50 Years Ago Today: Boston's Self-Titled Debut Redefines Arena Rock Drumming

Boston's self-titled debut was released August 25, 1976, on Epic Records, and it very nearly did not sound the way it does. Per Wikipedia's account of the sessions, guitarist Tom Scholz, an MIT-trained engineer who by day worked in product development at Polaroid, had spent years building demos with singer Brad Delp in his home studio near Watertown, Massachusetts. When Epic Records signed the band and insisted the album be tracked properly in a Los Angeles studio, Scholz and producer John Boylan let the label believe that's what happened. In reality, Scholz recorded most of the instruments on nearly every song himself, alone, in his Massachusetts basement, using analog electronic effects he built by hand.

The drum credits on Boston's debut hide one of its stranger production stories. Scholz's original songwriting and demo partner was drummer Jim Masdea, who helped shape the material for years before the album was ever signed. When Epic requested a lineup change ahead of recording, Scholz brought in Sib Hashian, and Hashian became the drummer fans picture, the one who stayed on for the follow-up Don't Look Back and toured behind both records. But per Wikipedia's account of Hashian's career, on many tracks his recorded parts were note-for-note transcriptions of drum arrangements Masdea had already written. Both men are credited on the finished album; only Hashian became a full-time band member.

The album broke sales records on release, becoming the best-selling debut LP in US history at the time and winning the RIAA's Century Award for it. Certified gold within two months and platinum by that November, it eventually reached diamond status and RIAA certification for 17 million US sales, with roughly 20 million sold worldwide, driven by "More Than a Feeling," "Peace of Mind," and "Foreplay / Long Time." Nearly fifty years later, "More Than a Feeling" alone remains one of classic rock radio's most-played tracks, built on Scholz's layered, meticulously engineered guitar sound and Hashian's driving groove underneath it.

Hashian's exact night-to-night gear from the 1976 sessions isn't documented in a source CYS can verify. Remo's Coated Ambassador, already the industry-standard batter head by the mid-1970s, is the honest era-appropriate reference point for the record's dry, punchy drum sound.