- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Their sixth album, Diesel and Dust brought Midnight Oil an international audience and went Platinum in America, scoring a major hit, “Beds Are Burning”.
The Greatest Music
Ever Recorded!
Midnight Oil – Diesel and Dust (1988): Midnight Oil is a deeply political Australian rock band who scored a major hit song from this album, “Beds Are Burning”, with two other singles from the album, “The Dead Heart” and “Dreamworld” also performing well on the American charts. Their sixth album, Diesel and Dust brought Midnight Oil an international audience and went Platinum in America; but they had been well established in Australia since their formation in Sydney in 1971, and their recording career was already a decade old at this point. From Wikipedia: “Diesel and Dust has been critically lauded since its release. Rolling Stone editors named it the best album of 1988 (the year of its United States release) and later ranked it the 13th greatest record of the 1980’s.
“In October 2010, Diesel and Dust was listed at No. 1 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.” Midnight Oil championed the plight of Indigenous Australians, who often appeared in their videos; and they were also known for holding benefit concerts for groups like Greenpeace and Save the Whales. Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett became a member of the Australian House of Representatives on the Labor ticket in 2004.