by Max Conroy:

 

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I have a copy of Dave Marsh’s The Heart of Rock and Soul, which lists his top 1001 singles, in my bathroom.  It’s great.  It was written in 1989 and includes a lot of doo wop, soul and early rock greats like Nathaniel Mayer and Nolan Strong that don’t get a whole lot of mention outside of fanatical circles.  I’ve always been a fan of the first Cramps EP, particularly the song The Way I Walk and never knew who did it originally.  Low and behold, there it is on page 530, Jack Scott.  Flush.

The other day I was divining through the book much like Romans would do with Virgil’s Aenead and came to Something in the Air by Thunderclap Newman.  You know the song.  Tom Petty covered it on his greatest hits album, it was in Almost Famous and a shit-ton of other movies and TV shows (check Wikipedia for a more comprehensive list).  I’ve heard the name Thunderclap Newman before and have heard the song probably once a year that I’ve noticed since I got Petty’s Greatest Hits album in junior high but never put the two together.  The story of the band it turns out is an interesting paragraph.

The band was formed allegedly by Pete Townshend to help out former crony/roadie John “Speedy” Keen, who had written the leadoff track on the Who Sell Out, to record some of his songs.  Townshend recruited a postal worker/jazz pianist Andy “Thunderclap” Newman and a fifteen year-old Scottish guitarist Jimmy McCulloch.  The single Something in the Air went to number one in England and to twenty-five in the US.  The subsequently recorded album Hollywood Dream, which was produced by Townshend and contained the brilliant single, received absolutely no support (the band played live five times) and peaked at 163 on Billboard.  The band members really didn’t have that much in common and ceased recording together, leaving a top notch album for posterity.  Speedy Keen went on to record a few solo albums and to produce Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers LAMF and had a heart attack in his mid fifties and died, Thunderclap recorded one in ‘71 and McCulloch went on to play with numerous bands, including Wings, and eventually died of a heroin overdose at twenty-six.

The album is one that I’d probably glance over if I saw it in a stack and didn’t know anything about it.  It is truly great and I highly recommend picking it up.  You probably won’t have any luck at Encore though. 

Here’s the hit  

Here’s another jam for some flavor, Look Around