Boston's 1st album was joined by new releases from three acts Epic/CBS also hoped to break. Those three sputtered to varying degrees, while Boston, as we all know...ZOOM!
Very interesting post, Brad. I have to say, for me the reason the Boston album took off was simply that it had four amazing songs on it that grabbed you from the word 'go' and never let you go. Also great lead singer and very unique sound to the band as a whole. Superb album.
I do love Vehicle by the Ides of March as well, but was not taken with the opening to Don't Fight the Feeling, whereas Eye of the Tiger has a killer opening.
I think Herb Pedersen and Mother's Finest should have done well with niche audiences but can't see them taking the mainstream by storm.
Which begs the question of whether and how the labels promoted songs and bands that weren't going to have mass appeal but could bring in some good numbers. When did they become enamored with hits and wouldn't promote anything else? Questions I find interesting.
Thanks, Ellen! Your first paragraph about the Boston debut....spot on! That album was destined to be huge for all the reasons you mentioned. Even if Epic had sat on its promotional hands, radio wasn't about to NOT play it! I'm guessing once Epic saw the initial "roll down the hill" and gaining airplay momentum, all they had to do then was make sure stores were re-stocked in a timely manner!
As for Pedersen and MF, you're right, and each already had a tiny niche audience to begin with....HP with his session work, and MF from touring and one previous major-label album. Epic's job for both was just to give them an honest shot at the appropriate radio level (and format). If a single catches on, so be it, but, you're right, out-of-the-box lightning wasn't going to happen for them as with the inevitable Boston success.
Your last paragraphs questions: How labels promoted was all pre-determined in sales meetings and strategy sessions with staff for each release....where to pitch to radio? Small, medium, or large market first before expanding; college (at all, or just focus on commercial? And, which formats to service?); then, there's print ads...whether to outlay money for trade ads, or just focus on commercial rock mags (or mass pub, like PEOPLE, etc?)....
Your last question: "When did they become enamored with hits and wouldn't promote anything else?" Hits don't need promotion! Hits are borne out of promotion....most of the time! Others are organic and Label A has to do very little to nothing! For some reason Dave Loggins' 1974 "Please Come to Boston" hit comes to mind (Dave just passed away in July, I just noticed).
I know nothing about the single or its promotion, but that's enough of a "non-electric" song to assume they may not have guessed how huge a hit that it became. Some new artists and their heretofore unknown song just blow up with little expectation or promo from the label....Many legacy artists (an Elton, a FMac...name 'em), the label thinks (I'm talking '70s and '80s...heyday) they can just release it and let it do what they figure it might do.....go straight to the top with little promo. They may end up being right, it goes to #1, and the label saves promo money! Other times, their complacency caused a hit, sure-thing artist to have a bomb single!
An inexact science, and once the record shipped to radio and retail, there was so much that was out of everyone's control!!
Just realized that I opened this, read it, and then never responded to it even though it's an excellent and remarkably helpful comment. I meant to come back to it and read it again carefully, but with too many tabs open, I have a habit of losing things and then rediscovering them later and feeling sheepish that I never responded.
That's such a useful overview of the promotion process, Brad. Thanks for taking the time to explain it. I'm saving a copy of your comment for future reference. It really explains some things. Your radio knowledge sure comes in handy!
I got a book called Radio Free Boston: The Rise and Fall of WBCN, and look forward to reading that to better understand the radio world as well. Looks like quite a dramatic story.
Oh, good....I'm not the only one! My biggest bugaboo (my friends tell me if they walk by my laptop!) is having some 2 dozen tabs open at any one time! The curse of the ones who research, ammiright?
Thanks for the cool words, and saving my comment, Ellen. It's all such a fascinating process. My forever love was having a peek of the label side at some point, and be IN on those strategy sessions! Even just being a local or regional label rep woulda sufficed!
And, yes, BCN was one of the biggies....and, at the time, an influential tastemaker in the FM rock lane! Did you know Peter Wolf worked briefly, on-air, at BCN in '68? Eventual MTV VJ, J. J. Jackson was also a jock there for a dozen years! But, that'll all be in the book! Thanks again, and enjoy the book!
I did not know that about Peter Wolf. I knew he was Boston-based, at least for a while. I also bought two books about MTV, so I'll look for JJ Jackson.
Yes, the research makes a mess of our laptops and desktops. I should open a new screen when I do research, but instead I have so many tabs open you can't see what they are! The curse of the substack researcher-writer!!!
Thanks Brad, I really enjoyed reading about these diverse artists linked by a common thread. While I can’t call myself a fan of Boston, as I listened to very little of their later output, that first album is an amazing piece of work. Just fired it up on Spotify to soundtrack my early afternoon. For me it’s one of those pieces of art that is greater than the sum of its parts. Every song is great but as an overall collection of songs it approaches the sublime.
I’m fascinated by these sampler records. I’d never thought about it before but I imagine it would have been a pretty practice for labels to bundle up artists on to these sampler records for radio stations. I wonder what became of all those samplers and whether there’s a niche market of collectors that actively seek them out.
Great comment about Boston....can't disagree as to its total value against its separate songs.
As for the samplers, yes, they carry a premium on the secondary market. That Boston/Peterik/Pederson/MF one, in particular, because of the historical presence of Boston. Also, for every and all white label promo albums, they hold a premium, simply because only thousands were ever printed, against the tens- to hundreds of millions for retail "street" copies.
As for my samplers, promo and otherwise, they all got sold on eBay around the turn of the century. Needing the money, and tired of lugging around twenty 100-count album boxes to everywhere I moved prompted that move, sadly!
Very interesting post, Brad. I have to say, for me the reason the Boston album took off was simply that it had four amazing songs on it that grabbed you from the word 'go' and never let you go. Also great lead singer and very unique sound to the band as a whole. Superb album.
I do love Vehicle by the Ides of March as well, but was not taken with the opening to Don't Fight the Feeling, whereas Eye of the Tiger has a killer opening.
I think Herb Pedersen and Mother's Finest should have done well with niche audiences but can't see them taking the mainstream by storm.
Which begs the question of whether and how the labels promoted songs and bands that weren't going to have mass appeal but could bring in some good numbers. When did they become enamored with hits and wouldn't promote anything else? Questions I find interesting.
Thanks, Ellen! Your first paragraph about the Boston debut....spot on! That album was destined to be huge for all the reasons you mentioned. Even if Epic had sat on its promotional hands, radio wasn't about to NOT play it! I'm guessing once Epic saw the initial "roll down the hill" and gaining airplay momentum, all they had to do then was make sure stores were re-stocked in a timely manner!
As for Pedersen and MF, you're right, and each already had a tiny niche audience to begin with....HP with his session work, and MF from touring and one previous major-label album. Epic's job for both was just to give them an honest shot at the appropriate radio level (and format). If a single catches on, so be it, but, you're right, out-of-the-box lightning wasn't going to happen for them as with the inevitable Boston success.
Your last paragraphs questions: How labels promoted was all pre-determined in sales meetings and strategy sessions with staff for each release....where to pitch to radio? Small, medium, or large market first before expanding; college (at all, or just focus on commercial? And, which formats to service?); then, there's print ads...whether to outlay money for trade ads, or just focus on commercial rock mags (or mass pub, like PEOPLE, etc?)....
Your last question: "When did they become enamored with hits and wouldn't promote anything else?" Hits don't need promotion! Hits are borne out of promotion....most of the time! Others are organic and Label A has to do very little to nothing! For some reason Dave Loggins' 1974 "Please Come to Boston" hit comes to mind (Dave just passed away in July, I just noticed).
I know nothing about the single or its promotion, but that's enough of a "non-electric" song to assume they may not have guessed how huge a hit that it became. Some new artists and their heretofore unknown song just blow up with little expectation or promo from the label....Many legacy artists (an Elton, a FMac...name 'em), the label thinks (I'm talking '70s and '80s...heyday) they can just release it and let it do what they figure it might do.....go straight to the top with little promo. They may end up being right, it goes to #1, and the label saves promo money! Other times, their complacency caused a hit, sure-thing artist to have a bomb single!
An inexact science, and once the record shipped to radio and retail, there was so much that was out of everyone's control!!
Just realized that I opened this, read it, and then never responded to it even though it's an excellent and remarkably helpful comment. I meant to come back to it and read it again carefully, but with too many tabs open, I have a habit of losing things and then rediscovering them later and feeling sheepish that I never responded.
That's such a useful overview of the promotion process, Brad. Thanks for taking the time to explain it. I'm saving a copy of your comment for future reference. It really explains some things. Your radio knowledge sure comes in handy!
I got a book called Radio Free Boston: The Rise and Fall of WBCN, and look forward to reading that to better understand the radio world as well. Looks like quite a dramatic story.
Oh, good....I'm not the only one! My biggest bugaboo (my friends tell me if they walk by my laptop!) is having some 2 dozen tabs open at any one time! The curse of the ones who research, ammiright?
Thanks for the cool words, and saving my comment, Ellen. It's all such a fascinating process. My forever love was having a peek of the label side at some point, and be IN on those strategy sessions! Even just being a local or regional label rep woulda sufficed!
And, yes, BCN was one of the biggies....and, at the time, an influential tastemaker in the FM rock lane! Did you know Peter Wolf worked briefly, on-air, at BCN in '68? Eventual MTV VJ, J. J. Jackson was also a jock there for a dozen years! But, that'll all be in the book! Thanks again, and enjoy the book!
I did not know that about Peter Wolf. I knew he was Boston-based, at least for a while. I also bought two books about MTV, so I'll look for JJ Jackson.
Yes, the research makes a mess of our laptops and desktops. I should open a new screen when I do research, but instead I have so many tabs open you can't see what they are! The curse of the substack researcher-writer!!!
Thanks Brad, I really enjoyed reading about these diverse artists linked by a common thread. While I can’t call myself a fan of Boston, as I listened to very little of their later output, that first album is an amazing piece of work. Just fired it up on Spotify to soundtrack my early afternoon. For me it’s one of those pieces of art that is greater than the sum of its parts. Every song is great but as an overall collection of songs it approaches the sublime.
I’m fascinated by these sampler records. I’d never thought about it before but I imagine it would have been a pretty practice for labels to bundle up artists on to these sampler records for radio stations. I wonder what became of all those samplers and whether there’s a niche market of collectors that actively seek them out.
Great comment about Boston....can't disagree as to its total value against its separate songs.
As for the samplers, yes, they carry a premium on the secondary market. That Boston/Peterik/Pederson/MF one, in particular, because of the historical presence of Boston. Also, for every and all white label promo albums, they hold a premium, simply because only thousands were ever printed, against the tens- to hundreds of millions for retail "street" copies.
As for my samplers, promo and otherwise, they all got sold on eBay around the turn of the century. Needing the money, and tired of lugging around twenty 100-count album boxes to everywhere I moved prompted that move, sadly!