40 Year Itch: Lost Myself in a Familiar Song

On August 25, 1976 Boston released its debut album, a record that would sell an astonishing 17 million copies and usher in an era of "corporate rock". Most of the album was recorded in the basement of Poloroid engineer turned guitar hero Tom Scholz, and in many ways the debut is an engineering achievement. If you asked a computer programmer to synthesize an American version of Yes, Led Zeppelin and Emerson Lake and Palmer, wouldn't something like Boston be the best possible result?

Whatever the case may be, radio couldn't get enough of the Boston sheen. After years of literally slaving unseen in his basement studio, Scholz and his band were suddenly performing at Madison Square Garden. The only hitch: the band had agreed to provide Epic with 10 albums over the next six years. They made three in ten years and spent much of that time arguing with lawyers and executives.

40 Year Itch : Moon the Loon Collapses

Keith Moon feeling better, 1976

    On March 8, 1976 in Boston, on the first night of The Who's North American tour, drummer Keith Moon collapsed on stage just two songs into the concert. It happens at about 6:30 into the video below.  

   A writer for the Boston Globe wrote that Moon “stood up, knocked over a pair of cymbals, careened off his gong, and subsided into the arms of two roadies.”

   In the video, John Entwistle is heard saying "We've got a little bit of a problem. Keith Moon is in very, very bad shape and this is not bullshit really...so we're going to try and work something out."

   

   With that, the band left the stage. Later, Roger Daltrey came back on stage and announced that Moon was really ill and The Who would try to do a makeup concert. The crowd booed. Some yelled "Get another drummer!" ( which is what The Who did at the Cow Palace in 1973). Someone started a small fire. By all accounts, the make up concert was a great one.

5 Albums Every Boarding School Kid Had in 1978 (except me)

It was the fall of 1978. I was 13 years old. My dad dropped me off at my boarding school. I had what he had when his father dropped him off: six Brooks Brothers button down shirts, three white, three blue; two pairs of gray flannels and three pairs of khaki trousers, a tweed jacket, a blue blazer, half a dozen ties.
One pair of loafers. One pair of sneakers. An extra pillow. A bathrobe.
As my dad was leaving, a limousine pulled up. Another 13 year old emerged. He watched the chauffeur carry in suitcase after suitcase, boxes upon boxes and a stereo system so immense he could only carry one component at a time.
Man, I was in over my head from day one.
As I struggled with my studies, I heard the muffled sounds of the same five albums emanating from every room. Here now: the 5 albums every boarding school boy owned in the fall of 1978.

1.Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon



2. Yes - Fragile



3. Led Zeppelin - ZOSO



4. Boston -Boston



5. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours



OK So there aren't any surprises here. It's a sensible list of sensible albums, exactly what you might expect from future Wall Street titans, lawyers, doctors and CEO's. And they all sounded amazing on those monumental stereo systems.
How did I know I was in trouble?
My 1978 collection of cassettes (that I played in mono) ...in a future post....