[Still More Than a Feeling] -- We interrupt our 80s Flashback posts with a very special Flashback to 1976. Specifically, we are flashing back fifty years to August 25, 1976. On that date, Boston released their eponymous debut album.
Boston conquered charts around the globe. It peaked at #11 in the UK and #3 on the US Billboard 200, selling 18 million copies in the U.S., and 27 million worldwide. The singles – "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", and "Foreplay/Long Time" – were all hits that are still featured on classic rock stations. And the entire album became a staple of AOR radio. Boston even has a spot at #2 on Louder Sound's 2024 list of The 50 best AOR albums of all time.
That's pretty impressive when you consider Boston is essentially Tom Scholz's demo tape that had been turned down by a bunch of big labels in the US.
The true legend of Tom Scholz, an MIT graduate and (at the time) product design engineer for Polaroid, painstakingly recording the album in his basement rather than in the record label's professional studio has has become common knowledge. And so have his feuds with bandmates, such as with Boston co-founder Barry Goudreau, or with vocalist Brad Delp's family.
But I suppose artistic and legal conflicts are the standard fare when big talent collides with big egos (or at least the potential for big egos to develop).
Now, this album does have something of a connection to the 1980s. You see, I was too young to buy records of my own when Boston was released in 1976. However, five or so years later, I purchased my own vinyl copy of this album at a local drugstore in my hometown. And I still have that record in my collection to this day. So, my personal copy might not be 50 years old, it could be close to 45!
Flashback: Boston (August 26, 1976)
And that's all till next week. If you were looking for 80s tunes, you can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.
See you in seven!
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