"Smokin'" is a song by American rock band

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, released from the band's debut album ''

'' (1976) as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to the band's first single, "

More Than a Feeling "More Than a Feeling" is a song by the American rock band Boston, released as the lead single and the opening track from the band's 1976 debut album by Epic Records in September 1976, with " Smokin' as the B-side. Tom Scholz wrote the entire s ...

". "Smokin'" was written by the band leader, guitarist and main songwriter

Tom Scholz Donald Thomas Scholz (born March 10, 1947) is an American musician. He is the founder, main songwriter, primary guitarist, keyboardist and only remaining original member of the rock band Boston. He has appeared on every Boston release. Scholz, a ...

and lead vocalist

Brad Delp Bradley Edward Delp (June 12, 1951 – March 9, 2007) was an American musician who was the original lead singer and frontman of the rock band Boston. He began collaborating with leader Tom Scholz in 1970 and appeared on every album except '' W ...

. Like many other Boston songs, "Smokin'" has become a rock radio staple.

History

The song was a collaborative effort between Tom Scholz and Brad Delp, who at the time Scholz had recently hired. It was one of the two songs on the first Boston LP not written by Scholz alone. It was one of the songs Scholz started working on in the early 1970s in his basement, several years before the band had got a record contract. An early version of the song written and recorded in 1973, titled "Shakin", appears from the Mother's Milk Sessions. This tape reveals that originally, the song had a different meaning.

Reception

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' critic

Robert Hilburn Robert Hilburn (born September 25, 1939) is an American pop music critic, author, and radio host. As music critic and editor at the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays, and profiles have appeared in publications worldwide ...

described "Smokin'" as a "flat, uninspired

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

ish

boogie Boogie is a repetition (music), repetitive, swung note, swung note or shuffle rhythm,Burrows, Terry (1995). ''Play Country Guitar'', p.42. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. . groove (music), "groove" or pattern used in blues which was origina ...

." Writing in 2008, Kevin Smith of the ''

Arizona Daily Star The ''Arizona Daily Star'' is an American daily newspaper based in Tucson, Arizona, and owned by Lee Enterprises. It serves Tucson and surrounding districts of Southern Arizona in the United States. History 1877–1925 L. C. Hughes was the ...

'' described "Smokin'" as a "radio standard." MusicTap's review of ''Boston'' noted that "Smokin'" as one of the songs from the album to become an

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

staple, helping the album sell 17 million copies. Scott Tady of ''

Beaver County Times Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-largest l ...

'' described "Smokin'," "

Rock and Roll Band "Rock & Roll Band" is a song by American Rock music, rock band Boston (band), Boston written by main songwriter and guitarist Tom Scholz and helped out by lead vocalist Brad Delp. The song appears on the band's 1976 Boston (album), self-titled d ...

" and Boston's first four singles as having "helped set the foundation for classic-rock radio." Denise Lavoie of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

singled out "Smokin" and "

" as the hits for which Boston is best known. ''Classic Rock'' critic Paul Elliott rated it as Boston's 4th greatest song, calling it "a flat-out, high-octane blaster." ''Classic Rock History'' critic Brian Kachejian rated it as Boston's 4th best song, particularly praising the organ solo. ''SingersRoom'' critic Edward Tomlin also rated it as Boston's 4th best song, saying that "The guitar solo is a highlight, showcasing Scholz’s technical proficiency on the instrument." ''

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' called "Smokin'" a "cleaned-up boogey 'sic''crowd pleaser..." Scholz described the beginning of the song as being a vaguely

-ish

. ''Ultimate Classic Rock'' critic Michael Gallucci praised the song's "boogie groove" that persists throughout the song. Gallucci rated it Boston's 7th greatest song. The lyrics extol music, parties and

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

In popular culture

The song is featured in the 2004 game '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' on the in-game radio station K-DST, the movie ''

The Virgin Suicides ''The Virgin Suicides'' is a coming-of-age thriller novel and the debut novel by American writer Jeffrey Eugenides, published in 1993. The story, which is set in Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the 1970s, centers on the lives of five doomed sis ...

'' and in the 2016 ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' episodes " Skank Hunt" and " The End of Serialization as We Know It". It also appears on the ''

WWE 2K18 ''WWE 2K18'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by 2K (company), 2K. It is the nineteenth instalment in the WWE 2K, WWE game series (fifth under the ''WWE 2K'' banner) and a follow-up to ''WWE 2K17''. It wa ...

'' soundtrack and on the 2011 film ''Zookeeper''. It is featured in the 2021 film '' Boss Level''. After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, Clear Channel included it on a list of songs that were not recommended for broadcasting.

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– guitar, bass guitar,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

* Sib Hashian – drums

Anthrax version

The Anthrax cover of this song was released on their 2013 covers EP ''

Anthems An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short s ...

''. The song premiered online on March 15, 2013 prior to the album's release on March 19, 2013.

Anthrax personnel

Anthrax

Joey Belladonna Joey Belladonna (born Joseph Bellardini; October 13, 1960) is an American singer, best known as the vocalist for thrash metal music, thrash metal band Anthrax (American band), Anthrax. He is also the vocalist and drummer of the cover band Chief ...

– lead vocals *

Scott Ian Scott Ian (born Scott Ian Rosenfeld, December 31, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist, lyricist and co-founder of the thrash metal band Anthrax (American band), Anthrax, of which he is the sole continuous member. Ia ...

– rhythm guitar, backing vocals *

Frank Bello Frank Bello (born July 9, 1965) is an American musician who plays bass for the thrash metal band Anthrax. He was also a member of Helmet from 2004 to 2005 and has been the touring bassist of Norwegian black metal band Satyricon since 2024. Earl ...

– bass, backing vocals *

Charlie Benante Charles Lee Benante (born November 27, 1962) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for thrash metal band Anthrax (American band), Anthrax and crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death. Known as one of the pioneers of Bass drum, d ...

– drums *

Rob Caggiano Robert Caggiano (born November 7, 1974) is an American guitarist and record producer. Caggiano is known as the lead guitarist of the Danish rock band Volbeat from 2013 to 2023 and of thrash metal band Anthrax from 2001–2005 and 2007–2013. ...

– lead guitar

Additional personnel

Fred Mandel Frederick Lawrence Mandel is a Canadian session musician, keyboard player and guitarist. Career Born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Mandel started playing the piano at four and picked up the guitar aged eight. Growing up in an Orthodox Jewish h ...

– keyboards

References

{{Authority control Boston (band) songs 1976 songs Songs written by Tom Scholz Song recordings produced by Tom Scholz Song recordings produced by John Boylan (record producer) Songs written by Brad Delp Songs about cannabis Anthrax (American band) songs Epic Records singles American hard rock songs