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It might interest you to know that between the second and third albums by the group Boston, there was a 7 year gap.
As Toledo's own Tom Scholz and the group started recording the album "Third Stage" in 1980, they broke up.
That doesn't mean that Tom stopped working on it. In fact, he put in about 12,000 hours of of studio time on new material over the next few years.
One of the songs he worked on heavily was "Amanda," which was destined to become a Great Song of 1986--but not without some initial problems.
In 1984, a bootleg copy of "Amanda" was released to a few radio stations in smaller markets, who began playing it under the stipulation that they wouldn't report it to the trade magazines for national chart listings.
The reason for this: Boston was still under contract to Epic Records and bootleg recordings were expressly forbidden.
In smaller markets, bootleg airplay would mostly go unnoticed, whereas in major markets like New York and Los Angeles, the song would instantly be noticed by record executives and the "cease and desist" orders would almost immediately be sent to the radio stations.
Unfortunately, one of the smaller markets reported "Amanda" to a trade magazine, which never heard of it. They promptly checked with Epic--and you can guess what happened next.
But the story has a happy ending. In 1986, Tom Scholz reformed Boston with some new personnel, garnered a new record contract with MCA Records, and FINALLY released "Third Stage" with "Amanda" as the lead single.
Boston fans--and radio stations big AND small--embraced it immediately! "Amanda became Boston's first--and only--#1 hit, topping the Hot 100 in the US and the Top 40 in Canada!
Trivia: "Amanda" was the last #1 hit that did NOT have an accompanying video!
Fun fact: "Amanda" was one of many Great Songs about girls with names ending with "A," joining "Rhonda, Layla, Lola, and Rosanna.
"Amanda" by Boston: It took 7 years to release, but only weeks to become a Great Song of 1986! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4mCIsmiAWc
Tomorrow: A Mexican folk song becomes a hit--again!
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