Pete Townshend Recalls the Highs and Lows of Thunderclap Newman

Pete Townshend recalled the triumph and tragedy of Thunderclap Newman, the one-hit surprise band he created for 3 “dear friends” in 1968.

In the foreword to Mark Ian Wilkerson’s new guide Hollywood Dream: The Thunderclap Newman Story (by way of Rolling Stone), the Who guitarist outlined the larger plans he’d had for the group recognized for his or her 1969 single “Something in the Air.”

Townshend stated he first met multi-instrumentalist Andy “Thunderclap” Newman at artwork school in 1963, and with the assist of Who supervisor Kit Lambert, he assembled a bunch round him together with future Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, Who collaborator and later Motorhead producer John “Speedy” Keen, and future Big Country drummer Mark Brzezicki.

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“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, saying his listing included Arthur Brown of “Fire” fame. “Speedy wrote the divine ‘Something In the Air,’ and became the lead singer and studio drummer for the band – the only three I could keep my grip on, that is.”

He described Thunderclap Newman as “a great adventure and one I try to relive often,” including: “‘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.”

Hailing Wilkerson’s work as one he deliberate to reread commonly, Townshend continued: “This guide says all of it – that creativity and even hit data, typically, might be extra about play than work. Musicians play, and when the laborious work begins because it should, they often fall by the wayside.”

Pete Townshend Says Most Big Stars Are ‘Slightly Nuts’

“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,” Townshend continued. “The saddest part of it all is that they don’t exist today.”

Townshend also discussed what the experience meant to 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. 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.”

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

Listen to Thunderclap Newman’s ‘Something in the Air’