Boston Skyline Records

Okay, we’ll accept that perhaps naming your band after the city where it was founded might lead you to suspect a lack of creativity. If you’ve ever listened to Boston, though, you’ll know that’s definitely not the case. Instead, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, and producer Tom Scholz and crew created a potent blend of hard rock, heavy metal, progressive rock, and pop that has made them superstars for more than 30 yearsdefinitely the sort of band you want associated with your town.The band actually had its roots in a group formed while Tom Scholz was attending MIT. The band was called Freehold, and also featured future Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea. Scholz also wrote the famous instrumental “Foreplay,” which would be featured on Boston’s debut album, at this time.Singer Brad Delp was later added to the group. Using money from his job at Polaroid, Scholz built a recording studio in his basement, and the quartet recorded numerous demoswhich were rejected by record companies. Undeterred, the group reorganized itself as Mother’s Milk in 1973. Demos produced by this group after the fact found their way to Epic Records and earned Scholz and Delp a signing deal. Before the first album was released, Masdea was fired (although he did drum on “Rock and Roll Band”) and the group’s name was changed to Boston.In 1976, Boston’s self-titled debut produced three Top 40 hits (“More than a Feeling,” “Long Time,” and “Peace of Mind”). Today, the album is the second best-selling debut of any American band (trumped only by Guns N’ Roses’s Appetite for Destruction). Tracks from this album are still used in film and television whenever producers need a quintessential hard rock anthem.Boston followed this up with 1978′s Don’t Look Back, which Tom Scholz says the band was forced to release before they were ready. This would lead to the group parting ways with Epic before releasing another album. This album wasn’t quite as successful as the debut, but still produced the singles “Don’t Look Back” and “Feelin’ Satisfied.”The group’s next album, Third Stage, was recorded over six years, and wasn’t released until 1986. This album was released on MCA, and produced the 1 single “Amanda.” The album also stayed at 1 on the Billboard 200 for four weeks, but Allmusic.com later said “the songs are not as strong as those on their debut, and the album is marred by the presence of instrumental fillers and an attempt to cling to a theme of ‘journey through life’s third stage.’”The group’s next two albums, Walk On (1994) and Corporate America (2002) weren’t as well received as any of their predecessors, but those early albums have been enough to cement the group’s popularity. Tragically, lead singer Delp committed suicide in 2007, and the group’s lineup has been in turmoil since then. Nonetheless, a new album is scheduled for 2011, with Scholz being the only remaining founding member in the lineup.