The group first formed in the mind of Tom Scholz, who had long expressed interest in melodic rock and the fine particulars of recording technology. Even as a child, he tinkered with just about anything mechanical or electronic that he could get his hands on. Prior to his musical career, Scholz received both a bachelor's degree, in 1969, and a master's degree, in 1970, in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then began working for the Polaroid Corporation as a senior product design engineer. Scholz would then reside in Boston.
Creating demos in his own home, inspired by contemporary 70s progressive rock and what came to be known as "album oriented rock" ("aor"), Scholz attracted the interest of Epic Records, who signed Scholz to a recording contract. Vocalist Brad Delp, who was born in Peabody, Massachusetts in 1951 (Scholz is about four years older) to French-Canadian immigrants and was inspired to sing after seeing The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, served as a sort of not-so secret weapon for Scholz's project. Delp's "golden voice" has inspired numerous later rock artists to take up the microphone.
Scholz believed that his demos were good enough to be the released album but Epic told him to rerecord them. Most of the guitar, bass, and keyboards were performed by Scholz, although other players were involved sporadically throughout the recording of the album. Epic did not want the album recorded entirely in Scholz's home as Scholz intended (they suggested using a recording studio), but most of what ended up on the album was ultimately recorded by Scholz in his basement.
'Boston' was first released by Epic Records on August 25, 1976. Few industry insiders thought a guitar-heavy rock record could make much of a dent in the charts as disco ruled the airwaves at the time. The album broke out of Cleveland first, and the following week it had been added at 392 stations. Scholz, then 29, still worked at Polaroid during the first few weeks of the record's success and felt wary, changing his mind when the album quickly sold 200,000 copies. Critical praise also came to the band; for example, Rolling Stone wrote that Boston's "affinity for heavy rock & roll provides a sense of dynamics that coheres magnetically with sophisticated progressive structures."
The album was certified gold just two months after its release, and it sold another 500,000 copies within 30 days, going platinum for the first time in November 1976. With songs that became rock anthems such as the evergreen "More Than a Feeling", 'Boston' is the second best-selling debut album of all time in the United States, falling just short of Guns N' Roses' 'Appetite for Destruction'. Many critics have named it as one of the best American albums of all time. Its popularity was not only huge, but also durable: into the 2000s it was believed to be the only 1970s album that still had every single track in regular rotation on classic rock radio.
With a touring unit coming together around the line-up of Barry Goudreau, Tom Scholz, Sib Hashian, Brad Delp, and Fran Sheehan, the band played to a wide variety of crowds big and small, receiving strong fan support. Feeling an essentially unbearable amount of pressure to come up with another commercial mega-hit, Scholz still desired to experiment with his sound and had a growing sense of perfectionism. 'Don't Look Back' came out on August 2, 1978, viewed by Scholz as a hurried effort but picking up widespread success. It's been certified as multi-platinum, and its title track has become a classic rock staple.
Acrimonious fighting with label Epic Records, which soon became a long, drawn-out legal fight, left the future of the band stalled. Their next work, 'Third Stage' , came out in September 23, 1986, quite a while after their sophomore work. Bad luck and ill-will seemed to trail the group, with floods and power failures halting many studio sessions. Still, the album went to #1 on the Billboard 200, where it stayed for four weeks.
In addition, 'Third Stage' was only the second album to ever be certified triple-platinum in its first month of release, in November of 1986. As stated before, the first was Lionel Richie's 'Dancing On The Ceiling', which did it one month earlier. Nonetheless, Boston seemed to have gotten stuck.
On March 9th, 2007, Brad Delp (vocals) committed suicide at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire. He was 55. Delp sang all the lead and harmony vocals on Boston's first three albums. Though well known for his "golden" voice with soaring vocals and range, Delp was also a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, harmonica and keyboards. Additionally he wrote or co-wrote several songs for Boston and many other artists.
More than 10 years in the making, Boston came out with a new studio album, "Life, Love & Hope" in 2013. Founding member, Tom Scholz stated, "These are songs from the heart, each of them taking many months of effort to write, arrange, perform and record, always up to the demands of Boston's harshest critic, me. They have all been meticulously recorded to analog tape on the same machines and equipment used for Boston's hits for the past 35 years."
The band, with Scholz and a new lineup, toured extensively in 2016-2017.
Boston's web site is at www.bandboston.com
More Than a Feeling
Boston Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Turned on some music to start my day
I lost myself in a familiar song
I closed my eyes and I slipped away
It's more than a feeling (more than a feeling)
When I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
And I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
'Til I see Marianne walk away
I see my Marianne walkin' away
So many people have come and gone
Their faces fade as the years go by
Yet I still recall as I wander on
As clear as the sun in the summer sky
It's more than a feeling (more than a feeling)
When I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
And I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
'Til I see Marianne walk away
I see my Marianne walkin' away
When I'm tired and thinking cold
I hide in my music, forget the day
And dream of a girl I used to know
I closed my eyes and she slipped away
She slipped away
It's more than a feeling (more than a feeling)
When I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
And I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
'Til I see Marianne walk away
The lyrics to Boston's song More Than a Feeling are about the universal experience of music and its emotional power. The singer starts by describing a typical morning where he feels lonely and lost, but then he turns on some music that he is familiar with, and the song takes him away to a better place. The particular song he hears takes him back to a time when he was in love and experienced joy with his girlfriend Marianne, but now she is gone. The song momentarily transports him back to that time and he can see her walking away, but when the song ends, he is back in the present, feeling the heartache of losing her. The singer describes how music has the ability to make him forget about his problems and dream of happier times - in this case, the memories of his past relationship with Marianne.
Overall, the song is about nostalgia and how music can have a profound effect on our emotions. Even when people and memories fade away, music has the ability to keep those memories alive and make us feel the same emotions we once felt. The song is an ode to the power of music and its ability to transport us to another time and place.
Line by Line Meaning
I looked out this morning and the sun was gone
I woke up to find that the sky was gray and cloudy outside.
Turned on some music to start my day
I decided to listen to some music to help me start my day.
I lost myself in a familiar song
I became so engrossed in a song that I was familiar with that I forgot my surroundings.
I closed my eyes and I slipped away
I became so absorbed in the music that I forgot about the world around me and became lost in a daydream.
It's more than a feeling (more than a feeling)
The song evokes more than just a feeling for me, it brings back old memories and emotions.
When I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
The song reminds me of a past time, and it has more significance than just being a song.
And I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
The song brings back powerful memories and makes me feel like I am living in a dream again.
'Til I see Marianne walk away
As I get lost in my thoughts, I begin to remember a painful memory of a past love walking away from me.
So many people have come and gone
Throughout my life, many people have entered and exited it.
Their faces fade as the years go by
As the years pass, I begin to forget what these people looked like.
Yet I still recall as I wander on
Even though I forget their faces, I am still able to remember the impact that some of these people had on my life.
As clear as the sun in the summer sky
The memories of those people and the impact they had on my life are as vivid as the brightest days of summer.
When I'm tired and thinking cold
When I am feeling physically and emotionally drained and need to find a way to recharge my mind and spirit.
I hide in my music, forget the day
I turn to my music as a way to tune out the world, forget about my problems, and recharge my spirit.
And dream of a girl I used to know
As I listen to my music, I begin to daydream about a girl I used to be in love with.
She slipped away
She eventually left my life for good, but I still find myself thinking about her.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Tom Scholz
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind