Boston and the 70s

           Boston’s self-titled album is a perfect reflection of the era it was released in.  The band did a good job of capturing the decade as a whole, yet they brought a unique sound to the music industry with their creativity.  The 70s was a decade of rock and roll, drugs, fast cars, independence, and soul searching.  This was also a big time for acceptance and more diversity.  This album perfectly reflects the era by outlining many different aspects of the 70s in their songs. Someone can listen to these songs and immediately be able to tell what decade they’re from, as it clearly shines through the music. 

            This album is a mix of a bunch of different songs, some relating to love, death, and success in life.  Each song uniquely relates to the decade.  “More Than A Feeling” along with three other songs on the album relate to love.  This can easily relate to any decade because love can be found anywhere.  These songs specifically relate to this time in history because people were becoming more accepting and spreading, or trying to spread, more love and happiness.  “Peace of Mind” is the second track off of the album and refers to independence and following your own path in life, which is what many people were trying to achieve in the 70s.  This was a newer mindset of the time, as many people were trying to stray away from the norm and try something different than what their relatives were doing.  “Rock & Roll Band” is a story about an up and coming band and how they made it in the music industry.  The song itself isn’t a story about Boston’s rise in the music industry but does outline how many bands started out and made it big after a while.  With rock and roll being a huge part of the 70s, this song highlights how many of the bands of the time got their start and the struggles they had to overcome to make it big.  “Smokin’” is a song that is all about smoking weed.  This seemed to be a common thing to do back in the 70s.  Drugs were closely tied to rock and roll back then. This can still be seen as true today for Boston, as I went to a Boston concert with my dad back in 2017 and it was pretty obvious that many of the fans were still into smoking weed.  About halfway through the concert, our noses were filled with smell of marijuana in the air.  

            One of the songs on the album is about suicide, which became very closely intertwined with the band in later years.  “Hitch a Ride” is the sixth song off of the album and the only somber one. Boston toned down their use of electric guitar and other unique background sounds and instead utilized more harmonies and gave the song a more angelic feel.  This song is strongly connected to the band now because the original lead singer of Boston, Brad Delp, killed himself in 2007. He left many notes for the people who found him, including one where Delp claimed that he was a “lonely soul”.  This song could resonate with many people because depression and suicide are more common than people may think.  Many people suffer from it, and celebrities and singers are no exception.  Brad is an example that sometimes being in the spotlight can be a lonely existence.  Brad wasn’t the only one however, many other singers have also looked for an easy way out. Included in this list is Kurt Cobain, Avicii, Ian Curtis, Chester Bennington, Donny Hathaway, Bob Welch, and Cliff Davies.

            Boston also set the standard for music when they released their self-titled album.  Tom Scholz, the mastermind behind Boston, was an engineering major in college and used this knowledge to create unique sounds for his songs.  Anything he thought of in his mind could be made into a sound.  The sky was the limit with him, and this laid the framework for the future of music.  People could take this idea and run with it.  This helped people think outside of the box and start creating more unique sounds.  The amount of new and unique sounds that Tom came up with gave Boston a completely different sound and set them apart from other bands of the time.  This style obviously caught on, because listeners were hooked from the beginning.  Boston’s self-titled first album was easily their most popular album to date.  

            Boston’s first album was their most successful and paved the way for music thereafter.  The album was a perfect reflection of the decade and important themes during that time. Writing songs about these popular subjects most likely gave Boston more fame, as listeners could relate better to the songs they were hearing.  Along with this, Boston’s unique sounds helped them stand out among the countless amounts of rock and roll bands battling to make it big. 

            Boston’s self-titled first album was their most popular album they released, having sold seventeen million copies to date.  This album was probably the most successful because songwriter Tom Scholz spent the most time on this album.  The albums after the debut were all on a time limit and Scholz felt rushed. He got to take his time with these songs and it obviously paid off, as the album’s success speaks for itself.  The album itself is just over thirty minutes long, but cool guitar solos and stellar vocals are encapsulated in that short amount of time.
            The album cover really captures the feelings that come from this album.  The cover shows three guitar shaped spaceships fleeing Earth, which looks to be exploding.  This guitar ship concept also showed up on later Boston albums. On the top of the spaceships, you can see a city, which I’m assuming is Boston, enclosed in a huge glass dome.  The colors on the album cover were very bright and vibrant, reflecting the decade this album is from – the 70s.  Along with being a reflection of the decade, the cover gives a visual picture to what the listeners might feel while they listened to the music.  The sound of the music is so unique that one might feel like they’re in another dimension.  Just as the cover shows Earth exploding, Tom did a great job of breaking the boundaries and finding unique sounds for this album.
            Tom Scholz is the mastermind who wrote and produced a majority of the tracks on the album.  He had a makeshift studio in his basement where he played all the instruments in the songs, except for percussion.  With the help of Brad Delp and his amazing voice, the duo worked tirelessly to produce arguably one of the best albums of the decade.  There are many sounds heard in the background of the music that is hard to pinpoint what exactly it is.  Tom went to school to become an engineer, which ended up helping him with his musical career because he was able to create certain sounds that he wanted in the music without anyone else’s help.  Because he came up with these sounds himself, Boston has a very unique and distinct sound to their music, which is clearly showcased in this album.
            Boston is an embodiment of the era it was made in.  Drugs were obviously a big thing back in the 70s, so it is no surprise that Boston wrote a song about drugs, infamously called “Smokin’”. People were also big into rock and roll music at the time, and their song “Rock & Roll Band” gives some insight to how rough it can be to start off as a band.  On the flip side, the song also highlights the positives of the music business and becoming successful in the career.  Being Boston’s first album, Bostonis just comprised of Tom’s best songs so far and I don’t believe there’s any bigger picture for this album.  Obviously, the songs are easy to dance to and fun to sing along with, but they have no correlation with one another.  There are many songs about love, so I can assume that Tom might have been going through something with a woman, as about half of the songs on the album reference a love and having difficulty telling that special person how you are feeling.  Along with this, is possible to assume that the spotlight negatively affected Tom, as “Hitch A Ride” talks about suicide and wanting to leave this world, which is something that many people can relate to, celebrities included.  The spotlight can be a bit much to handle sometimes, as seen in the untimely deaths of many celebrities such as Robin Williams, Chester Bennington, and even Boston’s lead vocalist, Brad Delp. This song can resonate with many people because anyone can go through tough times and think negative thoughts.  Boston does a great job at layering the vocals and instruments so there are many harmonies being heard.  This in itself sounds amazing, in addition to the unique sounds and instruments that Tom masterfully engineered himself. 

           This album overall is very easy to jam out to and perfect to listen to in your car with the windows down.  Boston’s sound is very unique and they were definitely stepping out of the boundaries for the era they were in.  The album took a lot of hard work and ended up working out for them, as this album shot the band to stardom and gave them the opportunity to produce more music for their fans.