The Short-Lived Rock Band Whose Break up Devastated Pete Townshend—and Was Famously Covered by Tom Petty

Band breakups usually come down to one thing: creative differences. Trying to make something alongside the same people for decades is a hard ask. It has, more often than not, led to dissension within a group, eventually causing them to part ways. Pete Townshend attempted to combat that with The Who by looking to outside collaborators. He found what he was looking for, but it ultimately didn’t last. Learn more about the short-lived group that Townshend had a hand in building—and was famously covered by Tom Petty—below.

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The Band Breakup Pete Townshend Thought Was a Shame

Towards the end of the ’60s, Townshend grew tired of the monotony of The Who. Though their catalog is diverse, it didn’t scratch the creative itch the guitarist needed. Townshend looked to other collaborators as a solution.

Townshend and The Who’s manager, Kit Lambert, set out to create a group. Named Thunderclap Newman, they landed on a lineup of songwriter John ‘Speedy’ Keen, Jimmy McCulloch of Wings fame, and a buddy of Townshend’s, Andy ‘Thunderclap’ Newman. The Who member himself also lent his talents to the group, albeit under an alias.

The group earned some fame. Their debut single, “Something in the Air,” did markedly well. But it wasn’t enough to sustain the group long term. The release of their debut album failed to match the success of the single, leading them to an early demise in 1971. Townshend once wrote about the “tragedy” of Thunderclap Newman’s breakup.

“The tragedy is simply that there was only one Thunderclap Newman album.” Townshend once wrote. “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.”

Though the band didn’t do enough to earn a second album, it doesn’t mean they went completely unnoticed by the rock community.

Tom Petty Covering Thunderclap Newman

Tom Petty famously covered “Something in the Air.” If anything, that speaks to Thunderclap Newman’s appeal amongst their peers. Moreover, Townshend hasn’t relegated this band to memory, giving them relevance in the rock icon’s career, even today.

They may not have had the years many other bands have, but they certainly made a splash with what little time they had.

(Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)