Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    Banner
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
      • Playlists
    • Television
      • Shows by Decade
        • 1950s Television
        • 1960s Television
        • 1970s Television
        • 1980s Television
        • 1990s Television
      • Shows by Genre
        • Comedy
        • Drama
        • Kids TV
        • Variety
        • News & Sport
        • Advertisements
      • Shows by Country
        • UK TV
        • USA TV
        • Australia & NZ TV
        • Canada TV
        • Europe TV
        • Japan TV
      • Shows A to K
        • Shows A
        • Shows B
        • Shows C
        • Shows D
        • Shows E
        • Shows F
        • Shows G
        • Shows H
        • Shows I
        • Shows J
        • Shows K
      • Shows L to Z
        • Shows L
        • Shows M
        • Shows N
        • Shows O
        • Shows P
        • Shows Q
        • Shows R
        • Shows S
        • Shows T
        • Shows U
        • Shows V
        • Shows W
        • Shows X
        • Shows Y
        • Shows Z
      • Shows 0 to 9
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • 1950s Music
        • 1960s Music
        • 1970s Music
        • 1980s Music
        • 1990s Music
      • Music A to K
        • Music A
        • Music B
        • Music C
        • Music D
        • Music E
        • Music F
        • Music G
        • Music H
        • Music I
        • Music J
        • Music K
      • Music L to Z
        • Music L
        • Music M
        • Music N
        • Music O
        • Music P
        • Music Q
        • Music R
        • Music S
        • Music T
        • Music U
        • Music V
        • Music W
        • Music X
        • Music Y
        • Music Z
      • Music 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • 1950s Movies
          • Movies 1950
          • Movies 1951
          • Movies 1952
          • Movies 1953
          • Movies 1954
          • Movies 1955
          • Movies 1956
          • Movies 1957
          • Movies 1958
          • Movies 1959
        • 1960s Movies
          • Movies 1960
          • Movies 1961
          • Movies 1962
          • Movies 1963
          • Movies 1964
          • Movies 1965
          • Movies 1966
          • Movies 1967
          • Movies 1968
          • Movies 1969
        • 1970s Movies
          • Movies 1970
          • Movies 1971
          • Movies 1972
          • Movies 1973
          • Movies 1974
          • Movies 1975
          • Movies 1976
          • Movies 1977
          • Movies 1978
          • Movies 1979
        • 1980s Movies
          • Movies 1980
          • Movies 1981
          • Movies 1982
          • Movies 1983
          • Movies 1984
          • Movies 1985
          • Movies 1986
          • Movies 1987
          • Movies 1988
          • Movies 1989
        • 1990s Movies
          • Movies 1990
          • Movies 1991
          • Movies 1992
          • Movies 1993
          • Movies 1994
          • Movies 1995
          • Movies 1996
          • Movies 1997
          • Movies 1998
          • Movies 1999
      • Movies A to K
        • Movies A
        • Movies B
        • Movies C
        • Movies D
        • Movies E
        • Movies F
        • Movies G
        • Movies H
        • Movies I
        • Movies J
        • Movies K
      • Movies L to Z
        • Movies L
        • Movies M
        • Movies N
        • Movies O
        • Movies P
        • Movies Q
        • Movies R
        • Movies S
        • Movies T
        • Movies U
        • Movies V
        • Movies W
        • Movies X
        • Movies Y
        • Movies Z
      • Movies 0 to 9
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Radio
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Music»Music by Decade»1970s Music
    1970s Music 1980s Music Music G 3 Mins Read

    Graham Parker & The Rumour

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    Even in 1976, blue-eyed soul boy and ex-mod Graham Parker was seen as not quite of the top drawer, although he frequently came very close.

    Born in 1950 in London, Parker grew up in Deepcut, a country village in southeast England. His mother worked in a cafe and his father was a coal stoker. Parker left school when he was seventeen and began working in the Animal Viral Research Institute, breeding mice and guinea pigs.

    But he soon found that job, like most other aspects of working-class life in England, a dead-end.

    In 1975, after a series of odd jobs and stints in several bands, Parker (then a petrol station attendant) sent a tape of some songs he had written to London’s Hope & Anchor pub.

    grahamparker

    Dave Robinson – who ran a recording studio there – heard the tape and matched Parker up with The Rumour, an all-star band of the then-waning pub rock scene, including ex-members of Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe and Bontemps Roulez

    The following year, Graham Parker and The Rumour released two albums – Howlin’ Wind and Heat Treatment  – that contained some of the most intense music of the seventies.

    Showing off a variety of influences from Bob Dylan and R&B to Van Morrison and reggae, and with Parker’s growling voice pulling everything together, it was clear that Graham Parker & The Rumour had risen above pub rock to create their own distinct brand of rock & roll.

    But despite the critical acclaim, those first two LPs sold only 30,000 and 60,000 copies respectively. The group and its management put much of the blame on Mercury Records, their label at the time, who only initially pressed 8,000 copies of each album. Parker eventually wrote and recorded a diatribe against the label called (subtly) Mercury Poisoning.

    1977 brought an EP, The Pink Parker, which provided Parker with his breakthrough courtesy of a cover of what was essentially a disco number – The Trammps‘ Hold Back The Night. The single reached the Top 20 in Britain.

    The third LP – Stick To Me (1977) – was not as well-received by the rock press, which criticised Nick Lowe‘s production and some of Parker’s new songs. And the two-record live set The Parkerilla (1978) was a flawed attempt to capture the band’s powerful live presence on vinyl.

    Parker’s erstwhile backing band also performed as an individual entity and released some enjoyable albums, including Frogs, Sprouts, Clogs & Krauts (in retaliation to Fleetwood Mac naming one of their LPs Rumours).

    1979’s Squeezing Out Sparks (his first album on his new label, Arista) was Parker’s best work. His still-bitter songs had a blossoming maturity and in Passion Is No Ordinary Word he had a) a point and b) his best song until Temporary Beauty.

    When Squeezing Out Sparks failed to win the audience he deserved, Parker sank into creative confusion. The albums kept coming – The Up Escalator (1980) and – after The Rumour split up –  Another Grey Area (1982), The Real Macaw (1983) and Steady Nerves (1985) – but no combination of producer and players seemed able to unlock Parker’s heart.

    Consequently, Parker seized control of all aspects of The Mona Lisa’s Sister (1988). He co-produced the album with Brinsley Schwarz (one of The Rumour’s original guitarists), Andrew Bodnar – also from The Rumour – played bass, and when his label, Atlantic, began to suggest changes, Parker bolted to RCA and made them promise to release the album his way.

    Parker moved to Woodstock in upstate New York where he continued to record and write fiction (he published a set of short stories in 2000 entitled Carp Fishing On Valium).

    Graham Parker
    Vocals, guitar
    Brinsley Schwarz
    Guitar, organ
    Bob Andrews

    Keyboards
    Martin Belmont
    Guitar
    Andrew Bodnar
    Bass
    Steve Goulding
    Drums

    Video

    Related Posts

    • Roy Harper
      Roy Harper
      Roy Harper was born in June 1941 in Rusholme, Manchester. His mother, Muriel, died three weeks after he was born…
    • hope&anchor1
      Bontemps Roulez
      Bontemps Roulez were based in the Pub Rock heartland of the Hope & Anchor, where they gigged and recorded between…
    • brinsleyschwarz_amsterdam1974
      Brinsley Schwarz
      It's a tad unfair that Brinsley Schwarz became a global laughing stock after their infamous "Fillmore trip" of 1970. The ill-fated…
    • vanmorrison543
      Van Morrison
      Van Morrison was born in Belfast, Ireland. At sixteen he began playing tenor sax and started touring with a rock…
    • Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons
      Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons
      Aussie band Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons could almost have been Graham Parker and the Rumour under another name.…
    • dionne
      Dionne Warwick
      Marie Dionne Warwick was born in East Orange, New Jersey in December 1941 (she is Whitney Houston's cousin) and after going…
    • avalanche004
      Avalanche
      With the break up of The Bootleg Family Band in November 1975, Tony Naylor, Geoff Cox and Clive Harrison recruited Adrian Campbell…
    • dugites002
      Dugites, The
      The Dugites formed in Perth (Western Australia) in 1978 with Lynda Nutter on vocals, Gunther Berghofer on guitar, Phillip Bailey…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleGraham Bonnet
    Next Article Grand Funk Railroad

    Comments are closed.

    NC Radio Player
    Search the site
    Nostalgia Central has been a labour of love since 1998. The site carries no advertising, and I rely on donations to help with running costs and to keep the site running for your entertainment and education.

    If you find the site informative or enjoyable, please consider a donation – no matter how small.
    Thank you so much. Enjoy your trip in the time machine!
    You may also like

    • Rumour, The
      Rumour, The
      The Rumour comprised former members of British pub rock bands Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe and Bontemps Roulez. Formed in 1975,…
    • hope&anchor1
      Bontemps Roulez
      Bontemps Roulez were based in the Pub Rock heartland of the Hope & Anchor, where they gigged and recorded between…
    • vanmorrison543
      Van Morrison
      Van Morrison was born in Belfast, Ireland. At sixteen he began playing tenor sax and started touring with a rock…
    • Cuban Heels
      Cuban Heels
      Cuban Heels formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1977 and was headed by John Milarky, who had previously been a member…


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Copyright © 1998, 2023 Nostalgia Central. Run by volunteers. Funded by donations.
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.