Artist:   Graham Parker
Song:   "White Honey"
Album: Howlin' Wind
Label:   Mercury
Year:    1976

How to describe what it was like in 1976 when the following all started to storm American stages: Mink Deville, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, the Sex Pistols, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, the Clash, Television, Talking Heads, Ramones, Rockpile and, maybe the most amazing of all, Graham Parker & the Rumour? It was as if someone had opened the windows of a huge old musty hall and pumped it full of pure oxygen, reviving not only rock & roll but the idea that there were things to look forward to. The ‘70s had been a bitch for the first half, but now life was starting to swing and the above-mentioned musicians were crashing the party and rewriting the rules. None had more power than Graham Parker. Not a tall man in height, the Englishman still carried himself like he ruled the roost, with that British superiority so common among their rockers. From the second he hit the stage, Parker propelled himself into the stratosphere: he had soul music running through his blood without worshipping at its altar, and the passion of punk rock fueling the songs. “White Honey” opened the debut album, produced proudly by Nick Lowe, and it kicks down the door with an irresistible lead guitar line backed by huge Hammond organ chords. During its first minute, the music promises a new day, a new world, hell, a new life. But what’s white honey? Anything that rings your bell, obviously: sex, drugs, rock & roll or all of the above, and to each his own. Soon enough, horns are punching,  Graham Parker is strutting his stuff and the inanities of the decade are dissolved in a sound  so full of contagious fire there is no escaping the striking beauty of the mayhem to come. Bring it on.