THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

891-Thunderclap Newman-Something in the Air.

1969-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 2.56. Pete Townshend never knew the feeling of having a Number 1 single in the UK with The Who, but he got a taste of what it was like here.

Pete Townshend (see also best songs 926-306 and 265) can actually boast two Number 1 songs, as he also co-produced the 1968 UK chart topper, ‘Fire,’ for ‘The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.’ In 1969, Pete Townshend, along with ‘The Who’s’ manager Kit Lambert, (1935-1981) put together a group of musicians to create a band to perform songs written by John ‘Speedy’ Keen, (1945-2002) who Townshend had previously shared a flat with. Speedy Keen had previously been a roadie for The Who, and had also written ‘Armenia City in the Sky,’ which is the opening track on The Who’s 1967 Album ‘The Who Sell Out,’ this was the only song that The Who ever performed live, that was specifically written for the group by a non-member. Townshend and Lambert also recruited the Jazz pianist Andy ‘Thunderclap’ Newman, (1943-2016) whom Townshend had known from his time at art college, and also the 16 year old Scottish guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (1953-1979.) These three musicians would play on ‘Something in the Air,’ along with Pete Townshend who played bass, under the pseudonym ‘Bijou Drains.’

‘Something in the Air’ was the first of four singles released from ‘Hollywood Dreams,’ from September 1970, which would be the only studio Album issued by Thunderclap Newman. The four singles were also the bands only other releases. In the UK, ‘Something in the Air’ went to Number 1, making them ‘One Hit Wonders,’ (see also best songs 990-698-496-467-116 and 101) as the other three singles failed to chart within the top 40, with the follow up single ‘Accidents’ stalling at Number 46, and the other two failing to make any impact at all. ‘Something in the Air’ was initially going to be called ‘Revolution,’ but was later re-named to avoid confusion with the Beatles 1968 song of the same name, which had appeared on the Beatles ‘White Album,’ and also as the ‘B’ side of ‘Hey Jude.’ In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart,’Something in the Air’ would also provide Thunderclap Newman with their only chart hit, peaking at Number 37.

‘Something in the Air’ was written by Speedy Keen, who also provided the vocals, and played the drums on the track. Keen would go on to release two solo studio Albums in 1973, and 1975, before turning to production, where he produced for the American Punk band ‘Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers,’ and he also produced the self titled debut Album by the English Heavy Metal band ‘Motorhead’ in 1977. Speedy Keen who died of heart failure in March 2002, at the age of 56 reflected on ‘Something in the Air,’ in a 1975 interview, saying,’I wrote it about two months before we recorded it, and we put it out as a joke. He also gave his thoughts on why ‘Thunderclap Newman’ were ‘One Hit Wonders,’Something In The Air’ was very hard to live up to because it wasn’t done under any pressure, and it was very hard to get that same feel when we knew we had to produce another single,’

‘Andy ‘Thunderclap’ Newman after whom the band were named, got his nickname ‘Thunderclap’ at school, in honour of his playing technique on the keyboards. After ‘Thunderclap Newman’ parted ways in 1971, Newman released his one solo Album ‘Rainbow,’ in 1971, and then left music to work as an electrician. In 2010 Newman put together a new version of ‘Thunderclap Newman,’ with him being the only original member, they recorded the Album ‘Beyond Hollywood,’ and played several live shows. Andy Newman died on March 29th, 2016, at the age of 73.

Jimmy McCulloch was the guitarist with Thunderclap Newman, in 1974 he became a full time member of ‘Paul McCartney and Wings,’ his debut track with them was ‘Junior’s Farm’ (see also best songs 646.) then after leaving ‘Wings’ in 1977, he toured with the reformed ‘Small Faces.’ McCulloch died on September 27th, 1979, of heart failure, due to morphine and alcohol poisoning, although he was not a user of hard drugs, he was 26 years old.

‘Something in the Air’ is a call for revolution, but whereas many songs of the ‘Flower Power’ era called for peaceful revolt, it appears that the message in this song is to revolt by any means necessary.

‘Hand out the arms and ammo, we’re going to blast our way through here. We’ve got to get together sooner or later, because the revolution’s here, and you know it’s right, and you know that it’s right.