to write and record 56 songs, including instrumentals and rewritings of earlier hits. None of them nearly as well known as More Than a Feeling which he wrote five years before his debut album. But he does have a very nice home studio.
Tom Scholz using effects pedals, amplifiers and other gear he designed himself and performing a song he wrote using a slide rule. Even his haircut was probably created using an algorithm and a scientific calculator.
Tom Sholz graduated with a masters degree from MIT where he studied engineering, the art of constructing things precisely according to blueprints and mathematical equations. He applied this knowledge to the creation of a recording studio in his own basement and to the careful and painstaking writing of an album’s worth of songs. By 1973 he had assembled a group of self-recorded demo tapes, which were rejected by music industry types who showed a rare tendency to value quality over marketability.
Eventually, a record deal was signed and a debut album recorded. The label wanted the band (who then, and now, were made up of whoever Scholz gathered to replicate his home-made demos) to record in an actual studio. Scholz wanted to record at home with his own gear so he shipped the rest of the group off to the studio to pretend to record while he secretly made the entire album in his basement. Vocals were later added by singer Brad Delp and Boston’s debut album was finally released in 1976.
Boston's debut album, creatively entitled Boston. The cover features a spaceship shaped like a guitar carrying the city of Boston through the galaxy. The fact that the band persisted with this ridiculous image throughout their entire career says a lot about their inability to learn from past mistakes.
Despite having only eight songs and sounding like a meticulously engineered reproduction of stadium rock and roll, the album was a massive hit and Scholz rushed to recreate the success with a follow-up, which he managed to produce in a lightning-quick two years. Other artists might consider 24 months a long time to record eight songs, all of which sounded a lot like the first album, but Scholz was a perfectionist who wouldn’t be rushed and not only had to choose the right guitar effect pedal, he had to design and build it first.
The band in 1976. From left to right: some guy, Tom Scholz, some other guy, the lead singer who killed himself...Brad something or other, another guy.
While the record company felt two years was a long time between albums it was nothing compared to the wait they had to endure for album three, which finally came out in 1986. Battling legal issues from former management and his record company, and an almost pathological need to rebuild his home studio, Scholz worked solidly on album three and eventually produced a ten-track album which took 9.6 months per song to record. Another eight years passed before album 4 saw a release and another eight passed before 2002’s Corporate America was unleashed on a public who by this stage who only remembered Boston actually existed when More Than A Feeling was played on radio stations every 8 minutes.
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, a group whose grunge image was miles away from the slick, stadium rock of Boston. The fact that Teen Spirit shamelessly ripped off More Than A Feeling's riff is either ignored or hypocritically denied, by Nirvana's legion of adoring fans.
Singer Brad Delp, who was the only member of the band anyone other than Scholz could actually name, took his own life in 2007, which set the timeframe for the next album back a few years and postponed Life, Love and Hope to 2013. At the time of writing, Boston is still an ongoing concern, essentially because Sholz is still alive and Boston only exist when he feels the need to record more home demos and commission another ridiculous spaceship cover.
In a 37-year recording career, Scholz managed to write and record 56 songs, including instrumentals and rewritings of earlier hits. None of them nearly as well known as More Than a Feeling which he wrote five years before his debut album. But he does have a very nice home studio.
Comments
Post a Comment