In 1974 he began work at the Gordon's gin distillery on City Road, London, where he developed an acute gin allergy and wrote his first novel, "The Kids", published by New English Library in 1976. Parsons later said that he had imagined that if he could publish a book then he would be able to make a living as a professional writer. The £700 he made from "The Kids" was not enough to allow him to leave Gordon's Gin factory. However, when the weekly music magazine "New Musical Express" ("NME") advertised for new writers in the summer of 1976, Parsons submitted his novel to the editor, Nick Logan, and was rewarded with a staff writer job. For the next three years he wrote about new music. He wrote the first cover story on the Clash, and features on the Sex Pistols, Blondie, Talking Heads, the Ramones, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, the New York Dolls, Buzzcocks, and Led Zeppelin among others.