FEATURE:
Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure
Boston - More Than a Feeling
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THIS is one of these songs…
PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
that has appeared in a few lists concerning guilty pleasures. I have seen Boston’s More Than a Feeling appear in lists like this, and this; maybe there is a feeling that some of the Rock from the 1970s was a bit on the cheesy side and didn’t have the same quality and coolness of other music of that time. Some also say that Boston’s eponymous debut album is a guilty pleasure, though some will vehemently take exception to that. More Than a Feeling was released as the lead single from the Boston album, and it was written by Tom Scholz. It was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll and was also ranked at Number-500 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. With incredible lead vocals from Brad Delp – who sadly took his own life in 2007 -, More Than a Feeling is a staple of Classic Rock! I think there are those who feel that Classic Rock was defined by these overwrought and overblown choruses and not a lot of depth. I have seen More Than a Feeling (unfairly) counted as a guilty pleasure; some who admit that the song makes them feel a bit embarrassed, but they sing along to it because it is so infectious! The lyrics express the author's discontent with the present and his yearning for a former love named Marianne, whose memory is strongly evoked by an old familiar song.
The band’s founder, Tom Scholz, has given various interpretations regarding the lyrics and who ‘Marianne’ is – one explanation was that she was a much older cousin that he had; he also said it may be related to an old school love that he had. In terms of feelgood tracks that are impossible to ignore, I think More Than a Feeling comes close to the top. I think that, because Hard Rock/Classic Rock is not really around now, it can make some of the songs from that time seem dated. Whereas Punk and other genres have evolved and are still going in some form, one does not hear that many Classic Rock-inspired bands today. Maybe that is one reason why bands like Boston have been perceived as being a bit pompous or lame. I would disagree with that. Their music is as far from pretentious and pompous as possible; I think there is so much musicianship and skill in their music, and songs like More Than a Feeling should not be seen as a guilty pleasure – it is a classic song in its own right! One might notice some similarities between Boston’s More Than a Feeling of 1976, and Nirvana’s 1991 classic, Smells Like Teen Spirit. Far Out Magazine explains how, if the songs aren’t exactly the same, it is clear that Kurt Cobain was a fan of Boston:
“It’s hard to deny the similarities between a lot of classic songs, with a more than a hint of Pixies too, but confident the tune was original, Cobain and Novoselic pushed on. Once the song found fame, however, the similarities between it and Boston’s fist-pumping seventies charmer, ‘More Than A Feeling’.
The songs are in a different key and the similarities clearly weren’t strong enough for it to warrant Boston’s Tom Scholz taking offence. “I take it as a major compliment,” Scholz said in 1994, “even if it was completely accidental.” It didn’t spark the need for the singer to get into the band either.
Scholz admitted to Rolling Stone a few years ago that he hadn’t spent much time getting to know Nirvana, “The only times when I’ll hear other music will be at the ice skating rink or the gym,” he said. “It’s been debated whether [Nirvana playing a bit of “More Than a Feeling”] was homage or thumbing their nose. Regardless, Nirvana was, from what I’ve heard, a great band. I was really impressed by the couple of things I heard. Regardless of what the context was, it’s an honour to be heard in the same airspace as Nirvana”.
I think Boston’s debut album is well worth buying, and it is one of those overlooked classics. More Than a Feeling still divides people, but it is a track that has been covered by many different artists; a song that has hit the heart of many people around the world. In an Entertainment Weekly article from 2016, Tom Scholz discussed the creation of More Than a Feeling and the early days of Boston – but we start with a passage regarding the influence and usage of More Than a Feeling in popular culture:
“Over the years, “More Than a Feeling” has been covered by an absurdly diverse collection of acts, from *NSYNC to Nirvana, whose own classic track “Smells Like Teen Spirit” bore a striking, and much-noted, similarity to the Boston tune. The song has also appeared on a host of films and TV shows, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Sopranos, and, most recently The Walking Dead.
If the idea of an unknown — and deliberately anonymous — band having such an impact with its first ever release is incredible, then the way the song was crafted is no less so. In a rare interview, Boston founder, guitarist, songwriter, and producer Tom Scholz recalls the crazy creation of “More Than a Feeling” in his own words below.
I spent six years submitting dozens of recordings to dozens of record companies and I got nothing but rejections. By this point I was 29 and I decided it was time to get responsible. I was married. We weren’t rolling in cash. This was going to be my last demo — and “More Than a Feeling” was the last one that I completed. Epic Records got that song and a couple of weeks later, Brad Delp and I had an offer to become recording artists.
The song was not written about an actual event. It was written about a fantasy event. But it’s one that almost everybody can identify with, of somebody losing somebody that was important to them, and music taking them back there. There actually was a real Marianne. She was my older first cousin, who I had a crush on when I was 10. I ran into her many many years later and she was very annoyed at me for mentioning that she was my older cousin.
It’s a piece of music that really takes me to someplace else when I listen to it. Which is my criteria for whether a recording I come up with is worthy of going on a Boston album. I shut my eyes and I play it at the end of a long day in the studio. If I still enjoy it, and it takes me some place else, and I forget about all that I had to go through that day, then it’s a winner. “More than a Feeling” did that for me”.
Boston were responsible for shifting American Rock from a more Blues/Metal-based foundation to Power Pop; they mixed precision and fantastic production with a sense of fun and singalong abandon. At this very hard time, songs like More Than a Feeling can provide us with uplift and energy, but I think those who have dismissed the song need to listen back and understand its importance and quality! It is a terrific song that, far from being a guilty pleasure, is actually one of the best Rock songs ever. I was talking about the New Romantic movement the other day, and I stated how it was a shame that that genre/period of music is not around today and seems to have died in the 1980s. Similarly, Classic Rock had its day, and it was replaced by something else. One does not hear too many epic and fist-pumping Rock tracks like More Than a Feeling; things seem more serious and lack that ebullience that is so infectious and important. If you do need a boost and a song that gives you a kick, then go and spin Boston’s…
TERRIFIC debut single.