Boston The Tragic History Of the Band, Death of Brad Delp & Tom Scholz Perfectionism

Whatever happened to the band Boston? They were behind hits such as 'More Than a Feeling'

0:00 - Introduction of Boston
0:35 - Tom Scholz Early Beginnings With Boston
2:08 - Boston Gets A Record Deal
3:25 - Boston Tricks It's Record Label
4:45 - Boston's Second Album & Lawsuits
8:17 - Tom Scholz Creates A Company, Brad Delp Leaves
10:00 - Brad Delp Returns, Corporate America
11:25 - Brad Delp Passes Away

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Tom Scholz was the mastermind behind Boston. An MIT alumni and following graduation he would end up getting a job with Polaroid working as a product design engineer. Apart from tinkering with electronics, he also was into music, having played in a series of bands in the city of Boston with names like Middle Earth, Freehold and Mother’s Milk. While he spent a lot of time on the live music circuit, he quickly realized he wasnt going to get a record deal that way. It was then he turned his attention to recording demos in some local studios which never caught the interest of record labels. He soon built a twelve track recording studio in his basement and again record labels showed no interest in what he was creating.
It wasn’t until he enlisted the help of several musicians he had played on the local boston circuit that he finally got the attention of the labels. Guitarist Barry Goudreau, who Scholz played with in boston on the live music circuit would introduce him to singer Brad Delp. They worked on and created the songs that formed the first Boston album, albeit some of them with different names. San Francisco Day which was later to named Hitch A Ride, It Isn’t Easy which was re-titled Something About You, Foreplay, originally composed in 1969, Peace Of Mind, Rock ’N’ Roll Band, and the final track they recorded was called, Ninety Days which was later renamed More Than A Feeling. The hand claps on the song were even from Scholz first wife.
And you would think these songs would’ve created a bidding war with the record labels, but it didn’t. In fact most record labels passed on the demos. But in 1975, Tom, Scholz was contacted a representative from ABC Records named Charlie McKenzie. It had turned out by some strange twist of fate McKenzie had heard the demo while he was visiting a friend who worked at RCA records. That friends name was Paul Ahern. McKenzie and Ahern convinced Scholz to let them shop around the demo claiming they could get him a record deal. They would end up taking the demo to CBS owned Epic Records who showed interest, but prior to signing a deal they wanted to see the band perform live for executives.
Epic staff producer Tom Werman recalled to Classic Rock Magazine hearing the demos for the first time revealing "After More Than A Feeling, which sounded quite like the final product, and halfway through the second song, I stopped the tape. I couldn’t believe that this music was actually available to us, and told Ahern that if Lennie and I could see the band reproduce this live, we'd guarantee to sign them. "
As Scholz turned to his live showcase for the record executives he knew he didn’t really have a band. Scholz would work with Delp as well as a bunch of local musicians they already knew from the Boston music scene for the live showcase, which took place at a warehouse space, which ended up belonging to Aerosmith. The band passed with flying colours and ended up signing an astounding 10 album deal that would last 6 years. While it may seem crazy, that was the standard contract that was given to bands back then.
However, things started to turn sour for Scholz when Epic Records told him that they wanted to re-record the demos in a studio setting with an experienced producer. The label suggested John Boylan who met with Scholz where the pair hatched a pretty impressive scheme. Instead of going to LA to re-record the demos, which Scholz thought was pointless, He would stay home in Boston and work in his basement sprucing up the demos to give the record label something that seemed more polished. Meanwhile, the rest of the band would go to Los Angeles to work on new material that would turn into the song Let Me Take You Home Tonight, Scholz stayed home, fastidiously gussying up the demos to give Epic something that sounded like a more p