Justice is Coming! I feel that Midnight Oil is a very good, overlooked indie-rock band who deserves a lot more commercial success.
I personally particularly like their early music such as Blue Sky Mining YouTube — — [full album] and, since I have been homeless myself in recent years, a song called Under the Overpass — YouTube, , from the album Capricornia. The group was formed in Sydney in by Hirst, Moginie and original bassist Andrew James as Farm : they enlisted Garrett the following year, changed their name in , and hired Rotsey a year later.
Peter Gifford served as bass player from — Midnight Oil issued their self-titled debut album in , and gained a cult following in their homeland despite a lack of mainstream media acceptance. The band achieved greater popularity throughout in Australasia with the release of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 — which spawned the singles " Power and the Passion " and " US Forces " — and also began to attract an audience in the United States.
They achieved their first Australian number one album in with Red Sails in the Sunset , and topped their native country's singles chart for six weeks with the EP Species Deceases The group garnered worldwide attention with album Diesel and Dust.
Its singles " The Dead Heart " and " Beds Are Burning " illuminated the plight of indigenous Australians , with the latter charting at number one in multiple countries. Midnight Oil had continued global success with Blue Sky Mining and Earth and Sun and Moon — each buoyed by an international hit single in " Blue Sky Mine " and " Truganini ", respectively — and remained a formidable album chart presence in Australia until their disbandment.
The group held concerts sporadically during the remainder of the s, and announced a full-scale reformation in The band's music often broaches political subjects, and they have lent their support to multiple left-wing causes.
Midnight Oil's legacy has grown since the late s, with the outfit being cited as an influence, and their songs covered , by numerous popular artists. Aside from their studio output, the group are celebrated for their energetic live performances, which showcase the frenetic dancing of Garrett.
While studying at Australian National University in Canberra, vocalist Peter Garrett [3] answered an advertisement for a spot in Farm, [4] [5] and by the band had started touring the east coast of Australia. Important to their development was manager Gary Morris, who successfully negotiated favourable contracts with tour promoters and record companies and frustrated rock journalists.
Their first single "Run by Night" followed in December. Gifford was himself replaced by Bones Hillman in Australian Top Ten singles were: [9] [10]. In December Garrett announced that he would seek to further his political career and Midnight Oil disbanded.
But they would reform for two warm-up shows in Canberra leading up to their performance at one of the " Sound Relief " charity concerts, in honour of the victims of the "Black Saturday" fires in Victoria and floods in Queensland.
In their album Diesel and Dust ranked no. After changing its name to Midnight Oil, the group began to develop an aggressive, punk-hard rock sound for their pub rock audiences. The Midnight Oil LP disappointed some critics as it did not capture their powerful live performances, with undemanding playing and Garrett's vocals sounding stilted.
Driven largely by commercial pressures to stay with reliable chart-toppers and teenage pop sensations, the Australian music industry in the mids cast a dismissive eye toward most bands with an alternative outlook. Although consistently championed by Sydney alternative rock station Double Jay and its FM band successor Triple J, Midnight Oil was almost totally ignored by Australia's mainstream commercial radio stations in their early career. Manager Morris developed a reputation as one of the toughest managers and became notorious for banning critics or journalists, who were usually given free admission to concerts, for writing unfavourable reviews.
Writer and critic Bruce Elder , in a mids newspaper review described their music as "narrow and xenophobic", and declared Midnight Oil were:. In retaliation, Morris banned Elder from Oils shows permanently. Elder later recanted, describing them as the only Australian band to have developed a truly Australian sound. The frostiness of Midnight Oil's relationship with the traditional music media quickly saw the band develop a strong "street cred" and a reputation for making no compromises with the music industry.
In the early s the band was scheduled to appear on an episode of the all-powerful Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC TV pop show Countdown , but on the day of the show they were "bumped" from the line-up. Countdown required artists to mime their songs during 'live' performances, Midnight Oil and Morris insisted they perform completely live and have their sound engineer supervising — neither side backed down.
In response, the group declared that they would never appear on the show, a promise they faithfully kept. Fans of the group were drawn to the band's "us and them" mindset, and fan loyalty to the Oils' ideas and music was fierce.
Two venues at which they built significant fan bases from their early live performances were the Sydney northern beaches pub The Royal Antler at Narrabeen and the Bondi Lifesaver club near Sydney's Bondi Beach. Politically oriented rock of the style produced by the band was something of a new concept for the Australian music scene, and Peter Garrett quickly earned a reputation as one of the most charismatic and outspoken musicians in the country. He recalled that there were dangers in playing the pub scene:.
You get booked into a pub or hotel, say in the western suburbs of Sydney. Halfway through your set, two large, drunk truck drivers decide to have a fight. They're beating each other up and careening towards the corner where the band is set up. Meanwhile, everyone else is going, 'Aaah, turn it down, I'm trying to watch TV.
Their Australian breakthrough and first international recognition came in , with the release of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 , which included the singles " Power and the Passion " and " Read about It ". The album peaked at No. The album remained in the Australian charts for weeks.
The band also played their first shows outside Australia during this time, with the album being released in US on Columbia Records , where it charted in on the Billboard ; [18] in the UK it was released on CBS. Midnight Oil undertook more politically motivated benefit concerts, [5] including organising the Stop the Drop Nuclear Disarmament concert in which received a United Nations Media Peace Prize. In January , Midnight Oil performed Oils on the Water , a concert on Goat Island in Sydney Harbour to celebrate Triple J 's tenth birthday, [3] before a select audience of fans who had won tickets in a radio competition.
Peter Gifford left the band before the album's release due to extensive touring schedules, [5] and was replaced by Bones Hillman , formerly of The Swingers. Diesel and Dust peaked at No. There were concerns about Diesel and Dust and Midnight Oil's attempts to express indigenous issues to white urban audiences — namely, the question "who holds the power to tell whose history? However, the organisers insisted, arguing that the band would reach a wider audience within the predominantly Caucasian urban centres.
During — and — Garrett was the President of the Australian Conservation Foundation , whilst during — he was on the International Board of Greenpeace.
Resurrection, however, is the key to longevity, and the mark of a great band. Indeed, it has been awhile since Midnight Oil has made much of a dent in the U. Tough talk about land misappropriated from aboriginals is just not what most folks crave day after day, record after record. While no one will walk away from Capricornia confusing Midnight Oil with knuckleheads like Sum 41, most will notice an appreciable softening of the edges, especially musically.
Songs like the outstanding "Tone Poem," though lyrically driven by sobering ecological questions, is also notable for a bridge and chorus built on a chiming, instantly memorable guitar part. Similarly, "Under the Overpass" drapes a snippet of melody from Leonard Cohen 's "Hallelujah" over a springy keyboard bit that Brian Wilson might have fashioned for a top-down corker.
Capricornia --its title track buoyed by one of the Oil's most insistent choruses--is a rock record, but it's one with more settings than "pummel. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?
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Vinyl, September 24, "Please retry". Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. Diesel And Dust. Midnight Oil. Leon Russell. Earth and Sun and Moon. Essential Oils. Midnight Oil The name and concept of Capricornia was taken from the novel of the same name written by the Australian author Xavier Herbert.
The name Capricornia refers to part of the Queensland coast and inland region around Rockhampton , which is close to the Tropic of Capricorn. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Midnight Oil.
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