Todd Rundgren’s 1972 double-album masterpiece, Something/Anything?, stands as a landmark of DIY recording and pure pop craftsmanship. As his first release under his own name, the project serves as a definitive showcase for Rundgren’s transition into an independent and experimental powerhouse. While the album reached number 29 on the Billboard 200 and launched massive hits like “Hello It’s Me” and “I Saw the Light,” the story behind its creation involves a mix of chemical inspiration, literal earthquakes, and an artist obsessed with total control.
The One-Man Band Experiment
Driven by a general dissatisfaction with studio musicians, Rundgren temporarily moved to Los Angeles to record nearly three-quarters of the double album entirely by himself. He played every instrument and sang every vocal part for the first three sides, often developing songs spontaneously as he recorded. Because he was a novice drummer at the time, he would hum the melody in his head to keep his place, and if he made a mistake, he would simply change the song to fit the error rather than fixing the drum part.
Chemical Creativity and 20-Minute Hits
Rundgren wrote the material for the album at an incredibly prolific rate, a feat he openly attributes to his use of Ritalin and cannabis. These stimulants allowed him to crank out songs at an incredible pace, leading him to write the hit “I Saw the Light” in just 20 minutes. He even admitted that some rhymes were simple moon/June/spoon patterns because the process was moving so quickly.
An Earthquake Forced a Change in Plans
After recording a massive amount of solo material in Los Angeles, a literal earthquake struck the city, prompting Rundgren to move the sessions back to New York City. To lighten the mood after the disaster, he decided to abandon his solo approach for the final quarter of the album. He held live-in-studio sessions with any musicians who happened to be nearby, including future stars like Rick Derringer and the Brecker Brothers.
The Improvised Success of “Hello It’s Me”
The album’s highest-charting single, “Hello It’s Me,” was a re-recording of a song from Rundgren’s former band, Nazz. Despite its eventual top-five success, the new version was rehearsed and recorded in under two hours during a loose live session. The iconic horn lines and backing vocals heard at the end of the track were completely improvised on the spot by the session players.
The Home Studio Advantage
Rundgren pushed the boundaries of 1970s technology by installing an 8-track recorder in his rented home in Nichols Canyon. This setup allowed him to conduct lengthy, solitary experiments with equipment like the Putney VCS3 synthesizer without wasting a professional studio’s time. Several tracks on the album, including “Breathless” and “One More Day (No Word),” were captured in this domestic environment, adding to the record’s intimate and authentic feel