Thunderclap Newman's Something in the Air, a 1969 UK no 1, has become one of the most durable of One Hit Wonder 's, in constant demand for TV commercials, film soundtracks and compilations.
The band was originally created by the Who's guitarist, Pete Townsend as a vehicle to record songs by former Who roadie, drummer/singer John 'Speedy' Keen (miscredited as 'Keene' on the single's label). Townsend, who produced Something in the Air, arranged its strings and played bass under the pseudonym Bijou Drains, brought in eccentric GPO engineer and jazz pianist Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman and 15 year old Glaswegian guitarist Jimmy McCullough.
The single (catalogue no. Track 604031) perfectly captured the spirit of post flower power rebellion, marrying McCollough's sweeping acoustic and glowing electric guitars with the powerful drumming and yearning falsetto of Keen, whilst Newman contributed a piano solo that somehow managed to fit the song perfectly whilst simultaneously sounding as if it had wandered in from a different studio!
Released in June 1969, Something in the Air was no 1 after only three weeks, holding off Elvis Presley in the process. The scale of the song's success took everyone by surprise and there were no plans to promote Thunderclap Newman with live performances. Eventually, an augmented line-up, incorporating Jim Pitman-Avory on bass and McCullough's elder brother Jack on drums, played a handful of gigs. It has been rumoured that the band played live on only five occasions, although Keen has referred to a two month tour, playing “everywhere”.
Something in the Air appeared on the soundtracks of the films The Magic Christian and The Strawberry Statement , the latter of which helped it reach no 25 in America. In the UK, a follow-up single, Accidents, didn't appear until May 1970, and charted for one week only at 44, whilst an album, Hollywood Dream, reportedly peaked 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, whilst for McCullough it was the other way round. Unsurprisingly, after a third single was virtually ignored, the band split.
Newman recorded a solo album, Rainbow, in 1971, whilst McCullough had stints with a dozen or more bands, including Stone the Crows , after the death of Les Harvey, and Wings. He died of heart complications brought on by a heroin overdoes in 1979, aged 26.
Keen reappeared with a solo album for Track in 1973, Previous Convictions, and set about recording a double album as a follow-up. Frustrated at his lack of progress at Track, he took the demos to Island Records, where it was pared down to a single album and released in 1975 as Y'know wot I mean? A single, Someone to Love, received plenty of airplay but failed to sell.
Discouraged, Keen ceased recording after a final single in 1976. He briefly moved into the producers seat, working with punk band Johnny Thunder and the Heartbreakers in 1977, and also producing the first album by Motörhead before effectively leaving the industry. He suffered from arthritis for several years, but by the time Y'know wot I mean? was reissued on CD in 1996, he had plans to finally record his third solo album. Sadly, this never materialized. Keen died, unexpectedly, aged 58 in February 2003.
Sources: Guiness 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
