Thunderclap Newman: The Who’s Pete Townshend reflects on his short-lived one-hit-wonder group

14 October 2024, 16:55

"Call out the instigators, because there's something in the air."

We all know the opening lyrics to Thunderclap Newman's iconic anthem 'Something In The Air'.

Likely because the song was a number one hit in the UK in 1969, but has also been reused countless times in media since because of its hopeful agenda and grandiose instrumentation.

The now-classic was the handiwork of a budding songwriter called John 'Speedy' Keen, who was a sometime chauffeur for The Who, and managed to impress Pete Townshend with his songcraft.

In fact, he impressed Townshend so much, that the guitarist created the band for Keen to showcase his capabilities.

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After assembling a lineup of Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman' and teenage prodigy Jimmy McCulloch to support Keen, they and Townshend united to record the band's lead single.

Little did they know that the song would blow up and make almost instant stars out of the group, a degree of success that proved too great in such a short time.

Only two years after Thunderclap Newman formed, they broke up, citing that they had very little in common both creatively and personally.

Now in a new biography of the band, Hollywood Dream: The Thunderclap Newman Story, The Who legend Townshend has recalled the turbulent highs and lows of the band he felt had so much promise.

Townshend said that he first met Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman in 1963 whilst studying at art college, and decided to assemble the band for his "dear friends" in Andy, Speedy, Jimmy, and drummer Mark Brzezicki with the help of The Who's manager Kit Lambert.

"Andy, with the very young Jimmy McCulloch and John 'Speedy' Keen, ended up in Thunderclap Newman, a band I created named after Andy, which - had I had my way - would have had a few more members," Townshend wrote.

Under the pseudonym 'Bijou Drains', Townshend played bass on all of Thunderclap Newman's tracks, and produced them too, as well as wanting Arthur Brown of 'Fire' fame to join.

He described the group as “a great adventure and one I try to relive often,” adding “‘Something In The Air’ saw each of them move on to new lives, and new adventures, some wonderful, some tragic."

"Who knew that great music could be created this way? Well, I did, even if the three members of the band were unsure at first.”

Thunderclap Newman - Something In The Air (1969)

The all-time-great rock guitarist goes on to laud the new book, written by Mark Ian Wilkerson, adding:

“This book says it all - that creativity and even hit records, sometimes, can be more about play than work. Musicians play, and when the hard work begins as it must, they sometimes fall by the wayside."

"The tragedy… is simply that there was only one Thunderclap Newman album, the beautiful Hollywood Dream, recorded entirely in my home studio, which was in a room meant to be a small bathroom."

"The saddest part of it all is that they don’t exist today," Townshend lamented.

He reflects on the experience of founding the briefly successful band as a vital one for him.

"My dedication, to help the waifs and strays and eccentrics of the music world together, continues to this day."

"I must admit that I learn more from working with other artists than I do working alone; and through them all have, like Rick Rubin, produced a philosophy of recording studio craft that sustains me every day," he continues.

"Creativity sparks creativity, and eccentricity in an artist is sublime – look at the list of chart-topping superstars of the past: they are all slightly nuts. They are all slightly brilliant too."

Whether or not the individual band member of Thunderclap Newman was "slightly nuts" or not, they were certainly excellent musicians.

Drummer Mark Brzezicki went on to join Big Country, and Jimmy McCulloch later joined Paul McCartney's Wings, before his tragic death in 1979 at the age of just 26.

Speedy Keen went on to release two solo albums, produce Mötörhead, and work as a session musician for Rod Stewart before dying of heart failure in 2002 at the age of 56.

Thunderclap Newman's potential was enormous - 'Something In The Air' replaced The Beatles' 'Ballad Of John and Yoko' on the top spot, and held off Elvis Presley as it stayed at number one in the UK for three weeks.

Various revolving-door lineups of the band toured with Deep Purple and Leon Russell before they imploded in 1971, though Thunderclap Newman eventually returned in 2010.

The only surviving member Andy Newman reunited with Brzezicki and Pete Townshend's nephew Josh for a run of dates which ended with a final set at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 2012.

Hollywood Dream: The Thunderclap Newman Story is on sale now via Third Man Books.