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Thunderclap Newman

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Thunderclap Newman is 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.

In 1969, Pete Townshend, The Who's guitarist, created the band to play songs written by 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 under the pseudonym Bijou Drains, and hired for it eccentric GPO engineer and jazz pianist Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman and 15-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 McColloch's sweeping acoustic and glowing electric guitars, Keen's powerful drumming and yearning falsetto, and Newman's felicitous piano solo.

The single was No. 1 after just 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 on bass and McCulloch's elder brother Jack on 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), 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.

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.

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. Sadly, this never materialized. Keen died unexpectedly at the age of 56 on 21 March, 2002.

Pete Goodall recently formed a band called Thunderclap with none of the original members releasing an album that contained a remake of the hit "Something In The Air", and they played their first live gig at The Black Lion, a small pub in Hereford, England (the band were guests but not contestants at a 'battle of the bands' show that Goodall organised).

There is considerable controversy over this new venture; The legitimate Thunderclap Newman have been quoted as saying: "Both Jimmy and Speedy have passed away. Their estates, together with Andy Newman and Pete Townshend are in partnership as the one and only Thunderclap Newman and have devoted time and resources over many years in establishing their unequivocal rights to the name Thunderclap Newman. They have been contemplating for some time how best to honour Speedy - most likely by releasing an extended version of the original Hollywood Dream. It is to their great regret that they now discover what can only be described as a sham band cynically promoting themselves as Thunderclap Newman, and releasing Something In The Air on the coat tails of the recent Talk Talk campaign. This name rightly belongs to the above members and they consider that this activity is undermining their commercial interest and good name."

It should be noted that Pete Goodall's new 'Thunderclap Newman' seem to be known as Thunderclap Newman, Thunderclap and Thunderclap Goodmoney.

Trivia

A version of the song "Something in the Air" is used in the advertisements for the mobile phone service provider TalkTalk. (A similar advert for TalkTalk shown at the beginning of advert breaks during Big Brother features the opening bars).

References

  • Guinness Book of Hit Singles
  • Thunderclap Newman releases
  • Personal records
  • Sleeve notes on CD re-issue of Y'Know wot I mean? (Edsel EDCD 462)
  • Guardian obituary
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