"Something in the Air" is the debut single by British rock band

Thunderclap Newman Thunderclap Newman were a British rock band that Pete Townshend of the Who and Kit Lambert formed in 1969 in a bid to showcase the talents of John "Speedy" Keen, Jimmy McCulloch, and Andy "Thunderclap" Newman. Their single, " Something in t ...

, written by Speedy Keen who also provided lead vocals. It was a No. 1 single for three weeks in the UK Singles Chart in July 1969. The song has been used for films, television and advertisements, and has been covered by several artists. The track was also included on the band's only album release '' Hollywood Dream'', over a year later.

Background

In 1969,

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...

, guitarist with

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

, was the catalyst behind the formation of the band. The concept was to create a band to perform songs written by drummer and singer Speedy Keen, who had written " Armenia City in the Sky", the first track on ''

The Who Sell Out ''The Who Sell Out'' is the third studio album by the English rock band the Who. It was released on 15 December 1967 by Track Records in the UK and Decca Records in the US. A concept album, ''The Who Sell Out'' is structured as a collection of ...

''. Townshend recruited jazz pianist Andy "Thunderclap" Newman (a friend from art college), and 15-year-old guitarist

Jimmy McCulloch James McCulloch (4 June 1953 – 25 September 1979) was a Scottish musician best known for playing lead guitar and bass as a member of Paul McCartney's band Wings from 1974 to 1977. McCulloch was a member of the Glasgow psychedelic band One i ...

, who later played lead guitar in

Paul McCartney and Wings Paul McCartney and Wings, often billed simply as Wings, was a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in 1971 in London by former The Beatles, Beatle Paul McCartney; his wife Linda McCartney on keyboards; session drummer Denny Seiwell; a ...

. Keen played the drums and sang the lead.

Production

Townshend produced the single, arranged the strings, and played bass under the pseudonym Bijou Drains. Originally titled "Revolution" but later renamed to avoid confusion with

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' 1968 song of the same name, "Something in the Air" captured post-

flower power Flower power was a slogan used during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a symbol of passive resistance and nonviolence. It is rooted in the Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, opposition movement to the Vietnam War. The ex ...

rebellion, combining McCulloch's acoustic and electric guitars, Keen's drumming and falsetto vocals, and Newman's piano solo. The song, beginning in

E major E major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, F-flat maj ...

, has three key changes, its second verse climbing to

F-sharp major F-sharp major is a major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has six sharps. Its relative minor is D-sharp minor (or enharmonically E-flat minor) and its parallel minor is F-sharp min ...

, and, via a roundabout transition, goes down to

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

for Newman's barrelhouse piano solo. Following this, the last verse is, like the second, a tone above the previous verse, closing the song in

A-flat major A-flat major is a major scale based on A♭ (musical note), A, with the pitches A, B♭ (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D♭ (musical note), D, E♭ (musical note), E, F (musical note), F, and G (musical note), G. Its key signature has fou ...

Reception

The single reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart just three weeks after release, holding off

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

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. In the UK, Thunderclap Newman's follow-up single "Accidents" was released in May 1970 and charted at No. 46 for a week. The album ''Hollywood Dream'' peaked in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' at No. 163. The song and the band are labelled as '

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

s'.

Personnel

*Andy "Thunderclap" Newman – piano; lead vocals on "Wilhelmina" * Speedy Keen –

double-tracked Double tracking or doubling is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or bigger sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. ...

lead vocal, drums *

– lead and rhythm guitars *

– bass guitar (credited to "Bijou Drains"), orchestral arrangement

Chart performance (Thunderclap Newman version)

Appearances in other media

"Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman appeared on the soundtracks of several films, such as '' The Magic Christian'' (1969), which helped the single reach No. 37 in the United States and "The Strawberry Statement" (1970) (source: www.allmusic.com). It later appeared in '' Kingpin'' (1996), ''

Almost Famous ''Almost Famous'' is a 2000 American comedy drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe, starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It tells the story of a teenage journalist, played b ...

'' (2000), ''

The Dish ''The Dish'' is a 2000 Australian historical drama, historical comedy-drama film that tells the story of the Parkes Observatory's role in relaying live television of humanity's first steps on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. It wa ...

'' (2000), '' The Girl Next Door'' (2004) and '' The Instigators'' (2024). "Something in the Air" has been used extensively in television, including on an advertisement for

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

which featured PJ O'Rourke. The song also appeared in a TV advert for the Austin Mini in the early 1990s, featuring 1960s fashion model ''

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949), widely known by the nickname Twiggy, is an English model, actress, and singer. She was a Culture of the United Kingdom, British cultural icon and a prominent teenage model during th ...

''. More recently, a version of the song was used in advertisements for the mobile phone service provider TalkTalk, and as the introduction theme to the

2024 British Touring Car Championship The 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship (commonly abbreviated as BTCC) was a motor racing championship for production-based Touring car racing, touring cars held across England and Scotland. The championship features a mix of professi ...

final event at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers version

A cover of "Something in the Air" was recorded by

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band formed in Gainesville, Florida, in 1976. The band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer ...

and included on their ''Greatest Hits'' album, released in 1993. A live version of the song was included in ''

The Live Anthology ''The Live Anthology'' is a live box set by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The box set was released by Reprise Records on November 23, 2009, in a number of formats, with the standard CD and download formats, composed of 48 ...

'', released in 2009.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1969 songs 1969 debut singles 1993 singles Thunderclap Newman songs Tom Petty songs Blues rock songs British soft rock songs MCA Records singles Protest songs Song recordings produced by Pete Townshend Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin Track Records singles UK singles chart number-one singles