Midnight Oil: Classic or G'dud!

Paul Kelly had the same ubiquity — was very well known & most everbody knew his music just from radio etc

again - the question was *how* into his music you were, not whether you were into him at all

GoBetweens for me was a bit different - i knew Cattle and Cane but not much else until i started hanging out w cool ppl at university
they didnt the same kind of broad radio play where i grew up (country town, limited to commercial radio for a long time until the broadcast strenth of indie radio improved in early-mid 90’s

and to guard against sicbot corrections
talking abt personal experience in rural victoria, i am not speaking for country as a whole

when a band is THAT ubiquitous it takes a long time to critically assess them on their own merits imo

That all sounds like growing up with the ubiquity of Springsteen in the US in the ‘80s. At a certain point — years, or maybe decades later — those who generally accepted him, but weren’t necessarily fans, stopped and said, “wait, WHY is he so beloved? I should look into that.” And I think the Spin piece in 1985 called the Oils the Australian equivalent of Springsteen.

The Midnight Oil 1984 documentary was tremendously illuminating in terms of their politics/convictions. But that’s where the Springsteen comparison falls apart: Reagan mentioning Bruce in an ‘84 campaign speech was strange: a president is using a rock star to woo voters?! The idea of Springsteen running for office, as Garrett did, at any level would’ve been utterly bizarre and unthinkable.

yeah Springsteen comparison re Oils’ ubiquity in Australia is a really good example.

i think with Garret at some point we all just assumed he’d run for political office eventually, it was mors just a question of when lol

*more

if we can just play "ask vg how popular bands were in australia", how about Little River Band

VERY

i think with Garret at some point we all just assumed he’d run for political office eventually, it was mors just a question of when lol

*beep boop* he ran for office in 1984!

I suspect quite a few people are over Garrett now, post-actual-parliamentary career. But the description of '80s ubiquity seems very OTM.

Paul Kelly was perhaps wise to avoid public office. I've seen no evidence of anyone actively disliking him, ever. It feels like each Xmas every male in Aus confesses to getting misty-eyed over "How to Make Gravy", at the very least. LOL.

I know I had to actively seek out Go-Betweens stuff beyond "C&C"/"Spring Rain"/"Streets of Your Town" in the hiatus period. They were certainly indie-famous, but far as I can tell only "Streets" crossed over to commercial radio, when it was too late. They are possibly more appreciated now.

xp re Garrett running for office:

then he quit the party six months later because it had been infiltrated by socialists

then twenty years later he joined the center-center-left party on the invitation of a leader who is now a right-wing nutjob conspiracy broadcaster, got elected, and was forced by the party to publicly renounce his opposition to US spy bases and missile sites on Australian land, publicly declare that he would vote in favour of new nuclear facilities if ordered to (and later became the minister with responsibility for, and approved, the expansion of a uranium mine), campaign in another state by lying that the Greens were in allegiance with the right-wing government, and eventually got sacked and thrown under the bus when a bunch of tradies died installing roof insulation under a gov't scheme that was being rorted by private contractors.

Correction: Labor leader who was one handshake away from being prime minister is now NSW state leader of One Nation, sitting in the state's upper house.

As someone else who grew up in not-Melbourne Victoria, vg's recollections ring true.

less of a correction, more of an addition. it's been a whole 3 hours since he posted video of himself talking to Bolta on Sky News:

IDENTITY POLITICS USED BY ELITES TO KEEP THE REST OF US IN CHECK

The claims of victimisation by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex highlight the fraudulent nature of identity politics. By dividing us on race and gender, the “woke” elites divert attention away from their own privilege!

I missed that Latham was actually elected in that capacity! Ewwww NSW!

(xp) Fair enough. I thought that he's an interviewee rather than an interviewer on Sky these days (not watching video to confirm). The difference is negligible, admittedly.

I owned Scream in Blue at one time, and recall that it was a good 'un.

Don’t forget the role Daniel Johns from Silverchair played in Garrett’s downfall

VG: what is the biggest Aussie band in Australia?

AC/DC vs. INXS

oh also is Nick Cave extra big there or just regular high end of indie popularity like here?

also I forgot Divinyls were from Australia!

AC/DC vs. INXS

The Bee Gees formed in Australia, if you want a three-way battle.

Cold Chisel and Powderfinger are secretly the most popular Aus acts within Australia. (A lie, probably, but it would be amusing if the statistically correct answer was something that never really traveled well.)

Cave albums routinely go comfortably top #10 in Aus nowadays, so he's pretty popular. Close to a household name, I'd say. Though my mother, for instance, can only name the Kylie duet. (I inadvertently tested this recently!)

Mum only pays attention to Cave to tease me about how old he’s getting lol

Rural wise i think AC/DC is def more broadly popular, and across most ages over 40’s 50’s etc

INXS maybe more popular w under 40’s idk and prob women? but thats a big maaaaybe bc they kinda fucked themselves w all the stupid shit they did after Hutchence died lol

i dont farkin know tbh

Chisel and Powderfinger def feel like much bigger cultural presences

Don’t forget the role Daniel Johns from Silverchair played in Garrett’s downfall

idk if I knew it to forget. too late if so!

The difference is negligible, admittedly.

yeah this is the thing, whether he's streaming drunk on facebook live on a $100k parliamentary pension, paid less than that (+ parl pens) to host on Sky News, or paid less again (+pp) to guest, it's still his main activity, and legislating isn't.

plus he's how he made himself eligible to that voting bloc (2 out of 42 seats: he ran on stopping immigration, blocking renewable energy, requiring DNA tests for indigenous dole recipients, and banning the burqa; used his maiden speech to argue that ppl shouldn't be fired for telling gays that they are cursed to hell)

According to a Herald Sun article reposted to this forum thread, it's AC/DC over Bee Gees with INXS third, although international impact is considered. Every band mentioned in this revive is in the list.

(xp) Also happy to be reminded of Johns's role!

I grew up in 80s Sydney and all the bands mentioned in this thread were ubiquitous with the exception of the Go-Betweens, who were very niche indie back then and never had a hit, I don't think even Streets of Your Town charted.

it got a bit of TV play at the time, and became one of the two Go-Bes songs guest programmers would pick on rage through the '90s, but only charted in NZ.

(Cattle & Cane ranked at #11 and #27 on the first two Hot 100s, clung on desperately at #96 in the final year when Nirvana and nationalisation broke the poll.)

The Hottest 100 returns have been wretched for at least a quarter of a century

Final (?) album and final (?) tour coming up. The former (promo snips of which were pretty solid) reportedly recorded before the death of Bones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV-QrTrpNzg

Actually, I guess the new album is already out? Man, what a world we live in.

for those upthread curious about the Daniel Johns incident https://amp.smh.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/i-should-shut-up-and-stick-to-singing-20070709-gdqktg.html

Classic. Bought 10 to 1 when it came out, it didn't leave my turntable for months. Watched their evolution from there through the Diesel and Dust album and tour, when they were at their height as a live band. Still one of the most electrifying live acts I've ever seen, albeit much diminished the last time I saw them, circa Redneck Wonderland. The new album so far is . . . good. Doesn't look like I'll get a chance to see this final tour; the only possible date is at the Hollywood Palladium, but I have something else that I likely can't get out of.

I hadn't really paid attention to Garrett's political career, and now I wish I didn't know.

garrett's political career was a disaster really, he clearly sold out to no real benefit & then was thrown under the bus for something that wasn't really his fault

he could have very comfortably fit into the greens without having to compromise but back in 2004 when he was recruited to labor the greens were a much smaller political presence here

Yeah, that's my impression. Really ill-advised. He always struck me as being pretty smart, but it seems like he got completely turned around.

I gotta say, back in the day I really disliked Midnight Oil for their earnestness and bombast, but now, I really dislike Midnight Oil for their earnestness and bombast.

still really really like em. he dngaf if he bugged you afaict. until elected i guess.

It's possible he still views it as the right move. Parachuted into a safe ALP seat and a steady income. Not sure he'd have been pre-selected as effortlessly in the Greens let alone be elected into one of their very limited number of viable (presumably upper house) slots. He might have to have done more tedious unpaid stuff before his parliamentary career even began. Like everyone ever associated with the ALP he's likely convinced himself that "change from within" is/was an actual thing, and preferable to messing about with smaller parties who threaten to stand for something.

That's just fuckin' sad.

that uh, seems like imaginary things but i’m not aussie and have no heroes

It doesn't pay to have heroes, honestly.

To be fair, he had been a candidate for a tiny party decades earlier. I don't really blame him for trying something else tbh. The ALP are hardly the most monstrous option.

Yeah, the Nuclear Disarmament Party, right?

Like everyone ever associated with the ALP he's likely convinced himself that "change from within" is/was an actual thing

This is obviously the calculus he made; he found out that getting fucked by a thousand rats can also happen from within.

The ALP are hardly the most monstrous option.

At the time, this was certainly true. It would be far more of a betrayal if he’d lined up for a parachute after 2018.

He was my local member, and you certainly did see him around and about. Don't think you can fault him for trying, but obviously it didn't turn out well.

Hoping, without any enthusiasm, for a Labor win this time around. Labor is a hollowed out nothing these days, but anything to get rid of Scummo I guess

Ablo’s my local member, imagine how these four years have felt

I have postal ballots sitting here and have toyed with voting informal for the first time. I guess the fact we can now at least let our preferences exhaust before electing Labor in the senate is making the utter inevitability of my HoR ballot converting into a vote for my local Labor candidate seem increasingly absurd and unsupportable lol. It'd be an irrational move. But the idea of my ballot inexorably making its way onto the Labor pile so reliably for soooo many years is really bugging me lately.

Proportional representation in both houses NOW! etc, etc.

I will vote Green and, with zero enthusiasm, preference Labor. However vacuous their current policies are, I don't think I can physically stand another 3 years of the coalition.

^ Basically what I did in the HoR in the end. (No real sensible alternatives amongst the microparties standing in my electorate.)

Just posted it! Thanks Midnight Oil thread on the interwebs for reminding me to vote. :)

Perhaps unexpectedly, this thread has given me a chance to get at least passingly acquainted with the current state of Australian politics. It's both appalling and not surprising that the current state looks very much like that of U.S. politics.