Midnight Oil - Essential Oils poll

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I was originally going to do this as an albums poll. When I discovered that we haven't done a single Midnight Oil poll I then changed that thought and did songs instead.

Tough one. Torn between Read About It and Kosciusko, went with the former.

Tough one. Torn between Read About It and Kosciusko, went with the former.

LOL at that album title. I kinda wish they took the joke further with the cover art, but I guess that would risk confusing people browsing the racks.

Or maybe not? Something like this could've worked, maybe change the labels so that they say song titles or something.

LOL. Totally.

When I were a lad I went years without realising that Midnight Oil was responsible for the occasional (AUS) FM radio fixture "Wedding Cake Island". Still seems almost like fake news but I heart it and it's very tempting here.

It’s definitely in the top 19 songs on this compilation.

Voted Power and the Passion

But pretty much everything 1982-1987 is great

For FM radio staples (again in Aus) a lot of these songs are pretty weird/interesting sounding, I remember Armistice Day and When the Generals Talk particularly making my ears prick up

Yeah, that bit in "Armistice Day" where it sounds almost like Garrett's mic is off and he's bleeding into the mix through everyone else's sounded pretty distinctive on commercial radio. Heck, much of it sounds like various channels are malfunctioning really.

"Blue Sky Mine" and "Forgotten Years" are worthwhile afterglow hits.

Voted “Read About It” — “the rich get richer, the poor get the picture” is a great opener, and I love the momentum of the whole song. That album and Red Sails were teenage faves of mine, I guess I first heard them on college radio? I was surprised when they had their big U.S. breakthrough with Diesel and Dust because they weren’t a band I expected to make that leap.

‘Best of Both Worlds’ goes so hard. Easy vote

Best of Both Worlds is great. Would probably vote for that or Kosciusko, another blistering rocker.

The crossover of "Beds Are Burning" around the same time as 'Under the Milky Way' indicated to Young Me that something was happening on the charts.

Only The Strong at Capitol Theatre 1982!!! I mean really it is as good as anything ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDXnUSDwSng

Love the title. Voted for the most predictable option ...

By which you mean "Wedding Cake Island"? High five!

I thought I remembered "Redneck Wonderland" being a bit more incisive, lyrically. Oh well.

The crossover of "Beds Are Burning" around the same time as 'Under the Milky Way' indicated to Young Me that something was happening on the charts.

Yeah that pre-grunge moment was interesting, suddenly all these "weird" bands I knew from college radio were having hits. R.E.M. was the biggest (unless you count U2, but their crossover happened earlier and was more predictable). The Cure and Love and Rockets both had top 5 singles, it was all a bit surprising.

Wowsa @ that Capitol Theatre vid.

Another late 80s college band crossover hit was Love and Rockets "So Alive".

Geez my reading comprehension is terrible. I see now you mentioned that.

these considerations all kinda go into “better futures that never arrived,” for me.

like, watch the frame/jones vid for “good morning britain!” and i’m a yank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_QSMTtUQYY
or has it arrived?

i dint know of this poll except by accident. today. saw midnight oil at the pier in 83 or 84 in NY (whoa!), then in like 87, after which they felt played out to my stupid head. but they weren’t. such a quality act imo.

Funnily enough turn-of-the-'90s Aztec Camera came to my mind too once y'all reminded me of "So Alive" yesterday. (And PiL's "Disappointed", the House of Love's "Shine On" and Peter Murphy's "Cut You Up" making it to my city's most meat-and-potatoes commercial rock station.)

I seem to be imagining some sort of 3-4 song (?) EP circa Blue Sky Mine/1990 but it had this kind of crazy remix that isolated this syncopated drum track (almost like a drum solo)... discogs came up empty as did my search query.

(voted Blue Sky Mine)

Nick Launay remix of King Of The Mountain? Several chunks of highlighted Hirst in this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5j0xVfz6aI

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The François K 12” of PATPassion mixes the drums crisper, I think, but they’re already very isolated in the original

Launay mix of Blue Sky is more guitar-forward than anything, I’d say

Yuendemu Percapella mix of Beds by John Luongo is not as drum-focused as you’d expect and not syncopated

voted “back on the borderline” because i had the import (all the imports) mid 80s, loved this song, and when o finLly saw the vid in the late mid 80s i was just “everything after is validated” lol.

srsly if i’d seen it in hs pre 85, ida just castaway for oz

Not sure I grasped what "The Forgotten Years" was getting as a minor. Though I see that the promo clip is not particularly subtle lol. I might not even have heard it since about 1992 but dammit, it's more moving than I expected today.

was getting at as a minor

Voted “Dead Heart” because it is just so huge & hooky & eerie & awesome

But US Forces rules too

When I was at Uni in 1994/95 Peter Garrett did a speaking appearance for Greenpeace at the student Union. we were so excited to see him in person. & my best friend & I walked around campus all morning singing “US FORCES GIVE THAAAA NOD” at each other over & over

Something like this:

1. When the Generals Talk
2. Read About It
3. Kosciusko
4. Run By Night
5. Beds Are Burning

I got this compilation out of the library earlier this year when their drummer died. I was conscious of their hits of the 87-93 era but never felt strongly about those one way or the other. I might have vaguely distrusted them as self-righteous finger-pointers.
Listening to their history in such depth gave me an appreciation and admiration of their scope and aesthetic without igniting any particular desire to explore their other records. Anyway, I'm voting for "Kosciusko" for combining their most anthemic blood-stirring, flag-waving chorus with a really pretty coda showing their occasional gentle lyrical approach.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Interesting spread! Only a couple that I was surprised got no votes.