Midnight Oil are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett, Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by Hirst, Moginie and original bassist Andrew James as Farm: they enlisted Garrett the following year, changed their name in 1976, and hired Rotsey a year later. Peter Gifford served as bass player from 1980 to 1987, with Bones Hillman then assuming the role until his death in 2020. Midnight Oil have sold over 20 million albums worldwide as of 2022.
Diesel and Dust is the sixth studio album by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, released in August 1987 by SPRINT Music label under Columbia Records. Diesel and Dust was produced by Warne Livesey and the band. It is a concept album about the struggles of Indigenous Australians and environmental causes, issues important to the band. It drew inspiration from the Blackfella/Whitefella Tour of remote Indigenous communities with the Warumpi Band and Gondwanaland in 1986. The album peaked at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart for six weeks.
Warumpi Band were an Australian country and Aboriginal rock group which formed in the outback settlement of Papunya, Northern Territory, in 1980. The original line-up was George Burarrwanga on vocals and didgeridoo, Gordon Butcher Tjapanangka on drums, his brother Sammy Butcher Tjapanangka on guitar and bass guitar, and Neil Murray on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. Their songs are in English, Luritja and Gumatj. Their key singles are "Jailanguru Pakarnu" (1983), "Blackfella/Whitefella" (1985), "Sit Down Money" (1986), "My Island Home" (1987) and "No Fear" (1987). The group released three albums, Big Name, No Blankets (1985), Go Bush! (1987) and Too Much Humbug (1996). From late 1987 to mid-1995 the group rarely performed as Murray focused on his solo career. In early 1995, Christine Anu, issued a cover version of "My Island Home". Warumpi Band regrouped before disbanding in 2000. Burarrwanga died on 10 June 2007 of lung cancer.
"Beds Are Burning" is a 1987 song by the Australian rock band Midnight Oil, the first track from their album Diesel and Dust. This song was released as the second single from the album. It reached No. 1 in New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, No. 3 in the Netherlands, No. 5 in France, No. 6 in the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland, No. 17 in the United States and Sweden.
"Prisoner of Society" is a song by Australian punk rock band the Living End. It was originally released in Australia on the 1997 EP Second Solution / Prisoner of Society. The song was later released as a single, separate from the EP, in the United States in January 1999. In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", "Prisoner of Society" was ranked number 32.
"Friday on My Mind" is a 1966 song by Australian rock group the Easybeats. Written by band members George Young and Harry Vanda, the track became a worldwide hit, reaching No.16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 1967 in the US, No.1 on the Dutch Top 40 chart, No.1 in Australia and No.6 in the UK, as well as charting in several other countries. In 2001, it was voted "Best Australian Song" of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) as determined by a panel of 100 music industry personalities. In 2007, "Friday on My Mind" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry.
"Under the Milky Way" is a single by Australian alternative rock band the Church, released on 15 February 1988, and appears on their fifth studio album Starfish. The song was written by bass guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Kilbey and his then-girlfriend Karin Jansson of Curious (Yellow). It peaked at No. 22 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart, No. 24 on the United States Billboard Hot 100, No. 25 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and appeared in the Dutch Single Top 100. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1989, the song won 'Single of the Year'. It was issued simultaneously in both 7" vinyl and 12" vinyl formats by Arista Records (internationally) and Mushroom Records.
Neil James Murray is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter-guitarist and writer. He was a founding member of the Warumpi Band which was the first major influential Aboriginal rock group with mostly Indigenous members. Murray was recognised as one of Australia's foremost songwriters at the APRA Awards of 1995 by winning Song of the Year for "My Island Home".
"Don't Change" is a song by Australian rock band INXS. It was released as a single from the album Shabooh Shoobah in October 1982. It has been described as the band's first international single.
"Before Too Long" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released as the first single from their debut double album, Gossip. It was released in June 1986 on the original White Label Records, a subsidiary of Mushroom Records. It reached No. 15 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart, remaining for 19 weeks. The track was a surprise hit for Kelly at a time when chart success had eluded him and provided increased interest for the release of Gossip, which would become his biggest mainstream success to that date.
"Power and the Passion" is the second single from Midnight Oil's 1982 album 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The song is one of the band's most famous, and it was performed on every Midnight Oil tour since the issue of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 as well as at the WaveAid concert.
"Read About It" is a song by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, released as the third and final single from their 1982 studio album, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. It was a favourite with the band and with fans, appearing at least once on every tour since its release and appearing at the WaveAid concert. Very few other Midnight Oil songs have appeared so often.
"Original Sin" is a song by Australian rock group INXS, released as the first single from the band's fourth album, The Swing. It was written by Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss, and produced by Nile Rodgers.
"Can't Help Myself" is the first single released by the Australian synthpop/rock band Flowers, later known as Icehouse. It was released in May 1980 as a 7" vinyl single on independent label, Regular Records, five months ahead of debut album Icehouse. A 10" vinyl single was released in July and had a cover depicting individual images of band members diagonally across the band's name and the single's title. It peaked at #10 on the Australian Singles Charts.
"Run to Paradise" is a single by Australian hard rock group The Choirboys which reached No. 3 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart in December 1987. The related Big Bad Noise album peaked at No. 5, and was the twenty-first highest-selling album of 1988 in Australia. In New Zealand, "Run to Paradise" attained No. 13 on the RIANZ Singles Chart. Released in the United States in 1989, it appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 and Mainstream Rock charts. The song was re-worked for a 2004 release credited to Nick Skitz vs. Choirboys and reached No. 16 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
"Blue Sky Mine" is a song by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, released in February 1990 as the first single from their seventh studio album, Blue Sky Mining (1990). The song was inspired by the experiences of workers at the Wittenoom asbestos mines who contracted various asbestos-related diseases. The "blue" refers to blue asbestos, and the "sugar refining company" mentioned in the lyrics refers to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company Ltd, the owner of the mines.
"Blackfella/Whitefella" is an Australian rock song written by Neil Murray and George Rrurrambu, recorded by their Aboriginal rock group, Warumpi Band, and released as the second single from their 1985 album, Big Name, No Blankets on Parole Records and Powderworks Records. While not a chart success, the song drew attention to issues of racism in Australia through lyrics that encourage harmony and co-operation by people of all races. The song received national airplay and attention in 1986 when politically charged rockers and Powderworks Records founders Midnight Oil accompanied the band on a free concert tour of remote Aboriginal communities as the Blackfella/Whitefella Tour.
"Out Of Mind Out Of Sight" is the title single by Australian new wave rock band Models from their album of the same name. It was released in June 1985 and was their most successful single, which peaked at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. The album followed in August on Mushroom Records with Nick Launay, Reggie Lucas and Mark Opitz producing and reached No. 3 on the related albums chart.
"No Secrets" is a song by Australian hard rock group, the Angels, released in April 1980 from their fourth studio album, Dark Room. "No Secrets" peaked at number 8 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart. It was co-written by band members, Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup and Bernard "Doc" Neeson. In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the most Australian songs of all time, "No Secrets" was ranked number 50.
The Makarrata Project is the twelfth studio album by Australian band Midnight Oil, released on 30 October 2020 by Sony Music Australia. The album is the first new material from the band since 2002's Capricornia, their first studio album to hit #1 on the ARIA Charts since 1990's Blue Sky Mining, and one of the final releases to feature bassist and backing vocalist Bones Hillman before his death in November 2020.
