Boston’s Tom Scholz Hasn’t Listened to Any New Music Since 1974

Boston have undergone a lot of lineup changes over the course of the band's 37-year history, but their sound has always remained more or less the same, with very few concessions to current trends. As bandleader Tom Scholz revealed during an interview, that's at least partly because he doesn't even know what those current trends are.

Speaking with Music Radar, Scholz was asked for his take on other guitarists who boast a signature sound. Given the Edge from U2 and Andy Summers of the Police as examples, Scholz shrugged and admitted, "I have to confess: I don’t know who they are."

Perhaps realizing that his response might seem dismissive, Scholz went on to elaborate. "I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I don’t listen to any other music -- not since about 1974," he explained. "The only times when I’ll hear other music will be at the ice-skating rink or the gym -- you know, if I go out and somebody’s playing something. I don’t listen to the radio in the car, and I do that because I don’t want to be influenced."

Of course, no one lives in a complete pop-culture bubble, and Scholz's routine does allow for a little exposure to today's hits -- but his musical frame of reference is still the same one he used when Boston was just starting out. "I do hear a little bit here and there -- I know what modern rock and current pop sounds like, because I’m exposed to it a little bit," he mused.

"The closest I can come to answering that question is, I can probably tell you when it’s an old Jeff Beck song or early Led Zeppelin -- I can recognize Jimmy Page. I can tell you that I can always recognize a Boston song, even if it’s in a noisy place. I can hear that it’s Boston even before I know what song it is. If a Boston song comes on in a club or somewhere, I notice that it’s Boston, and the second thing I notice is what song it is."