Neanderthal Man was released by Hotlegs, the pre-cursor to 10cc (but without Graham Gouldman) and reached #22 in U.S. and No. 2 in U.K. (kept off the top spot by Elvis Presley‘s ‘The Wonder Of You‘).
Elton John . . . Neanderthal Man (Stewart, Godley, Creme). Always a fan of innovative music Elton recorded covers of new sounds and Neanderthal Man (Hotlegs) is on Reg Dwight’s Piano Goes Pop:
In 1973, Elton John founded The Rocket Record Company named not after Neanderthal Man, but his signature hit Rocket Man. In 1974 he signed Neil Sedaka and released his comeback album Sedaka’s Back to a receptive U.S. audience with original recordings from Solitaire (1972) and The Tra-La Days Are Over (1973) both engineered and recorded by Eric Stewart at Strawberry Studios with the nascent 10cc as session musicians on tracks like That’s When The Music Takes Me . . . and Love Will Keep Us Together . . .
. . . whose subverted title, inspired Joy Division‘s iconic hit Love Will Tear Us Apart, recorded at Strawberry Studios in 1980. This mash-up using Captain & Tennille‘s cover version of Love Will Keep Us Together (U.S. #1 in 1975), demonstrates why some people think the inspiration wasn’t just limited to the title, but maybe the whole song?