It’s one of the driving forces behind radio station formatting; people tend to become most attached to the music that they heard in adolescence – from about 12 to the early-mid 20s. That’s the time of one’s life when hormone-addled emotions grab and internalize emotional markers for the rest of peoples’ lives.
Music is, of course, one of the most emotionally immediate art forms.
And so for the past sixty years, radio stations have banked their economic futures on playing music that resonate with each succeeding demographic group’s musical emotional markers.
If you’re one of the first wave of Baby Boomers, then, the Beatles were Top Forty radio when you were in your teens and twenties; as you moved through your thirties and forties, they became “classics”. And as you slide toward the tail end of your big-money earning years, they become “Oldies”. And in 10-15 years, you’ll start seeing “nostalgia” stations playing sixties music.
Presuming music radio still exists, of course.
But as I’ve noted in this series – at least in re yours truly – there’s a separate emotional motivation – the one that leads to staking out one’s own identity. In my case, it involved seeking out music that everyone at Jamestown High School wasn’t already listening to – at that time, the punk, new wave, and other non-top-40 stuff that was starting to make waves by the mid-late seventies – and eschewing the stuff that was popular at the time – the Linda Ronstadts, the Bee Gees, Barry Manilows, Andrew Golds, Eagles, Olivia Newton Johns, Kisses and Bad Companys and Seals and Croftses and whatever else dominated the charts during that post-Watergate, post-Beatles, pre-Reagan era.
And at the intersection of those two emotional drives was Boston. Or at least their first album.
On the one hand – it was the most perfect example of “corporate rock” of the seventies. You look up “overproduced” in the dictionary, you see a drawing of Tom Scholtz, the group’s founder / guitarist / keyboarist / songwriter / dictator / superego / producer / electronic research engineer / sole remaining original member. There was not a spontaneous bit of music, or an unaltered natural sound, anywhere on 1976 debut album. It was the product – in both senses of the word – of Scholtz’ manic vision and Epic Records’ marketing plan. And that was the stuff that teenage punks were supposed to eschew up and spit out
On the other hand? It was the most perfect example of “corporate rock” of the seventies.
To a generation of kids, discovering the big wide world and out-of-town radio and girls is inextricably tied in with Tom Scholtz’ shimmering acoustic guitar; with Barry Goodreau’s mega-multi-tracked guitar pyrotechnics; with Brad Delp’s every-bit-as-enhanced-as-Kim-Kardashian’s-butt vocals; above all, with the overall sound, which is no more spontaneous than a meal cooked by a molecular gastronomer…
…and no less gloriously perfect.
And for all of Pete Townsend’s purported dabbling into psychoacoustic research into patterns of sound that humans can not resist, it’d be hard to find a better example of any such phenomenon than “More than a Feeling”, “Long Time”…
…and probably half a dozen other moments on the first album
If I were an eccentric billionaire, I might well pay a couple of psych grad students a few grand to determine whetherBoston- or especially “More than a Feeling” and “Long Time” – don’t have some sort of pavlovian, autonomic response among a generation of guys from 45-53 or so.
And so while the obnoxious teen punk Mitch Berg didn’t say it too loud? In a place that punk never talked about, even with his closest musical friends, Boston – and Boston – got quietly grandfathered in on the list of “music I’ll keep listening to with unironic joy”. And there was always a copy of Boston lying around somewhere – a cassette in an unmarked case, in the case of an, er, friend of mine.
TANGENTIAL NOTE: I first started thinking about this series back in 2009 – which was when I first started stubbing out the first couple of articles (on Fleetwood Mac and Boston, as well as on Heart, Foreigner and the Stylistics, which have yet to appear).
I publish this blog using a tool called “WordPress”, which allows me to save posts as drafts (I have about 300) or schedule them out in advance (as this is written, the furthest-out is in 2017). Having a post set to “publish” is usually good motivation to actually finish it.
But it doesn’t always work. When things get busy and my attention span gets taxed, posts’ “publish” dates come and go, and unfinished (or barely-started) posts appear on the blog. As this one did, at least once – which explains comments in the comment section going back to 2012.
Just in case you were wondering.
I don’t know what you’re going to say about this, but my take is… wtf do you do for an encore when your debut album sells 17 million copies? I think Boston is the Joseph Heller of Rock.
Or Steely Dan for stoners …
Another great post — I’m really enjoying this series.
It became evident over time that Tom Scholz had only one idea. It happened to be a great idea, though. And in the barren context in which that first album appeared, the summer of “Afternoon Delight” and “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” to say nothing of the aftermath of “Frampton Comes Alive,” it was especially tonic. I’ll always remember it fondly.
Their first three albums were pretty much definitive of the band. Never heard anything about the others. At least they didn’t overstay their welcome appearance-wise, if they ever did do live stuff. I’d hate to see what a re-hashed, one original member, casino circuit group would have become. They were one group that I’ve never heard covered by local bands, even the good ones.
Boston is a hard group to cover. Believe me, I’ve tried.
I saw one band pull it off, though. It was when I was in college; it was a five-piece band from Mexico, of all places. And they not only did Boston – perfectly – but did “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Just the five of them. Not even Queen pulled that off.
“More Than A Feeling” was all about feeling, and it hit like a ton of bricks when I was dating a gal named Maryanne at the time. Damn, there wasn’t a bad track on that album. Despite it’s over-produced, slick corporate feel, the thing was a monster and like one of Heinlein’s puppet masters it took over your brain no matter how much you resisted.
Still one of my top 10 rock albums after all these years. The first three albums were good, but you could see the quality drop as you wondered how many years they could go between albums. By the time they got to Corporate America they had exactly one good (and mindless) tune (I Had A Good Time) and the rest of the album was at best meh.
Their albums deteriorated as original members got dropped, IMO. I think Scholtz fired Barry Goodreau, Sib Hashian and Fran Sheehan during the recording of Third Stage, and it showed (although Scholtz actually played all the guitars on “More than a Feeling”)
Mr. Berg … Do you remember the name of the Mexican cover band you mentioned? There was a similar group that gigged around Duluth in the late 70’s – 80’s – at Spirit Mountain, I believe, and the Twin Cities who were the best cover band I’ve ever heard. They covered everything down to the last note; almost a Classic Rock Radio tribute band. I can’t remember, but might recognize it.
Re: Springsteen: I often listen to FM 89.3 with my much hipper son. One song I’ve heard recently is by The Rock Steady. I don’t know the name of the tune, but it’s one that would be in current rotation. My strong impression of them was early, E-Street Band Bruce Springsteen. Have you heard them?
It is my understanding that Scholz has become quite a philanthropist, and didn’t one of the original Boston members commit suicide recently (w/I the last five years)?
It just hit me. The Mexican group’s name was, I think, City Mouse. Ring any bells?
Could just be a hallucination … as I age, the lines between what I remember and what actually was becomes increasingly blurred …
Saw City Mouse a few times in the mid 70’s. Good, good local Mpls band.
Couldn’t stand Boston though…….
Or “The Boss”…..
DWP … I’m with you on Springsteen. Boston is still a good part of the soundtrack of many lives; not overly interesting, but definitely a part.
I thought City Mouse was an exotic touring band from Mexico. Didn’t take much to be exotic in mid-70s Duluth, though. Back then, just being from “The Cities” qualified for that status.
Music therapy is a growing part of psychological treatment. Not sure if it’s been around long enough to have proven it’s value, or is just another mental health parlor trick. I suspect that Mr. Berg might find some information related to his psychoacoustic questions somewhere in the literature that supports it. Good starting point for non-eccentric billionaires, anyway …
Boston did at least one tour. I saw them at the Billings Metra I think the summer of 1977, or maybe 1978. Acoustics in the Metra were horrible, but the sounded great. I remember their stage set had a bunch of wooden crates across the back, and then during “Smokin'”, if I remember correctly, a bunch of pipe organ pipes rose out of the crates. I don’t know if it was just show or if they actually worked, but it was something to see.
I agree with Mr D – love this series also, Mitch. Fun to reminisce: I was a huge fan of Rush as a 15 year old when they came to Cincinnati in late 1976/early 1977 after their ‘breakout’ album 2112; they were middle of the bill between Starcastle and …….. Boston! I asked the bee-yoo-tee-ful Wendy Alexander to go with me to the concert (1st date!) because she was loving the “More Than a Feeling” effect. Rush was great and I was OK with Boston until we had to leave Riverfront Coliseum at midnight because my Dad was waiting outside to pick us youngsters up at a pre-designated (pre-cell phone) time. Wendy was perturbed we had to leave just as Boston was starting to wail on “Long Time” ……. and that was the end of our dating career. Damn – reminiscing not so much fun