Something in the Air#Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers version

In 1969, Pete Townshend, guitarist with The Who, 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.John Dougan, {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/whosellout00doug |url-access=registration |title=The Who sell out|page=[https://archive.org/details/whosellout00doug/page/98 98] |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=2006|isbn=0826417434|accessdate=20 November 2009 }} Townshend recruited jazz pianist Andy "Thunderclap" Newman (a friend from art college),Kim Cooper, David Smay, {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o4wRvuoA0QYC&pg=PA165 |title=Lost in the grooves|page=165 |publisher=Routledge |date=2005 |isbn=0415969980 |accessdate=20 November 2009 }} and 15-year-old guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, who later played lead guitar in Paul McCartney and Wings.Jeremy Simmonds, {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bMBf3TYZigQC&pg=PT143 |title=The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars |page=124 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |date=2008 |isbn=978-1556527548|accessdate=20 November 2009 }} Keen played the drums and sang the lead.

Townshend produced the single,Dave Spencer, {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXkF1c8uRsoC&pg=PA97 |title=A Smudge on My Lens, page 97 |publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd |year=2008 |isbn=978-1906510787 |accessdate=23 February 2019}} arranged the strings, and played bass under the pseudonym Bijou Drains.{{cite interview |last=Townshend |first=Pete |subject-link=Pete Townshend |interviewer=Liz Kershaw |title=Liz Kershaw, BBC 6music |publisher=BBC Radio|date=16 November 2019 }} Originally titled "Revolution" but later renamed to avoid confusion with the Beatles' 1968 song of the same name, "Something in the Air" captured post-flower power 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, has three key changes, its second verse climbing to F-sharp major, and, via a roundabout transition, goes down to C major 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.

The single reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart just three weeks after release, holding off Elvis Presley in the process. The scale of the song's success surprised everyone,{{according to whom|date=October 2024}} and there were no plans to promote Thunderclap Newman with live performances. Eventually a line-up—augmented by Jim Pitman-Avory on bass{{Cite web|url=http://www.flyrecords.co.uk/in-memory-of-james-pitman-avery/|title=In Memory of James Pitman Avery}} and McCulloch's elder brother Jack on drums—played a handful of gigs.{{Cite web|url=https://rec.music.rock-pop-r-b.1960s.narkive.com/r6OmUM2r/thunderclap-newman|title=Thunderclap Newman|website=rec.music.rock-pop-r-b.1960s.narkive.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-t/thunderclap-newman/|title=Thunderclap Newman – Nostalgia Central|date=3 July 2014|website=nostalgiacentral.com}}

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 at No. 163. The song and the band are labelled as 'one-hit wonders'.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

• Andy "Thunderclap" Newman – piano; lead vocals on "Wilhelmina"
• Speedy Keen – double-tracked lead vocal, drums
• Jimmy McCulloch – lead and rhythm guitars
• Pete Townshend – bass guitar (credited to "Bijou Drains"), orchestral arrangement

{{unreferenced section|date=June 2020}}

"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 (2000), The Dish (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 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. More recently,{{when|date=October 2024}} a version of the song was used in advertisements for the mobile phone service provider TalkTalk.

{{Infobox song

| name = Something in the Air

| cover = Something in the air tom petty.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

| album = Greatest Hits

| B-side = "King's Highway"

| released = {{start date|1993|10|18|df=y}}{{cite magazine|title=Single Releases|magazine=Music Week|page=29|date=16 October 1993}}

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

| length = 3:17

| label = MCA

| writer = Speedy Keen

| producer = Rick Rubin

| prev_title = Mary Jane's Last Dance

| prev_year = 1993

| next_title = You Don't Know How It Feels

| next_year = 1994

}}

A cover of "Something in the Air" was recorded by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and included on their Greatest Hits album, released in 1993. A live version of the song was included in The Live Anthology, released in 2009.

{{Clear}}

• List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States

{{Reflist}}

{{Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1969 songs

Category:1969 debut singles

Category:1993 singles

Category:Thunderclap Newman songs

Category:Tom Petty songs

Category:Blues rock songs

Category:British soft rock songs

Category:MCA Records singles

Category:Protest songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Pete Townshend

Category:Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin

Category:Track Records singles

Category:UK singles chart number-one singles