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
I Had a Good Time
Boston Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And you know I will remember
You said you'd always be there
When you go
Hey, I wanted you to know
I wish you were mine
And I, I just wanted you to know
Ooh I, I had a really good time
You can lie and I'll still believe it
It's OK, it doesn't matter
I know that you really mean it
In your own way
Hey, I wanted you to know
I wish you were mine
And I, I just wanted you to know
I had a good time
Ooh I, I had a really good time
You know what you want
Well maybe love is blind
But's alright, it's cool
I just wanted you to know
I had a really good time
Well I've been in love
But nothing lasts forever
So just hold on long enough
And maybe you'll end up together
It's alright, yeah, yeah, yeah
You can lie to my face and I'll believe it
It's OK, 'cause there's a feeling you can't replace
You didn't mean it anyway
Hey, I wanted you to know
I wish you were mine
And I, I just wanted you to know
I had a good time
Ooh I, I had a really good time
The lyrics to Boston's song "I Had a Good Time" seem to be about a relationship that has ended, and the singer is reflecting on the good times that they had with their partner. Throughout the song, the singer acknowledges the unfairness of the situation, but still chooses to remember the good times they had. They express their wish that their partner was still with them, but they also seem to have come to terms with the fact that nothing lasts forever.
The chorus of the song is particularly poignant, as the singer repeats the phrase "I had a good time" over and over again. This seems to be a mantra of sorts, a way for the singer to remind themselves that, despite the pain of the breakup, they still have happy memories to hold onto. The line "maybe love is blind" suggests that the singer may have been willing to overlook faults in their partner in order to maintain the relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
Hey, you can be so unfair
Hey, sometimes you can treat me unfairly.
And you know I will remember
I remember everything you do, even when you are unfair.
You said you'd always be there
You promised that you would always be around for me.
When you go
Even though you said you would be there for me, I know that you will eventually leave.
Hey, I wanted you to know
Hey, I just wanted to let you know.
I wish you were mine
I wish we could be together.
And I, I just wanted you to know
And I just wanted to let you know one more time.
I had a good time
I really enjoyed spending time with you.
Ooh I, I had a really good time
I had a fantastic time when we were together.
You can lie and I'll still believe it
Even if you lie to me, I will still trust you.
It's OK, it doesn't matter
It's fine, lying doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
I know that you really mean it
I know that deep down, you really mean what you say.
In your own way
You might express yourself differently than most people, but that's okay.
You know what you want
You have a clear idea of what you want in life.
Well maybe love is blind
Sometimes love can make you overlook things you shouldn't.
But's alright, it's cool
But that's okay, it's cool.
I just wanted you to know
I just wanted to make sure you were aware.
I had a really good time
I had an amazing time when we were together.
Well I've been in love
I've been in love before.
But nothing lasts forever
But not all love lasts forever.
So just hold on long enough
So maybe if we hold on long enough...
And maybe you'll end up together
We might end up together someday.
It's alright, yeah, yeah, yeah
It's okay, it will all work out in the end.
You can lie to my face and I'll believe it
Even if you lie straight to my face, I will still believe you.
It's OK, 'cause there's a feeling you can't replace
It's okay because the feeling I get when I'm with you cannot be replaced.
You didn't mean it anyway
But I know deep down you didn't mean what you said.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: TOM SCHOLZ
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
bluebo1212
If I could go back in time I would tell Tom Scholz to make "Third Stage" the last of a trilogy and re-name it "Home At Last" using the same artwork as "Walk On" with the following songs in order:
1. We're Ready
2. The Launch/Cool The Engines
3. Amanda
4. Walkin' at Night/Walk On
5. I Think I Like It
6. Hollyann
7. I Had A Good Time
8. We Can Make It
This would had made the Boston albums a trilogy with "Boston" being the beginning of the journey with the exploding Earth, "Don't Look Back" searching for a home, and "Home At Last" ending the journey with the finding of a new home world.
tfi3ld
Had the honor of meeting Brad before he passed away. My little sister had cancer at the time (she was 6) and we got back stage tickets to meet the band. Brad was the only one to come out out of all of them. He had lunch with us and spent time with my entire family. Later half way through the show, he paused and dedicated the song "Amanda" to my little sister. The song she is named after. Best man I've met in my life. Thanks Brad
Al Stefanini
That is the saddest and the best story I’ve heard in sometime, god bless Brad, and I hope Amanda’s well!
David Kaye
Thanks for the nice words about Brad. Sorry you had to meet under such circumstances.I bet your lil sis had a smile from ear to ear hearing her song!
Adam Tobin
Only the good die young. What an awesome memory of a great day and a great man
Vicki Bertrand
That's Awesome! Sorry for your loss! 2 Angel's in Heaven!!🤘
Tieu Kha Vu
@tfi3ld Your sister had cancer at the age of six? I always thought that it only can happen to people who got older. Did she survived it quickly? BTW, sorry to hear about that. May the force be with your sister and with you.
jedi on board
That Boston sound,,,,, ooooooh goooooose bumps.
Ashley Voss
Love this one so much! It's been on repeat in my car on CD, wish they had it on Spotify though
quamne
ik ur comment is ancient but i have them on my spotify thru local files
TheDubstepDoge
@Yorick Strangefield yep it’s not on there what I did is downloaded the songs from YouTube on my computer and then put them on iTunes and I can listen to them with my phone on apple music