Screaming

Anthony Quinn is today's Independent has an article about screams in songs. "When I think of my favourite moments in pop and rock, it's surprising quite how many of them can be distilled to a singer throwing his or her head back and letting rip a lung-bursting scream". His list of his top 10 includes Todd:

'LOVE IS THE ANSWER'

Todd Rundgren

I owe a debt here to Giles Smith, whose magisterial essay on Rundgren in his memoir Lost in Music first alerted me to this formative moment. This pop hymn originates from his experimental sideline outfit Utopia, on their 1977 album Oops! Wrong Planet, and features one of those gospel clap-along endings that would usually make me duck for cover. This being Todd, however, he sings over the crescendo like a man possessed, and on the line "If you need a friend" his voice cracks into an impassioned scream (time 3:02) the likes of which could probably never be repeated: believe me, I've tried