S.O.D. "Thunder Island" by Jay Ferguson

4/22/2015     Off his 1977 album of the same name comes his biggest hit as a solo artist that features The Eagles' Joe Walsh on guitar.  It reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 but surprisingly did not get much radio play in the years to come.  

     Ferguson began with classical piano lessons at age 12 before turning his interest to the banjo at 16.  At this point he formed a bluegrass group with his brother Tom who was an accomplished fiddle player. They called themselves The Oat Hill Stump Straddlers.  In the mid-1960s he was the last member to join the group Spirit which also consisted of Randy California and Ed Cassidy.  Ferguson became the lead vocallist and percussionist of the group. In the early 1970s he left Spirit along with bandmate Mark Andes to form their own band which was moderately successful.  

     Throughout the late 70s and early 80s Ferguson took on a solo career recording six studio albums with "Thunder Island" being the most successful.  Ferguson from that point switched to composing TV and movie scores for which he has written 15 film soundtracks and many television scores including his award winning score for the NBC series "The Office."  He was also involved in the Terminator soundtrack and is the current composer for the NCIS Los Angeles score.  "Thunder Island," another high school dance song.