The peak of their power was the Head Injuries album, just the right balance of strong political lyrics without beating you over the head like some of their later material. But the music was the thing, really original and tough as nails. Is It Now, the closing track (pretty much forgotten fare for the band) is one of my all time favorite pieces of music, it builds to the most amazing climax, gives me goosebumps every time!

After Head Injuries, in spite of occasional glimpses of brilliance it was all downhill sadly. Still I’m glad they made a success of it in the business, they deserved it. Shame about Garrett’s limp political career, he’d have done better as an outside agitator imho.

http://timedoor.textdriven.com/index.php?id=436

and sure the politics were regional, and i’m not austalian, but for me part of the fun of midnight oil was learning who jimmy sharman or ned kelly were or what kosciuszko was. new things and all that.

He was made the Environment minister but they started gagging him before the election when they found out that letting him speak his mind meant a lot of damage control for the party as they only really wanted him for the votes not the radical suggestions for protecting the environment.

Since the Australian Labour party won the election they’ve also gone to the trouble of neutering him by giving the issues of Water and Climate Change its own portfolio and then gave that to another minister. He is now rarely allowed to talk to the media, and is forced to regurgitate party policies dictated to him which we all know are counter to his beliefs.

I think Midnight Oil’s music is absolute crap, I can’t stand it, but I respect and admire what they stood for and how they brought issues to light. We need more people like that.

The Australian Labour Party has screwed him over and they’ve cheated us out of voice that needs to be heard.

R.I.P. The Peter Garrett of Old

Note: I refuse to be so petty as to comment on his resemblence to Lurch from the Adams Family or say that dancing as badly as he does would warrant institutionalization in some countries.

Now I have a CD player, but hardly any CDs. It’s all been ripped to AAC.

Anyway, The Tragically Hip used to do a show called Another Roadside Attraction. For a few years, it was a pretty significant thing in Canada and it got pretty spendy.

The first year it was kind of small, unexpected and new. In Toronto, the festival was held in Markham, Ontario (it later moved to Molson Park in Barrie, a tragic venue if I’ve ever seen one.)

That first great year $30 got you BOTH days of the show. Each night was headlined by the Hip, but the “second” headliners were Midnight Oil, Hothouse Flowers, and Daniel Lanois.

Midnight Oil rocked that thing pretty hard, stealing the show. My memory says The Hip were at least as awesome, but they had the benefit of a couple more beers and a Fifty Mission Cap.

Midnight Oil played a concert on Meers Island in Clayoquot Sound to protest the logging of British Columbia’s old growth forest. They’re still logging it, but less than they used to. That monstrously tall bald sasquatch Garrett deserves a tonne of credit.

Todd
The Ripple Effect
http://www.ripplemusic.blogspot.com

There is a part of the story which you haven’t come across, however. The Oils’ frontman, Peter Garrett, was not only singing about politics – he was living it. During the 1980s, he was for many years the president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, and had an active role (along with current Greens leader, Senator Bob Brown) in achieving heritage listing and protection for the Franklin River in Tasmania. He went on to be extremely critical of the Hawke Labor Government, however in 2004 he himself joined the Labor Party and won the seat of Kingsford-Smith. And last year, the Labor Party won Government for the first time in 11 years.

As a result, Garrett is the current Minister (that’s the equivalent of a Secretary in American politics) for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. He is now part of the establishment. Some consider this selling out – others figure it’s where he should have been all along.

Pope JTE
The Ripple Effect
http://www.ripplemusic.blogspot.com