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Disintegration: An Album, a Band, a Generation
2024 · Documentary · Music
John Christopher Parry (born 7 January 1949) is a New Zealand record producer and former musician, known for being the former manager and producer for the Cure and for founding Fiction Records.
In 1967, whilst studying at Silverstream College, Parry auditioned as drummer for a band called the Sine Waves, who later renamed themselves the Fourmyula. He has stated "I got the job because I had a truck driver's licence". Within a year, the band had hit the charts, reaching number 2 in New Zealand with "Come with Me" and reached number 1 in 1969 with "Nature". The band made two trips to the UK, but were not so successful there. After the band split in 1971, Parry returned to England and spent two years obtaining a diploma in marketing and advertising from the College for Distributive Trades in London. He then found a job in the International department at Phonogram Records, under fellow New Zealander John McCready.
In 1974, Parry was offered a job at Polydor in A&R. His first signing was the Chanter Sisters. Punk was in its early days but it was clear that it was going to be big, so Parry went to check out some of these bands. His requests to Polydor in 1976 to sign the Sex Pistols and the Clash were rejected. However, in January 1977, he got a tip from future-Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan to check out the Jam. Parry was convinced and signed them to Polydor in February. He also co-produced the Jam's first three albums as well as the eponymous sole album by the Jolt who he also signed. Later in 1977, he helped convince Polydor to sign Siouxsie and the Banshees after listening to "Hong Kong Garden" from the BBC's John Peel sessions.
In 1978, Parry began starting his own record label, which was later to be named Fiction, which was to be an imprint of Polydor, after becoming increasingly frustrated with Polydor not listening to his requests. He listened to a demo tape by the Cure and was particularly impressed with "10:15 Saturday Night" and also "Boys Don't Cry". He called them up and a meeting was arranged for August at Polydor's office in Stratford Place. After the meeting, Robert Smith invited Parry to watch them perform at the Laker's Hotel in Redhill on 27 August. After the gig, Parry invited them to a drink at a nearby pub, The Home Cottage, at which he told the Cure he wanted them to be his first signing, which they agreed to and they officially signed in September. Soon after, Parry signed Billy MacKenzie and Alan Rankine, who went on to form the Associates. Along with engineer Mike Hedges, Parry then recorded the Cure's first album Three Imaginary Boys at Morgan Studios, which was released in May 1979. The next four studio albums released were Purple Hearts' Beat That!, the Passions' Michael & Miranda, the Cure's Seventeen Seconds and the Associates' The Affectionate Punch, all in 1980. Parry managed the Cure until 1988 and Fiction released their music until 2001, when he sold the label to Universal Records. Parry says he "kind of retired from music if you like when I was 52 or 53 in 2001 when I sold everything out".
In 1992, along with Sammy Jacob, Parry launched radio station Xfm (rebranded as Radio X in 2015) in London. The left-field alternative station was a "mix between bFM and early Radio Hauraki" according to Parry, who was managing director. The station was sold to Capital Radio Group in 1998.