Boston's Tom Scholz and Mike Huckabee
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/ Alex Wong/ Getty Images

Tom Scholz, the founder and guitarist of classic-rock group Boston, wants Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to lose that "Feeling." The former Baptist minister and sometime bass player has been playing the 1976 Boston hit "More Than a Feeling" at his campaign rallies for months, and Scholz isn't pleased. In a letter sent to the Huckabee campaign that was obtained by Rolling Stone, Scholz asks the former Arkansas governor to help "undo the damage" he claims Huckabee has caused by the "misleading" use of his band's song. He adds that he was shocked that the candidate would use Boston's music without consent.

"It has come to my attention that your campaign's use of my song 'More Than a Feeling' and my band's name, Boston, has resulted in a great deal of false information, which it now appears may exist permanently on the Internet," wrote Scholz. "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."

On the campaign trail last year, Huckabee performed covers of the Boston hit and invited former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau, who left the band in 1980, to play with him. In his letter, Scholz notes that it was he, not Goudreau, who wrote, arranged, produced, engineered and played all the guitars on the recording of "Feeling." "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 goes 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," Scholz continues. "I hold the trademark to the name, and my reputation is inexorably tied to it. By using my song, and my band's name ... you have taken something of mine and used it to promote ideas to which I am opposed. In other words, I think I've been ripped off, dude! The unfortunate misconceptions caused by your campaign now live indefinitely on Internet news sites and blog archives."

Scholz signs off with the phrase "still evolving," a slap at Huckabee's disavowals of the theory of evolution.

A spokesperson for the Huckabee campaign could not be reached for comment at press time.

The letter marks the second time this month a rocker has asked one of the Republican candidates to lay off their music. Heartland rocker John Mellencamp recently requested that GOP front-runner John McCain stop using songs of his, such as "Our Country," at campaign events.

"Are you sure you want to use his music to promote Senator McCain's efforts?" reads a letter sent to the campaign by the publicist for the unabashedly liberal Indiana songwriter. "Logic says that the facts might prove to be an embarrassment, were they to be circulated widely."

The McCain camp said last week that "Our Country," and a few others by Mellencamp, would no longer be played at events. Mellencamp had supported Democratic candidate John Edwards before he dropped out of the race.

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• Boston

Boston's Brad Delp
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

There aren't many rock stars whose band's debut album sells nearly 20 million copies thanks to eight tracks that continue to get played on rock radio more than 30 years later. And there are even fewer who are so anonymous they could slip by most people unnoticed at the mall or even at one of their own concerts.

But that's the story of Boston singer Brad Delp, who on Friday died at age 55 of undisclosed causes after leading one of the most understated rock and roll lifestyles of all time. Delp was the man who lent a muscular voice to Boston's 1976 self-titled debut, a tour de force that went platinum in three months on its way to becoming the fastest-selling debut album by any American group in history. The LP spawned such rock-radio staples as "More Than a Feeling," "Peace of Mind," "Foreplay/ Long Time" and "Rock and Roll Band."

But despite Delp's signature bombastic vocals, it was the band's founder, perfectionist musical mastermind Tom Scholz who became the group's star and media focal point in the ensuing years. Delp, who was working at a factory that made heating coils for Mr. Coffee machines and playing in Boston rock clubs in the early '70s before joining the band of the same name, was, by all accounts, an unassuming nice guy who lacked the splattering excess associated with many rock godheads of the past.

And despite the group's stunning success, Delp never became the kind of household name or recognizable pinup face as other 1970s rock sensations such as Peter Frampton or Queen's Freddie Mercury — or even the more anonymous REO Speedwagon and Styx. The latter at least had the benefit of the burgeoning video revolution of the early 1980s to get some belated face time with America.

Part of that superstar anonymity was simply a matter of timing, according to Geoff Mayfield, director of charts and senior analyst at Billboard magazine. "They were not unlike a lot of other bands that came up after them, at a time when the record companies became focused on selling albums rather than primarily singles," he said. "Boston was also one of the first beneficiaries of radio consulting, when rock stations began getting programmed by outside companies and that album tested really well."

And, whereas outrageous behavior was the key ingredient to the personality of many rock bands of the '60s and early '70s, Mayfield said Boston were harbingers of an era when that was less important.

Another part of Delp's anonymity might have had to do with Boston's erratic career. Due to Scholz's notorious meticulousness in the studio, the band didn't release a follow-up to its smash debut until 1978 (an eternity at that time), and following a tour for Don't Look Back, the band went into hiatus during a prolonged battle with its record company.

By the time Boston's third album, Third Stage, came out in 1986, rock's musical landscape had completely changed and new wave had taken over from the studio-overkill rock sound of the '70s. The album — with Delp and Scholz as the only original remaining members — was a lesser hit and Delp eventually quit when it was clear a follow-up would be years in the making.

Delp bided his time working on albums with former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau in the side project RTZ, then rejoined Boston in 1994 for the tour in support of the band's poorly received fourth effort, Walk On, which was the first not to feature Delp's vocals. He was back at the helm for 2002's Corporate America, which was another dud on arrival. Though the band was rumored to be working on a new album with Delp on vocals as well as a summer tour, Delp had been gigging in between as the lead singer of a Boston Beatles tribute band called Beatlejuice.

Another reason Delp may not have reached instant face or name recognition was the simple fact that he was never featured on the cover of one of the group's albums. Artist Roger Huyssen, who painted the iconic image of a laser blasting alien-spaceship guitars on the band's debut album — a motif that would continue on subsequent albums, though not by Huyssen's hand — said the band simply didn't have the name recognition to appear on the cover at first. "The cover became an icon for their music and there was never any talk of putting them on the cover because they were new and they had no say," said Huyssen, who only met the group briefly before turning in his cover idea.

Huyssen, who has designed hundreds of album covers, as well as posters for "Saturday Night Fever" and "Star Trek," said he still gets calls in the middle of the night from fans "of a certain age" who consider Boston to be rock gods — even if the most prevalent image in their head is of giant glowing guitars and not the bearded Delp.

Some of those super-fans would come out to see Delp play in Beatlejuice, which must have been one of the most low-key side gigs ever from a guy who toured the world and sold more than 30 million records. For the past decade, the group would play the Somerville, Massachusetts, bar Jimmy D's every few months. In fact, Beatlejuice were slated to perform last weekend and had already set up their equipment when bar manager Eric Pierce got the call Friday afternoon about Delp's death.

"Some people knew he was in the band [Boston] and some didn't, but the first thing anyone ever said about him was he was one of the nicest people you'd ever meet, a sweet, quiet guy," Pierce said. Even when playing Johnny D's, which holds a few hundred patrons — not the thousands or tens of thousands he once commanded with Boston — Pierce said Delp wouldn't talk up his Boston connection and could often go unrecognized by many of the bar's patrons.

"He was definitely kind of anonymous," he said.

• Boston

Brad Delp
Photo: Sony Records

Most active rock bands manage to release a new album every two or three years. Classic-rock radio darlings Boston, however, are about to issue their first record in more than seven years. And for them, that's ahead of schedule.

Although the group's first two albums, Boston and Don't Look Back, were released in 1976 and 1978, respectively, eight years passed until Third Stage arrived. And another eight years had elapsed by the time they released their shaky fourth disc, Walk On. Walk On was actually more akin to a Tom Scholz solo project, the guitarist being the only original band member involved with the record. But now, with original vocalist/guitarist Brad Delp back in the band, Boston are nearing completion of a still-untitled record for their new label, Artemis, according to the band's publicist.

The group is three-quarters of the way through the disc, with six mixes completed and four more in the works, the spokesperson said. Boston's Web site (www.boston.org) has two planned album tracks, "Someone" and "Turn It Off," available for free download. The hard-rockin' cuts are representative of the album, the publicist said. Boston's lineup consists of Scholz, Delp, vocalist/guitarist Fran Cosmo, guitarist/keyboardist Gary Pihl and drummer Curly Smith. The band plans to tour following the CD's release, according to their label.

• Boston