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.
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