Iโm one of those artists that doesnโt actually hate my old hits. I love Boston music. I really like โMore Than A Feelingโ After playing it to myself in a basement for such a long time, Iโm happy to do it out on stage
โ Tom Scholz
Tom Scholz and Salvador Dali were cut from the same cloth, and while on paper at least the two men seem to have very little in common, their shared belief that perfection shouldnโt be feared is the commonality that links them.
Unlike Dali who believed that perfection shouldnโt be feared because it could never be achieved, Scholz was, and still is, convinced that perfection is a perfectly reasonable goal to pursue and that unless you dedicate yourself to trying to attain it, youโll never experience the dizzying heights of the endorphin and adrenaline rushes that accompany it.
Of course, the wealth, success, and fame that stroll hand in hand with rock and roll perfection are nice too, but theyโre secondary to knowing that you were responsible for writing and recording two of the most accomplished and flawless records in the history of modern music.
And thatโs exactly what Scholz did when he wrote the first two Boston albums, Boston and Donโt Look Back, which incidentally, are also two of the biggest selling hard rock records ever released.

Scholz was and is a notorious perfectionist and has always thought that his way of doing things was better than everyone elseโs way.
He may, as even his bandmates who at times found him incredibly difficult to work with, were forced to concede have had a point, as the MIT educated engineer and founding member of Boston, built the studio that he recorded the music (as well as being an inventive genius, heโs also a multi-instrumentalist) for the first two Boston records in from the ground up, and used technology that he invented to capture his bandโs music.
A musician first and an engineer second Scholz began writing and demoing songs toward the end of 1969 and joined his first band Freehold while he was a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The other members of that band, most notably Brad Delp, along with the aforementioned Scholz, would form the core unit of the band that would later become Boston.
Having existed in one form or another since 1974, Boston isnโt just one of Americaโs best-selling rock and roll bands, theyโre also one of its longest-serving and even though theyโve only released six albums in their near five-decade career (mainly due to Scholzโs insistence on everything being exactly right before heโll even think about recording and releasing a song or a record) the records that they have released have been worth waiting for.
It wasnโt only Scholzโs desire to make every Boston record as close to being perfect as he possibly could that slowed them down, as the death of the bandโs longtime singer and his closest collaborator Brad Delp in 2007, also knocked some of the wind out of Scholzโs creative sails.
That tragic and untimely death of Delp is part of the reason why the band has only recorded two albums in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, but as Scholz keeps promising that there is a new record on its way, weโll keep our fingers crossed, but wonโt hold our breath, for its arrival at some point in the next five years.
As Scholz has written some of the greatest hard songs to have ever been released, we thought it was about time that we put together a list of what we consider to be the ten best Boston songs.
And as youโll no doubt notice while youโre making your way through that list, theyโre all taken from the bands first three records, Boston, Donโt Look Back, and Third Stage, and, before you ask, yes thereโs a good reason why we focused on those records and didnโt include anything from Walk On, Corporate America or Life, Love & Hope. That reason?
Itโs because as good as the last three Boston records are, theyโre nowhere near as good as the first three.
Itโs time to hit the thrusters and get down with ten of the best Boston songs ever recordedโฆ
The Top Ten List Of The Best Songs By Boston โ According To Us!
10.) Amanda
Amanda is the first song on Bostonโs third album, Third Stage. While it went straight to the top of the Billboard Hot One Hundred, Amanda isnโt really indicative of the bandโs usual sound.
It isnโt the sort of song that weโd usually associate with Scholz or Boston, but America took this power ballad to heart and reinforced the bandโs position as one of the USAโs favorite hard-rocking units.
And if you were in any doubt about Tom Scholzโs perfectionism, maybe this brief Boston factoid will change your mind. Amanda wasnโt actually released until six years after it was first recorded by the band in 1980. It had to be right before it was unleashed in the world.
9.) Cool The Engines
One of the stand out tracks from Third Stage, Cool The Engines is a song laced with double meaning, that on the surface is about pushing a motor far too hard and easing back to preserve it and increase its lifespan, which seems to be oddly fitting for an engineer like Scholz.
But if you dig a little deeper, the subject matter is far more risque. Itโs an old-school Boston tune that captures the band doing what they do best; rocking hard.
8.) Weโre Ready
The second single from Third Stage, Weโre Ready, even though itโs another ballad, which isnโt a word that doesnโt usually float our hard-rocking, doesnโt tread the sugary sweet ground as Amanda, as Scholzโs trademark guitar kicks in and fades out again throughout the tune, which makes it feel like a Boston song instead of a Boston ballad.
And that intermittent riff probably explains why Weโre Ready didnโt hit the top of the charts as Amanda did. That said, it did crash in at Number Two, so it still did pretty good, but it is a Boston tune, and Scholz wouldnโt have released it if he didnโt know that it wasnโt going to be a Top Ten Hit.
7.) Feelinโ Satisfied
As soon as the opening riff to Feelinโ Satisfied, the first song on Donโt Look Back, kicks in, you know that itโs business as usual and Scholz was never going to miss a step with the follow-up to his bandโs debut album.
It wasnโt all wine and roses for Scholz and Boston though, as when the bandโs label released Feelinโ Satisfied as a single, it only reached Number Forty-Six in the Billboard Hot One Hundred, which probably explains Scholz reluctance to release another single, and why it was another seven years before they agreed to release Amanda
6.) A Man Iโll Never Be
We know what we said about ballads, but itโs impossible to talk about Boston without talking about A Man Iโll Never Be, which was the second single the band released from 1978โs Donโt Look Back and scored Scholz a top forty Billboard Hit.
A radical departure both lyrically and musically from the sort of riff happy tunes that the band was, and is known for, A Man Iโll Never Be is the sound of a man opening his heart and soul to the world and showing it who he really is. And from beginning to end, itโs just a great song.
5.) Donโt Look Back
Bostonโs second album hits the ground running with Donโt Look Back, the tune that the album takes its name from and it starts as it means to go on with Scholz kicking his guitar into overdrive.
It was also the first single that the band released from their second album, and took them straight to the top of the Billboard Chart when it landed at Number Four.
4.) Smokinโ
Itโs time to kick things into overdrive with Smokinโ a full-throttle number that puts the hammer down from the start and doesnโt let up or ease off the gas until it fades to a finish. As well as being one of the powerhouse rockers on Boston, Smokinโ was also the B-Side of More Than A Feeling, which is another Boston factoid for all you Scholz fans out there.
3.) Rock And Roll Band
Rock And Roll Band is Scholzโs mission statement thatโs taken from Bostonโs debut album. If anyone was ever in any doubt about what or who Boston was, and is, all they need to do is play this high-octane classic.
2.) Peace Of Mind
Peace Of Mind the second track on Boston is just a good time, hard-rocking song that dismisses the ideology that Corporate America was built on with an infectiously catchy chorus thatโs locked down and in place by mind-blowing riffs. And once you hear it, youโll never, ever forget it.
1.) More Than A Feeling
The song that took Tom Scholz more than five years to complete, and entered the Billboard Hot One Hundred at Number Five when it was first released, isnโt just the opening track on Boston itโs also the song that started the Grunge Revolution.
Listen to it again, close your eyes, and think about Nirvana. And now you understand just how important this song and Boston were to the evolution of rock and roll.
And thatโs it folks, our Top Ten list of the best ever songs by Boston. If you think we got it wrong, or even better if you think we got it right, drop us a line and let us know. Itโs always cool to talk to fellow Scholz fansโฆ
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