The Work of Boston — Transcript

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1. 0:01In this video, I'll cover the work of
2. 0:03the band Boston. Frankly, one of my
3. 0:07favorite bands of the 1970s and 80s.
4. 0:11Beautiful sound, so creative and
5. 0:13innovative. I'll cover a very short
6. 0:16biography of Boston, the characteristics
7. 0:19of their music and their approach that
8. 0:21made them unique among other artists,
9. 0:24and the contributions of guitarist Tom
10. 0:27Schultz and lead singer Brad Delp to the
11. 0:30band and to rock music of the 1970s and
12. 0:3480s.
13. 0:36Let's take a look at Boston's career in
14. 0:39brief. And I will keep this brief. There
15. 0:41is much more to be said, but for the
16. 0:43sake of time, I'll keep it short. Boston
17. 0:47is really the story, in my opinion, of
18. 0:49two individuals. Guitarist Tom Schultz
19. 0:53and lead singer Brad Delp. There were
20. 0:56other lead singers in the band over the
21. 0:59years, but Brad Delp was the original
22. 1:02and I think the primary contributor to
23. 1:05their vocal style.
24. 1:07Boston began in early 1975
25. 1:11after guitarist Tom Schultz graduated
26. 1:14from MIT. Massachusetts Institute of
27. 1:17Technology and played in a few bands,
28. 1:19including a band called Mother's Milk,
29. 1:22where he met eventual Boston lead singer
30. 1:25Brad Delp and another Boston band
31. 1:28guitarist Barry Goodro.
32. 1:31Mother's Milk recorded several demos
33. 1:34that were rejected by over 20 record
34. 1:37labels. And keep in mind, these three
35. 1:39individuals formed the the core of
36. 1:42Personnel for Boston, the band. Later
37. 1:45on,
38. 1:47after so many rejections, Tom Schultz
39. 1:49went to work on studio projects in his
40. 1:52basement along with Brad Dulp.
41. 1:55Schulz wanted technically perfect,
42. 1:58beautiful sounding, pristine rock music,
43. 2:01and he had the musical and production
44. 2:05skills to create it.
45. 2:07Epic Records became interested in Tom
46. 2:11Schultz and Brad Delp in their music,
47. 2:13but Schultz and Delp were really the
48. 2:15only ones making the music. They
49. 2:18recorded all the instrumentals and
50. 2:20vocals themselves, did all the producing
51. 2:22themselves. there really was no band.
52. 2:26So, they needed to form a band. They
53. 2:29quickly did so with additional members.
54. 2:32And Boston's first public performance
55. 2:36was at Boston Garden.
56. 2:38Around that time, the mid1 1970s, they
57. 2:41were opening for bigname acts like Black
58. 2:44Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult. And it's
59. 2:47remarkable that Boston never really
60. 2:50played small local venues to start their
61. 2:53career. They were a studio band, very
62. 2:56successful at what they created there,
63. 2:59and because of that, they were able to
64. 3:00start out their live performance career
65. 3:03playing arenas.
66. 3:05Boston's self-titled debut album was
67. 3:08released in 1976,
68. 3:11and it's still one of the bestselling
69. 3:13debut albums ever, selling over 17
70. 3:17million copies.
71. 3:19In the early 80s, the band had some
72. 3:21legal disputes with the record label
73. 3:23concerning copyright ownership and their
74. 3:26failure to complete a new album on time.
75. 3:29Um, but they had a lot of success with
76. 3:31their album Third Stage, released in
77. 3:341986.
78. 3:36The hit ballot Amanda came from that
79. 3:39album.
80. 3:40In the 1990s, Brad Delp shared lead
81. 3:43vocal duties with another lead singer,
82. 3:45Fran Cosmo, and the band recorded
83. 3:48intermittently with only six studio
84. 3:51albums produced between 1976
85. 3:54and 2013.
86. 3:57Brad Delp died by suicide in 2007
87. 4:02and the band continued to tour in
88. 4:04subsequent years with Tom Schultz being
89. 4:07the only founding member left.
90. 4:11Let's look at what made Boston
91. 4:13innovative and unique. There are really
92. 4:16two reasons. Uh their influential style
93. 4:19and their guitar sound.
94. 4:23Let's cover their musical style first.
95. 4:26The music of Boston is important to the
96. 4:30the the development of rock in the 70s
97. 4:32and 80s.
98. 4:34Boston was influential and the music
99. 4:36industry's move from hard rock in the
100. 4:391970s
101. 4:41to what's sometimes called power pop in
102. 4:43the 1980s. Hard rock in the 70s really
103. 4:47was hard. Bands of the 1970s include Led
104. 4:51Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC, and others.
105. 4:54And I'd suggest listening to them asa as
106. 4:56examples of what was traditional and
107. 4:59popular in the 70s. Those bands sound
108. 5:02much different, heavier, and edgier than
109. 5:05Boston and were uncompromising in their
110. 5:09hard rock or heavy metal roots.
111. 5:12Power pop of the 80s was a style that
112. 5:15was guitar-based but more bit lighter
113. 5:18and cheerful and relied on catchy
114. 5:21melodies and choruses with artists like
115. 5:24the Knack, the song My Chirona and The
116. 5:27Cars was another important power pop
117. 5:29band. Boston was not exactly a power pop
118. 5:33band. They were really an AO band. But
119. 5:36Boston was an intermediary, a transition
120. 5:38between hard rock of the 70s and power
121. 5:41pop of the 80s.
122. 5:45Equally important, Boston helped
123. 5:47maintain the popularity of mainstream
124. 5:50rock in the late7s
125. 5:52at a time when punk and disco were
126. 5:55beginning to really take hold.
127. 6:00Now, let's look at the guitar style and
128. 6:02the sound of Boston. And this is
129. 6:03something that really set them apart
130. 6:05from other bands.
131. 6:08Guitarist Tom Schultz had a great talent
132. 6:12for writing catchy, singable guitar
133. 6:15melodies,
134. 6:17and he had a very distinctive tone that
135. 6:21literally no other guitarist could
136. 6:24replicate.
137. 6:26The melodies that Schultz wrote had much
138. 6:29in common with the vocal melodies that
139. 6:31he wrote for Boston's lead singer, Brad
140. 6:34Delp.
141. 6:35Schultz's guitar sound was quite
142. 6:37vocalike,
143. 6:39uh, with a lot of beautiful resonance
144. 6:41and vibr.
145. 6:43In many cases, you'll hear Tom Schultz
146. 6:45play guitar solos that are simple and
147. 6:48melodic enough that a person could write
148. 6:52lyrics to them. And Schultz seemed to
149. 6:55prefer this style of lyrical beautiful
150. 7:00melody over blazing speed that was
151. 7:03popular among other guitarists.
152. 7:06As an example, you might listen to the
153. 7:08first couple minutes of More Than a
154. 7:10Feeling, including the guitar solo.
155. 7:14This guitar solo is a melody that easily
156. 7:17could have been sung with words, but
157. 7:19instead Tom Schultz uh the guitarist is
158. 7:22functioning as sort of a second lead
159. 7:24singer himself, preferring to play this
160. 7:26on guitar rather than have it sung.
161. 7:33Tom Schultz's guitar sound is what made
162. 7:36him successful and innovative among
163. 7:40others. The sound itself with its
164. 7:44warmth, its resonance, its overdubbing,
165. 7:48and its color, in my opinion, really
166. 7:50made Boston what it was as a band.
167. 7:55Tom Schultz's guitar sound was a
168. 7:58creation of his own mind first and
169. 8:02foremost. He had a very clear concept of
170. 8:04the sound that he wanted.
171. 8:07And he had the technical ability to
172. 8:10create that sound and bring it to life.
173. 8:13His sound was dependent on his own
174. 8:17electronic inventions. Remember Tom
175. 8:19Schultz was an MIT graduate. He
176. 8:22understood engineering
177. 8:24and he designed and built equipment that
178. 8:27only he had uh and were really only
179. 8:32existent as prototypes.
180. 8:35Later on, he'd bring this equipment to
181. 8:38market uh most notably the Rockman
182. 8:40amplifier,
183. 8:42but uh the equipment that he built for
184. 8:44himself and used in his studio gave him
185. 8:47the ability to make the guitar sound
186. 8:49that he's known for.
187. 8:52Another great musical example is the
188. 8:54instrumental track called The Journey.
189. 8:56In this song, you'll hear sort of
190. 9:00ambient wavy sound in the background
191. 9:03that Tom Schulz created with his own
192. 9:06customuilt pedals. And this music is
193. 9:08heavily based on tone, color, um, just
194. 9:13as much as melody.
195. 9:16Now, let's talk about Brad Delp, the
196. 9:18lead singer of Boston.
197. 9:21Tom Schultz had great ideas and was an
198. 9:23excellent guitarist and songwriter, but
199. 9:26Brad Delp had the ability to interpret
200. 9:29these ideas at a higher level and add
201. 9:33his own technical ability as a singer to
202. 9:35the music. He had great tone, accuracy,
203. 9:41and melodic interpretation as a singer.
204. 9:43Very rare, a very rare talent. Delp and
205. 9:47Schultz complimented each other in an
206. 9:48amazing way. So that their music was
207. 9:50really more than the sum of its parts.
208. 9:55Brad Delp as the front the lead singer
209. 9:58for Boston by all accounts loved fans.
210. 10:01He loved being in the public eye, uh,
211. 10:04meeting people for photos and
212. 10:06autographs, and was a natural at working
213. 10:10a room with humor and presence, but with
214. 10:13a real downto-earth kindness and
215. 10:16professionalism. And by all accounts, he
216. 10:18was just a great person to work with.
217. 10:23This made it all the more shocking when
218. 10:25Brad Dulp took his own life in 2007.
219. 10:29Here's what Tom Schultz said about Brad
220. 10:32Delp. I'll I'll read you this quote in a
221. 10:35minute. Uh but before I do, I just want
222. 10:38to point out that Tom Schultz himself as
223. 10:40a guitarist was an absolute musical
224. 10:43perfectionist with the highest
225. 10:45standards.
226. 10:47So this comes as very high praise, I
227. 10:50think. Uh here's what Tom Scholes says
228. 10:53about Brad Delt. quote, "I met Brad,
229. 10:56soft-spoken and unassuming, when he
230. 10:58auditioned in a recording studio outside
231. 11:01of Boston one night to sing several
232. 11:03songs I had written. He didn't warm up.
233. 11:06He just listened to the pre-recorded
234. 11:08instrument track once, then he started
235. 11:11to sing. I don't know if it took two
236. 11:13seconds or three, but before he finished
237. 11:15singing the first line, I knew that some
238. 11:18guardian angel had just delivered to me
239. 11:20one of the best vocalists ever to step
240. 11:23up to a microphone. Then he kept going
241. 11:25and he and I realized he wasn't just one
242. 11:28of the best, he was amazing. high notes
243. 11:31I hadn't heard before, followed by
244. 11:34harmonies and overdubbed exact duplicate
245. 11:37layer tracks, all with ease, all with
246. 11:39emotion, and yet all technically
247. 11:42precise.
248. 11:43Before we left that night, he had
249. 11:45rewritten the lyrics and the melody,
250. 11:48sung all the vocal parts, and with the
251. 11:51magic of his voice, turned my stark
252. 11:53guitar riff into a song. From that
253. 11:56moment on, I only hoped I could write
254. 11:59and record music worthy of his attention
255. 12:02and interpretation. End quote.
256. 12:06If you consider what Tom Schultz says
257. 12:08here, he said, "Brad dealt with
258. 12:11something I had never heard before. He
259. 12:14had such accuracy, great inonation, such
260. 12:18beautiful sound, interpretation.
261. 12:22it. For Tom Schultz, this type of
262. 12:25singing was unheard of, but Brad Delp
263. 12:28did it.
264. 12:30Likewise, for the public, the guitar
265. 12:32sound of Tom Schultz was unheard of.
266. 12:35Literally, no one sounded like that
267. 12:38previous. And when you listen to Boston,
268. 12:42keep that perspective in mind. No one in
269. 12:46the 1970s
270. 12:48sounded like them. No one could. No one
271. 12:50else had Brad Delp as a lead singer and
272. 12:54no other guitarist had the sound that
273. 12:57Tom Schultz did.
274. 13:00So to wrap up, Boston introduced
275. 13:05a very unique multi-layered
276. 13:09resonant ambient guitar sound that was
277. 13:14literally engineered by Tom Schultz.
278. 13:18Not many other bands sounded like
279. 13:21Boston. It was Boston sound. And if
280. 13:25another band imitated them, it would be
281. 13:28obvious.
282. 13:30Bands
283. 13:31uh other groups around the edges would
284. 13:34do some things that Tom Schultz and and
285. 13:36Boston did, but no one would really
286. 13:38become an imitator.
287. 13:42Boston was successful because of the
288. 13:45symbiotic relationship, mutually
289. 13:47beneficial relationship between Brad
290. 13:50Delp, their lead singer, and Tom Schulz,
291. 13:52their guitarist, both in songwriting and
292. 13:56in their combination of guitar and vocal
293. 13:58sound.
294. 14:01So, please do listen to all the songs by
295. 14:04Boston in this module and check out more
296. 14:06on YouTube or anywhere you'd like. And
297. 14:08if you have some pretty good headphones,
298. 14:10I definitely recommend them when
299. 14:12listening to Boston.