Song:Don't Look Back
Album;Greatest Hits
Boston had the potential to be one of the most popular bands of all time. They had two best selling albums in the late 70s and Don't Look Back was one of their two top five hits. But they just didn't record enough music and that even became an issue with their record company. Boston leader Tom Scholz was from Toledo, OH. While attending MIT in Boston, he joined the band Freehold in 1970 where he met guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea. Brad Delp was added as lead singer. While working for Polaroid, Scholz financed demos and formed the band Mother's Milk with the other three guys. After the demos were rejected, Scholz recorded new demos virtually alone. Masdea played drums. They got a deal with Epic Records but Masdea left the band and was replaced by Sib Hashian. Bassist Fran Sheehan was also added. Because Scholz played all the instruments on the demo, the band had to audition live for Epic execs to get the deal. Producer John Boylan named them Boston. Their 1976 debut album Boston sold 17M copies and is still the best selling debut album in history. More Than A Feeling reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. They also won a Best New Artist Grammy. Epic tried to de-emphasize Scholz as the mastermind of Boston. but the truth was Scholz recorded the 1978 album Don't Look Back single handedly. And Epic was bugging him for it. Though the album was successful and the single Don't Look Back reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, Scholz felt Epic rushed him and he wasn't satisfied with the end product. He wanted to take his time on the next album so he told the other members to work on other projects. While Delp recorded with Scholz, Epic released a Barry Goudreau solo album and attempted to sell it as Boston. Scholz objected and Goudreau left Boston in 1981 to form Orion The Hunter. Then Epic launched a $60M lawsuit against Scholz for not delivering a Boston album in a timely manner. Scholz continued to record and added guitarist Gary Pihl. The end result of the lawsuit was Scholz got out of his contract with Epic and signed with MCA. Third Stage was released in 1986 and Amanda was Boston's only number one hit. You can get all of Boston's hits on this budget comp. Brad Delp left Boston in 1990 and Scholz had trouble replacing him. He didn't release another album until 1994. And by that time, Delp returned. Another Boston album was released in 2002. Brad Delp committed suicide in 2007. Tom Scholz and Gary Pihl still lead Boston and they toured this year. But there's no question Boston could have been much bigger than they were. Here's the video for Don't Look Back by Boston.
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