THUNDER AIN'T RAIN

The Story, The Song, and The Video

THE TRACK

“Thunder Ain’t Rain,” the last track off of the the grassy knoll album III, was released in 1998 on PolyGram’s Verve/Antilles. The music was created with drum loops, bass guitars, samples, a synth solo by Nick Sansano, and track-ending guitar sonics by Thurston Moore.

THE VIDEO

In previous stories, I detailed three methods of constructing audio/visual compositions for the live performances during my residency at Pianos. “We Will Rock You” was created solely using clips with its associated audio—video as sound source, editor as composer. “A Night In NYC” was constructed in a similar manner but expanded on the concept and added a narrative element by adding drum loops, live bass, and raw video footage. The footage gave the piece a sense of story, a visual elegance, and opened up a palette of possibilities for future video content. The third method of construction builds on the previous two examples but this time the audio/visual collages find a home on original the grassy knoll album tracks like “Black Helicopters.” Existing tracks edited and repurposed—they are heard, seen, and experienced in a completely new way.

The video for “Thunder Ain’t Rain” adheres to this third methodology by utilizing clips of Tina Turner, saxophonist Dave Liebman, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant. In order to keep the video succinct, two sections—a break and Moore’s outro—were omitted from the original.

THE FOOTAGE

The raw footage for the video was shot in Lower Manhattan, Times Square, The East Village, and Grand Central Station shortly after 9/11. There was an abundance of tension in the streets as no one understood exactly what was going on. The music echos the sentiment that these visuals convey.

THE TITLE

My friend Greg chose the title for the music. He came across the words while reading R.G. Vliet’s novel, Scorpio Rising. Vliet finished this book a mere five days before he died of cancer at the age of 53. In the book comes this line, "‘Thunder ain't rain,’ he'd say, ‘So you go on writing.’" A fitting title for the last song on what would be the final album with Verve/Antilles.