After decades of these songs being staples of classic rock stations and karaoke bars, it’s tempting to lump Boston in with the throngs of arena-ready, prog noodling bands often labelled (derisively) “Dad Rock.”

And yeah: your dad probably loves this album. But to dismiss it as dad rock is to miss the truth…

This is one of the greatest DIY records ever made.

After years of playing music around the Boston music scene, a multi-instrumentalist and homegrown producer named Tom Scholtz wrote and recorded a collection of songs onto a demo tape in his basement with singer Brad Delp. After a string of rejection letters, the band finally received an offer from Epic Records to make an album.

But there was a problem.

Epic wanted Boston to go to LA to rerecord the songs on their demo tape—and importantly, they wanted the band to recreate as much of the spirit of those demos as possible. In Scholz’s mind, it would be much easier to do that in the environment where the songs were first recorded, right there in his basement (nicknamed Foxglove Studios). Epic thought that was preposterous and told him to hire a producer and go out to LA.

So he hired a producer, John Boylan, and they went to LA—where they recorded a single song, as a “decoy.” According to legend, most of Boylan’s role was to run interference between Scholz and Epic, assuring the label that everything was going as intended in the studio. Meanwhile, Scholz took some vacation time from his job at Polaroid, locked himself in his basement and recorded nearly the entirely album by himself (barring Delp’s vocals, drums, and lead guitar).

And it worked. The album became a hit, peaking at number three on the Billboard chart and spawning five singles, all of which still have plenty of airplay (though Scholz went back to work for a few weeks after it was released, fearing that it might flop). Many albums have similarly self-recorded, but most of them have missed out on similar commercial success.

But honestly, listening to these songs, how could they not become hits? From the wide-eyed optimism of “More Than a Feeling” to the earnest spiritualism of “Peace of Mind” to the prog-opus-into-pop-rock anthem that is “Foreplay/Long Time,” these songs manage to combine prog ambition and pop infectiousness in exactly the right proportions. And that’s just the first side (and a solid contender for best three-track-run of all time).

Side 2 doesn’t reach the same heights (how could it?), but it doesn’t slouch. It opens with the autobiographical “Rock and Roll Band,” which is admittedly on the nose, but not so much that it gets in the way of the song’s catchiness. It’s followed by the organ-heavy “Smokin’” which in a way feels like an homage to Deep Purple and J.S. Bach. “Hitch A Ride” never saw the same sort of airplay as the previous five tracks, but it could have been a huge hit as a single too, with its shapeshifting structure, soaring guitar solo, and balladesque chorus. In fact, the weakest track on the disc (only by matter of juxtaposition) is “Let Me Take You Home Tonight,” which was the only song actually recorded in LA, proving Scholz’s point.

But there are two reasons that these songs work so well. The first, obviously, is Brad Delp, which is the only voice on the disc. Both the power of his delivery and his sense of harmony are incredible. But his contributions wouldn’t have mattered if it weren’t for Scholz’s intricate arrangements. Trained as a classical pianist as a child, he writes rock songs like he’s composing symphonies. Verses and choruses fade in and out like movements. Riffs rise and fall like leitmotifs. And man, can he play the hell out of an organ.

As someone who has spent much of his musical career self-recording, the thought of an album like Boston is absolutely staggering. Everyone who locks themselves in their basement with a reel to reel or four-track or laptop secretly wishes that their album will become an enormous hit. But in Boston’s case, it did. And rightly so.

Also, “More than a Feeling” is forever tied to the memory of my friend Josh karaoke-ing that song at my bachelor party.