More than a Feeling is a classic rock song by Boston
Group leader Tom Scholz wrote this. A graduate of MIT, he was working at Polaroid up until this was released.
According to Rolling Stone magazine, Scholz was inspired by the "heart-tugging mood" of the Left Banke's 1967 song "Walk Away Renee." He worked on the song for 5 years in his basement studio before it was released on this album. (thanks, Scott - chicago, IL)
This was Boston's first single. When they tried to release their first album, no one would produce it, so they made their own production company and did it all. (thanks, Chris - Calgary, Canada)
The album Boston is one of the best selling of all time. It sold very well in the '80s and '90s due to catalog sales, which were these offers record companies made to the public where you could get something like "25 CDs for a penny" and long as you chose from their selection and agreed to buy a certain number of albums in the future.
The single was edited from the album version.
Nirvana sometimes played the beginning of this as an intro to "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
On Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest songs of all time, this song is #500. (thanks, Julian - Anaheim, CA)
When Mike Huckabee ran for US president in 2008, he used this song at some of his campaign rallies. Huckabee plays the bass, and at some events, former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau joined him on stage to perform this song. This didn't go over well with Tom Scholz, who wrote Huckabee a letter that was printed in Rolling Stone magazine. Scholz wrote: "While I'm flattered that you are fond of my song, I'm shocked that you would use it and the name Boston to promote yourself without my consent. Your campaign's use of 'More Than a Feeling,' coupled with the representation of one of your supporters as a member 'of Boston' clearly implies that the band Boston, and specifically one of its members, has endorsed your candidacy, neither of which is true. Your claim that this was 'the guy who originally did it' is a bit mystifying, since he never played on that recording, nor has he been 'of Boston' since he left my band over a quarter century ago, after performing with us for only three years."
Scholz went on to say that his band has never endorsed a political candidate, "and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for. In fact, although I'm impressed you learned my bass guitar part on 'More Than a Feeling,' I am an Obama supporter. While this may seem like a little thing to you, Boston has been my life's work." The response from Huckabee's campaign: "Governor Huckabee plays 'Sweet Home Alabama.' Does that mean Lynyrd Skynyrd is endorsing him? He plays 'Louie Louie.' Does that mean The Kingsmen are endorsing him?"
For many years Boston was the best selling debut album in the US with 17 million sales. However their record was broken on September 23, 2008 when the Recording Industry Association of America certified Guns N' Roses' debut set Appetite for Destruction for 18 million sales.
The song returned to the UK singles chart in 2010 as a result of its use in a TV commercial for Barclaycard. The ad was a follow-up campaign to the one that soundtracked the Bellamy Brothers track "Let Your Love Flow," which helped the song back to #21 in November 2008.
