Thunderclap Newman

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Thunderclap Newman was a late 1960s one-hit wonder from the UK. Their single, "Something in the Air", a 1969 UK Number One hit, remains in demand for television commercials, film soundtracks, and compilations.

[edit] Career

In 1969, Pete Townshend, The Who's guitarist, created the band to play songs written by the former Who roadie, drummer / singer John 'Speedy' Keen (miscredited as "Keene" on the single's label). Townshend produced the single, arranged its strings, played its bass guitar under the pseudonym Bijou Drains, and hired for it eccentric GPO engineer and jazz pianist Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman (born Andrew Newman, in 1943) and the fifteen year old Glaswegian Jimmy McCulloch.

Originally titled "Revolution", but later renamed because the Beatles released a single of that name, "Something in the Air" captured post-flower power rebellion, marrying McCulloch's sweeping acoustic and glowing electric guitars, Keen's powerful drumming and yearning falsetto, and Newman's felicitous piano solo.

The single was Number One for three weeks, holding off Elvis Presley in the process. The scale of the song's success surprised everyone, and there were no plans to promote Thunderclap Newman with live performances.

Eventually a line-up, augmented by Jim Pitman-Avory (bassist) and McCulloch's elder brother Jack (drums), played a handful of gigs. Personal records say the band played live only five times, although Keen referred to a two-month tour, playing "everywhere".

"Something in the Air" appeared on the soundtracks of the films The Magic Christian (1969), Almost Famous (2000), The Dish (2000), The Girl Next Door (2004), and The Strawberry Statement (1970); the latter helped the single reach No. 25 in the United States. In the UK, a follow-up single, "Accidents", came out only in May 1970, and charted at No. 44 only for a week, and an album, Hollywood Dream, peaked in Billboard at No. 163. "Something In the Air" played at the end of the March 26, 2007 epidsode of The Riches on FX.

The members of the band had little in common. Newman once commented, in a 1972 interview with New Musical Express, that he got on well with Keen but not with his music, while for McCulloch it was the other way round. Two more singles followed before the band split.

[edit] Separate ways

Newman recorded a solo album, Rainbow, in 1971, whilst McCulloch had stints with a dozen or more bands, including Stone the Crows (after the death of Les Harvey), and Wings. McCulloch died of heart complications due to a heroin overdose in 1979, at the age of 26.

Keen reappeared with a solo album, Previous Convictions, for Track in 1973, and began recording a double album as a follow-up. Frustrated at his lack of progress at Track, he took the demos to Island Records, which pared it down to the single album Y'know wot I mean? and released it in 1975. Its single, "Someone to Love", received plenty of airplay but failed to sell.

Discouraged, Keen ceased recording after one more single in 1976. He tried the producer's seat, working with punk band Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers on their debut album L.A.M.F. in 1977, and also produced Motörhead's first album before leaving the industry. He suffered from arthritis for several years, but by the time Y'know wot I mean? came out on CD in 1996, he had planned to record his third solo album. However, Keen died unexpectedly at the age of 56 on 21 March 2002.