Boston (band)

Boston
2008 at the Grand Casino in Hinckley, Minnesota
General information
origin	Boston , United States
Genre (s)	Hard rock
founding	1975
Website	www.bandboston.com
Founding members
Guitar , bass , drums , keyboard	Tom Scholz
Vocals , guitar	Brad Delp (until 1990, 1994-2007), † 2007
Drums	Jim Masdea (until 1975, 1984–1987)
guitar	Barry Goudreau (until 1980)
Current occupation
Guitar, bass, drums, keyboard	Tom Scholz
guitar	Gary Pihl (since 1987)
Drums	Curly Smith (1994–1997, since 2016)
Drums	Jeff Neal (since 2002)
Vocals, keyboard	Tommy DeCarlo (since 2007)
Bass, vocals	Tracy Ferrie (since 2012)
Vocals, keyboard, guitar	Beth Cohen (since 2015)
former members
Drums	David Currier (1975)
bass	Fran Sheehan (1975-1980)
Drums	John Tomas "Sib" Hashian (1975–1982), † 2017
Drums	Doug Huffman (1987-1994)
bass	David Sikes (1987-1997)
Vocals, guitar	Fran Cosmo (1990-2006)
Drums	Curly Smith (1994-1997)
Vocals, guitar	Anthony Cosmo (1997-2006)
Drums	Anthony Citrinite (2001)
Bass, vocals	Kimberley Dahme (2002–2012)
Drums	Tom Moonan (2004)
Vocals, guitar	Michael Sweet (2008-2011)

Boston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts , who celebrated their greatest successes in the 1970s and 1980s. The group still exists today with changing line-ups, with Tom Scholz being the last remaining founding member as guitarist, author and producer. The most famous pieces from Boston are More Than a Feeling , Don't Look Back and Amanda .

history

The band in 1977. Left to right: Barry Goudreau, Tom Scholz, Sib Hashian, Brad Delp, Fran Sheehan

The prehistory to Boston began in 1969 when Scholz began to write music, including the instrumental "Foreplay" which was later released on the debut album. Scholz then joined the band Freehold , where he played with the later Boston musicians, guitarist Barry Goudreau, singer Brad Delp and drummer Jim Masdea. In 1973 these four founded the group Mother's Milk , which disbanded in 1974. At this time, the multi-instrumentalist Scholz, together with Goudreau, Delp and Masdea, began recording a series of demo tapes with self-written songs in his private recording studio in Wayland . At first he worked mainly as a keyboard player and sound engineer. The first set of cassettes , however, was not well received by record companies. A second set of recordings, on which Scholz could be heard more on guitar instead of Goudreau, ultimately led to a record deal with Epic Records .

When the band was supposed to audition for Epic, bassist Fran Sheehan joined them. For the recordings of the debut album in 1975 and 1976, the drums were occupied with Sib Hashian at the request of the record company, as she was dissatisfied with Masdea. Since the record company also insisted that the album was recorded by a real band, the band put together for this reason recorded three of the demo tracks again, of which only one came on the album; the rest of the album consisted of old demo material that Scholz recorded largely by himself, including the world hit More than a Feeling , carried by Scholz's guitars and Delp's voice. The album was released in 1976 and was very successful. It is called the most successful debut album by a musical group in the USA to this day; over 17 million copies have been sold. It achieved the status of a diamond record (17 times platinum). Only Guns N 'Roses sold approximately one million more copies of Appetite for Destruction , but its debut status is controversial. The two Boston singles More Than a Feeling and Peace of Mind landed at the top of the US Billboard charts.

Scholz worked on the successor until 1978. At the urging of the record company, the album was released that year. With Don't Look Back , Boston was able to build on its old success. The album reached number 1 in the charts and the single of the same name also reached the top 5. Following a two-year tour in 1980, the future of the band was unclear due to disputes with management and the record company. Therefore, Barry Goudreau released a self-titled solo album. He was supported by his bandmates Brad Delp as singer and Sib Hashian as drummer and the future Boston singer Fran Cosmo. The album, which is similar in style, can be described as a quasi-Boston album (without Tom Scholz). Not in agreement with the behavior of the record company, Scholz decided not to let pressure put him on the third album. It took him eight years in total; from the previous line-up only he and Brad Delp were left. Third Stage (1986) built on the old success and reached top positions in the USA. This meant that the two previous albums were also back in the top 200.

Until the 1990s, Epic led a lawsuit with Scholz because he broke his contract due to the long recording time. In 1990 the lawsuit was dismissed and the record company was sentenced to pay royalties in the tens of millions. With a completely new line-up, including the singer Fran Cosmo, Scholz worked from then on on the fourth Boston album. Walk On was released in 1994 and could not build on the commercial success of its predecessors. The album was consistently denied television and radio airplay . Despite the success of the live concerts, at which Boston could still fill the halls, MCA Records canceled the contract. Scholz worked on a successor at his own expense. Brad Delp returned to the group in the late 1990s and from then on shared the vocals with Fran Cosmo. In 1997 a greatest hits album was released, on which two new pieces can be heard.

In 2002, Boston posted a track on the MP3.com download platform . The track became the site's most popular download and reached an audience of millions. The following album Corporate America could only achieve a respectable success. Several successful tours followed. In 2006, the band's first two albums were re-released as remastered editions.

Brad Delp committed suicide in 2007 on March 9 suicide . In the same year, Scholz organized the charity concert "Come Together: A Tribute To Brad Delp" in Massachusetts , in which all former Boston members participated with the exception of Sib Hashian. The singing of Delp was done by Tommy DeCarlo, who had successfully advertised on MySpace with interpretations reminiscent of the deceased. Michael Sweet, singer and guitarist for the white metal band Stryper , was asked to be the singer for the Brad Delp tribute tour. The success of these concerts led to another collaboration between the band and Sweet, who now also appeared on the current LP and at other concerts as a singer and frontman. In 2011 he left the band again after Scholz preferred DeCarlo when recording the new album.

The 2012 tour was played by Boston instead of Kimberley Dahme and Jeff Neal with their former drummer Curly Smith, Stryper bassist Tracie Ferry and guest singer David Victor. In the spring of 2013 the band announced on their website that Tom Scholz would soon finish the work on the next studio album, which had been going on for more than ten years, and that it would be released in 2013. Boston also announced that after the album production was completed, work on a live DVD would begin. The album is called Life, Love & Hope and was released on December 3, 2013.

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Boston   DE 4th 02/15/1977 (32 weeks)   UK 11  gold 02/05/1977 (22 weeks)   US 3 09/25/1976 (132 weeks) Don't look back   DE 10 09/18/1978 (15 weeks)   UK 9  silver 09.09.1978 (10 weeks)   US 1  × 7 Seven times platinum 09/02/1978 (45 weeks) Third stage   DE 25th 03/11/1986 (16 weeks)   CH 13 11/02/1986 (12 weeks)   UK 37 10/18/1986 (11 weeks)   US 1  × 4 Quadruple platinum 10/18/1986 (50 weeks) Walk on   DE 40 06/27/1994 (9 weeks)   CH 16 06/19/1994 (11 weeks)   UK 56 06/25/1994 (1 week)   US 7th  platinum 06/25/1994 (16 weeks) Greatest hits   US 47  × 2 Double platinum 06/21/1997 (16 weeks) Corporate America   US 42 11/23/2002 (3 weeks) Life Love & Hope   US 37 12/12/2013 (3 weeks)

Singles

More than a feeling   DE 15th 01/24/1977 (15 weeks)   CH 9 03/26/1977 (7 weeks)   UK 22nd  platinum 01/29/1977 (11 weeks)   US 5  gold 09/18/1976 (19 weeks) Long time   DE 39 04/11/1977 (5 weeks)   US 22nd 01/29/1977 (10 weeks) Peace of Mind   US 38 05/14/1977 (8 weeks) Don't look back   UK 43 07.10.1978 (5 weeks)   US 4th August 19, 1978 (13 weeks) A Man I'll Never Be   US 31 11/18/1978 (12 weeks) Feelin 'satisfied   US 46 March 24, 1979 (7 weeks) Amanda   DE 46 12/22/1986 (6 weeks)   CH 12 07.12.1986 (7 weeks)   US 1 09/27/1986 (18 weeks) We're ready   US 9 December 6, 1986 (15 weeks) Can'tcha Say (You Believe in Me) / Still in Love   US 20th 07.03.1987 (13 weeks) I need your love   US 51 06/11/1994 (10 weeks)

style

The music style of the band is a melodic hard rock. The target group of the complex compositions are primarily adult listeners, which is why the music is also classified as Adult Orientated Rock (AOR). A hallmark of the Boston sound is the double lead guitar and the very harmonious melody. In addition, the band does not use synthesizers , only Hammond organ and piano as keyboards . The synthetic sounds are generated experimentally (e.g. with old transistor radios ) or with the Rockman and Power Soak devices specially developed by Tom Scholz for the band . The Rockman is driven by the guitar and imitates a tube amplifier and some effects. For example, he creates the “strings” on the Third Stage album . When power soak (German about performance drunkard ) is it is inserted between the amplifier and Box resistor networks that a portion of the output converting it to heat, and make sure that, despite low volume saturation distortion is achieved.

Discography

Studio albums

• 1976: Boston (US:× 1717 times platinum )
• 1978: Don't Look Back
• 1986: Third Stage
• 1994: Walk On
• 2002: Corporate America
• 2013: Life, Love & Hope

Compilations and live albums

• 1997: Greatest Hits (UK:silver)
• 2018: 1976 Live in Cleveland

Singles

• 1976: More Than a Feeling
• 1977: Long Time
• 1977: Peace of Mind
• 1978: Don't Look Back
• 1978: A Man I'll Never Be
• 1979: Feelin 'Satisfied
• 1986: Amanda
• 1986: We're Ready
• 1987: Can'tcha Say (You Believe in Me) / Still in Love
• 1994: I Need Your Love
• 1994: Walk On Medley
• 1997: Higher Power

Awards for music sales

Silver record  United Kingdom 2013: for the album Greatest Hits Golden record  Japan 1994: for the album Walk On 2003: for the album Greatest Hits  Canada 1986: for the single Amanda Platinum record  Italy 2019: for the single More Than a Feeling  Canada 1994: for the album Walk On

3 × platinum record  Canada 1986: for the album Third Stage 4 × platinum record  Canada 1979: for the album Don't Look Back Diamond record  Canada 1997: for the album Boston

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	diamond	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Italy (FIMI)	-	-	platinum1	-	50,000	fimi.it
Japan (RIAJ)	-	2 × gold2	-	-	200,000	riaj.or.jp
Canada (MC)	-	gold1	8 × platinum8th	diamond1	1,850,000	musiccanada.com
United States (RIAA)	-	gold1	21 × platinum21st	diamond1	31,500,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × silver2	gold1	platinum1	-	820,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	2 × silver2	5 × gold5	31 × platinum31	2 × diamond2

swell

1. ↑ riaa.com: Top 100 Albums , accessed February 4, 2012
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart placements in the AMG
3. ↑ Biography on Musicline.de ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Colleen Jurkiewicz: Boston lead singer living a classic rock Cinderella story. OnMilwaukee, August 1, 2012, accessed August 14, 2013 . 
5. ^ Official Boston Website - News. (No longer available online.) Bandboston.com, archived from the original on August 15, 2013 ; accessed on August 14, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ ^{a b} chart sources:
   • DE
   • AT
   • CH
   • UK
   • US

Web links

• Official website ( Memento of February 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Flash required)
• Boston at Discogs (English)
• Boston at laut.de
• Boston at MusicBrainz (English)