Graham Parker - Get Started. Start a Fire

What this video is

Released in spring 1988, 'Get Started. Start a Fire' arrived as the lead single from Graham Parker's critically lauded comeback album 'The Mona Lisa's Sister' — his first for RCA after an acrimonious split with Atlantic Records and the first album he self-produced (with Brinsley Schwarz). The album's stripped-down, back-to-basics sound was seen as a deliberate rejection of the over-produced 1980s mainstream rock…

Why it matters

Represents a key artifact of the late-1980s pub rock/college rock crossover moment, when stripped acoustic and roots-oriented rock production — anticipated by Parker's self-produced RCA debut — began to challenge the dominant arena-rock and synth-pop video aesthetics on MTV. The song's sardonic,…