About
Boston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, which had its most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on multi-instrumentalist founder and leader Tom Scholz, who played the majority of instruments on the debut album, the band is a staple of classic rock. Boston’s best-known works include the songs “More Than a Feeling”, “Peace of Mind”, “Foreplay/Long Time”, “Rock and Roll Band”, “Smokin'”, “Don’t Look Back”, “A Man I’ll Never Be”, and “Amanda”. The band has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including 31 million albums in the United States, of which 17 million were from its self-titled debut album and seven million were for its second album, Don’t Look Back, making the group one of the world’s best-selling artists. Altogether, the band has released six studio albums over a career spanning over 40 years. Boston was ranked the 63rd best hard rock artist by VH1.
Boston’s beginnings go back to 1969 and a band headed by guitarist Barry Goudreau called Mother’s Milk. Vocalist Brad Delp and drummer Jim Masdea were joined by a recent MIT graduate, Tom Scholz on keyboards. The band didn’t last, but its members spent time in a homemade recording studio in Scholz’s basement recording demo tapes in hopes of making a new start.
Those tapes eventually landed Boston a deal with Epic Records. In 1976, they released Boston, which saw more than 17 million in sales. At a time when disco and punk were starting to emerge as influences, Boston’s traditional rock sound was embraced by radio stations and record buyers.
Like other bands of the era who achieved major commercial success in a short time, there was internal dissension and a tenuous relationship with a record label anxious to capitalize on the huge success of the band’s first album. It would be two years before the band’s second album, Don’t Look Back was released, selling four million copies the first month, but ultimately selling only half as many as the first album. The band has released six albums, including a Greatest Hits compilation.
The legendary Rockman guitar amplifier was a product of Scholz’s own company, which he formed in the early ‘80s and later sold. Scholz and Delp were the only original members of Boston who were still with the band until March 2007 when Delp died at the age of 55. The band resumed touring in 2008 with new vocalists Michael Sweet (from the Christian metal band Stryper) and Tommy DeCarlo, a Boston fan who was recruited after posting some of his covers of Boston songs on MySpace. The band toured in 2015.
