Boston Still Looks Back On Big Debut

Thu., Aug. 14, 1997

Don Adair Correspondent

Boston’s self-titled debut album slammed into the late-‘70s rock scene like a bulldozer into brick wall.

Released in August 1976, it blasted to No. Three on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 101 weeks. Ultimately, it became the best-selling debut LP in rock history, with more than 15 million copies sold.

The group was nominated for a Grammy that year for Best New Artist (only to be bested in typical Emmy fashion by one-hit wonder the Starlight Vocal Band) and was named Best New Band by readers of Rolling Stone. Time magazine hailed “Boston” as one of the year’s Top Five LPs.

“Boston” continues to sell and today it ranks with all-time most popular records in pop history. Boston will appear at The Gorge Saturday.

Out-of-the box successes are not all that rare in rock history - within the past few years, both Whitney Houston and Hootie and the Blowfish put up huge debut numbers. What makes Boston’s unique is that the band had not played a note live before signing its major-label contract.

It didn’t even play its own hometown until two years later.

Boston was the brainchild of an engineer-cum-guitar wizard, Tom Scholz, who worked up a batch of guitar-drenched rock tunes in his basement studio with the help of a vocalist friend, Brad Delp.

Despite frequent personnel changes and a glacial recording pace, Boston has had continued success.

The second record, “Don’t Look Back” (1978) sold a hefty seven million copies; “Third Stage” (1986) topped four million at last count; and “Walk On” (1994) debuted at No. 7, peaked at No. 5 and has sold more than a million copies. In June, Epic released the “Greatest Hits of Boston,” which includes three new songs.

The band’s current lineup included Tom Scholz (guitars, keyboards, pipe organ, vocals), Brad Delp (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Fran Cosmo (vocals, guitar), Gary Pihl (guitar, keyboards, vocals), David Sikes (bass, vocals) and Curly Smith, (drums, harmonica, vocals).

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: Boston performs Saturday at 7 p.m. at The Gorge. Tickets are $27.30-$43.05, available only through Ticketmaster.

Boston performs Saturday at 7 p.m. at The Gorge. Tickets are $27.30-$43.05, available only through Ticketmaster.

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