CoronaVinyl Day 7 (High School): Boston by Boston

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today's CoronaVinyl category is "high school."  Since I don't have any STP, 2Pac, 4 Non Blondes, Beastie Boys, or Jock Jams on vinyl, I'm going with Boston's self-titled 1976 debut album, which was on constant rotation in my CD player (once I got one freshman year) throughout high school.  I don't have the album cover at home, as it is on my wall of framed albums in my office.

Based on the strength of this album, at one point in high school, I declared Boston to be "the greatest rock and roll band of all-time," or something to that effect.  While I no longer believe those words to be accurate, I still consider this album one of the best debut albums in rock history.

Lead guitarist and MIT-educated musical technology wunderkind Tom Scholz co-produced and wrote bulk of the album.  He combined electric and acoustic guitars, harmonies, and classical music devices to unmitigated success.  It went gold in three weeks and platinum in three months, making it the fastest selling debut album for any American group.  The album went on to become the best-selling debut album of all-time in the U.S. until it was dethroned by GNR's Appetite for Destruction at some point in the '90s or '00s.  With 17 million copies sold in the U.S. alone, it remains the second best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S., and it is tied for the tenth best-selling album in US history.

But more than the number of albums sold, I think the legacy of this album is the fact that all eight songs on the album were pretty consistently in the classic rock radio rotation.  Granted, you're more likely to hear some songs than others, but all eight are in the rotation.  I don't know of any other album that can claim all of its songs receive (or ever received) regular airplay, which is especially unique considering only three of the songs were Top 40 hits in the U.S. -- "More Than a Feeling" (#5), "Long Time" (#22), and "Piece of Mind" (#38).

The album rose to #3 on the Billboard album chart, and it remained on the chart for 132 weeks (just over two and a half years).  It is included on many "greatest of all-time" lists and was ranked No. 43 on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "Definitive 200" list.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "More Than a Feeling"
Simply put, this is one of the greatest and most-recognizable rock songs of the '70s.  Even after hearing this song countless times, I'm still not tired of it, and it has gained some newfound glory, as my kids now know it and want me to turn it up when it comes on in the car.  I happily oblige.  Lyrically, the song is about losing yourself in a song while pining over a lost love.  Musically, more than anything else, Brad Delp's vocals stick out to me.  Just when you think his voice can't go any higher, it explodes into the stratosphere, particularly from about the 3:24 mark to the 3:41 mark.  And drummer Sib Hashian has a bunch of timely and delicious fills.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Something About You"
Of all the songs on the album, "Something About You" is probably the one that is played the least on classic rock radio.  It has an eerie howling start before kicking in with twin guitars.  When I was a junior in high school, I had a crush on a girl (as one does), but I was far too shy to ever say anything to her other than a Kevin Arnold-esque awkward croaking "hi" in the hallway or class.  But for whatever reason, this was the song that played in my head most of the times when I thought about asking her out or to a dance or something.  Of course, I never did, but that pretty well sums up my interactions (or lack thereof) with girls between the ages of 13 and 18.