"Amanda" is a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romance (love), romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn m ...

by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

written by

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

. The song was released as the first single from the band's third album, ''

Third Stage ''Third Stage'' is the third studio album by the American rock band Boston, released on September 26, 1986, on MCA Records. It was recorded at Boston co-founder Tom Scholz's Hideaway Studio over a long, strained, six-year period "between floods ...

'', in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, six years after it was recorded. Although the song did not have a promotional music video, "Amanda" became the band's highest charting single in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In the United States, the single topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in November, 1986, for two consecutive weeks (the band's only number 1 on the Hot 100), and topped for three consecutive weeks on the

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

chart, in October of the same year, while in the latter the single topped ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' magazine's Top Singles and Adult Contemporary charts. It was the band's first officially released single since 1978 and their first released by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

. The

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

parts are played by Scholz.

Background

Guitarist Tom Scholz recorded the demos in 1980, including the guitar solo that would later be featured in "Amanda". Between then and 1981 Scholz had to rework the song to finish it. He stated: "Amanda" was not a real woman. Instead, the name was chosen because it flowed well with the lyrics.

Reception

In early 1984 a raw demo of the song was leaked to radio stations via a syndicated satellite feed. Despite the poor audio quality the first new studio Boston song to be heard in six years became the most requested song at AOR (

Album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orien ...

) stations that played the bootleg. "Amanda" is a relatively rare example of a song that reached #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in or after the 1980s without having a performance music video made for it. An interview for British television, made while the band was promoting the ''

'' album, does show a couple of minutes of a music video near the end. The band does not appear in that video, which intersperses shots of a model smiling for the camera with special effects footage of the band's spaceship logo flying over the

skyline. One shot shows the animated spaceship almost colliding with the

John Hancock Tower 200 Clarendon Street, previously John Hancock Tower and colloquially known as The Hancock, is a 60-story, skyscraper in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. It is the tallest building in New England. The tower was designed by Henry N. Cobb of ...

. Despite being released in that country, the single failed to chart on the UK singles chart. The song was eventually certified gold by the

Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It ...

with sales of over 50,000 units. '' Cash Box'' called it a "romantic ballad that features...Tom Scholz' trademark guitar" and a "pretty and memorable song." ''Classic Rock'' critic Paul Elliott rated "Amanda" as Boston's 5th greatest song.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-End charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amanda (Boston Song) 1980 songs 1986 singles 1980s ballads Boston (band) songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles American soft rock songs Glam metal ballads Songs written by Tom Scholz Song recordings produced by Tom Scholz MCA Records singles