Top 10 Midnight Oil Songs, and/or your Oils Compilation CD

General Gibberish Forums The Pool Room
1

Well McQuade, you asked for it, you got it.

Had some amazing times watching them live, none better than on a humid, sweaty night at the Sydney Myer Music Bowl in the Summer of 90/91.
Amazing show !
Surely the best LIVE band this country has ever produced (yes, including AC/DC).

My 5…

Progress

Sell My Soul (live version)

Dreamworld

Short Memory

Wedding Cake Island

UPDATE

Due to popular demand, it is now a Top 10.

For those Oils fans wanting a greater challenge, and there appear to be a number of you on Blitz, make your own Compilation CD by choosing just 1 song from each of the band’s 13 studio albums/EP’s.
Only 2 rules…

  1. Choose only 1 song per album
  2. If there is an album that you simply don’t like, or are not familiar with, then you can skip 1.
    for example, I won’t be selecting a song from their self titled album, as none of the songs appeal to me, despite me owning the album.

Therefore, your CD will comprise 12 or 13 songs, and will be theoretically played in chronological order, which may influence your selection decisions !

Please select 1 from each album…

MIDNIGHT OIL (1978)

  1. Powderworks
  2. Head Over Heels
  3. Dust
  4. Used and Abused
  5. Surfing With A Spoon
  6. Run By Night
  7. Nothing Lost – Nothing Gained

HEAD INJURIES (1979)

  1. Cold Cold Change
  2. Section 5 (Bus To Bondi)
  3. Naked Flame
  4. Back on the Borderline
  5. Koala Sprint
  6. No Reaction
  7. Stand In Line
  8. Profiteers
  9. Is It Now?

BIRD NOISES (1980)

  1. No Time for Games
  2. Knife’s Edge
  3. Wedding Cake Island
  4. I’m the Cure

PLACE WITHOUT A POSTCARD (1981)

  1. Don’t Wanna Be The One
  2. Brave Faces
  3. Armistice Day
  4. Someone Else To Blame
  5. Basement Flat
  6. Written In The Heart
  7. Burnie
  8. Quinella Holiday
  9. Loves On Sale
  10. If Ned Kelly Was King
  11. Lucky Country

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 (1982)

  1. Outside World
  2. Only The Strong
  3. Short Memory
  4. Read About It
  5. Scream In Blue
  6. US Forces
  7. Power & The Passion
  8. Maralinga
  9. Tin-Legs &Tin Mines
  10. Somebody’s Trying To Tell Me Something

RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET (1984)

  1. When The Generals Talk
  2. Best of Both Worlds
  3. Sleep
  4. Minutes To Midnight
  5. Jimmy Sharman’s Boxers
  6. Bakerman
  7. Who Can Stand In The Way
  8. Kosciusko
  9. Helps Me Helps You
  10. Harrisburg
  11. Bells And Horns in the Back of Beyond
  12. Shipyards of New Zealand

SPECIES DECEASES (1985)

  1. Progress
  2. Hercules
  3. Blossom and Blood
  4. Pictures

DIESEL AND DUST (1987)

  1. Beds Are Burning
  2. Put Down That Weapon
  3. Dreamworld
  4. Arctic World
  5. Warakurna
  6. The Dead Heart
  7. Whoa
  8. Bullroarer
  9. Sell My Soul
  10. Sometimes
  11. Gunbarrel Highway

BLUE SKY MINING (1990)

  1. Blue Sky Mine
  2. Stars of Warburton
  3. Bedlam Bridge
  4. Forgotten Years
  5. Mountains of Burma
  6. King of the Mountain
  7. River Runs Red
  8. Shakers and Movers
  9. One Country
  10. Antarctica

EARTH AND SUN AND MOON (1993)

  1. Feeding Frenzy
  2. My Country
  3. Renaissance Man
  4. Earth and Sun and Moon
  5. Truganini
  6. Bushfire
  7. Drums of Heaven
  8. Outbreak of Love
  9. In the Valley
  10. Tell Me the Truth
  11. Now or Never Land

BREATHE (1996)

  1. Underwater
  2. Surf’s Up Tonight
  3. Common Ground
  4. Time To Heal
  5. Sins of Omission
  6. One Too Many Times
  7. Star Of Hope
  8. In The Rain
  9. Bring On The Change
  10. Home
  11. E-Beat
  12. Barest Degree

REDNECK WONDERLAND (1998)

  1. Redneck Wonderland
  2. Concrete
  3. Cemetery In My Mind
  4. Comfortable Place On The Couch
  5. Safety Chain Blues
  6. Return To Sender
  7. Blot
  8. The Great Gibber Plain
  9. Seeing Is Believing
  10. White Skin Black Heart
  11. What Goes On
  12. Drop In The Ocean

CAPRICORNIA (2002)

  1. Golden Age
  2. Too Much Sunshine
  3. Capricornia
  4. Luritja Way
  5. Tone Poem
  6. A Crocodile Cries
  7. Mosquito March
  8. Been Away Too Long
  9. Under The Overpass
  10. World That I See
  11. Poets and Slaves
2

Very hard, I can’t do it, lots of stuff before Diesel and Dust, five is too few.

3

Hercules
Kosiosco
Redneck wonderland
My country
King of the mountain

EDIT: and pretty much all of scream in blue if I’m allowed to do that.

4

Cheers bltn…totally agree, best back catalogue of any Australian band full stop, their music is Timeless.

Would of loved to see them do a closed Acoustic set, did it ever happen ?

1.Written In The Heart
2.Hercules
3.Short Memory
4.Back On The Borderline
5.If Ned Kelly was King

5

Hercules (great fun to cover live)
Power and the Passion (my Japanese 7" and US 12" are two of my most treasured records)
The Dead Heart
Best Of Both Worlds
Short Memory

6
Very hard, I can't do it, lots of stuff before Diesel and Dust, five is too few.
I hear ya buddy.

I like Back on the Borderline and Stand in Line from ‘Head Injuries’, right up to Golden Age and Luritja Way from ‘Capricornia’, and so much in between !

I could have made it a Top 10, but I still would have agonised over the final 10.

7

Yep, can’t do it … how about a top 5 albums instead?, Although I’m sure we’ve done one of these Oils threads before a while back …

Place W/out a Postcard

Red Sails

Head Injuries

10 to 1

Midnight Oil

8

Would of loved to see them do a closed Acoustic set,

Great version of Truganini {4.25} on the MTV Unplugged…

9

FIVE?!?

Fark you and fark Carlton.

10

If you believe my iTunes script that gives points based on rating and plays per time:

Blossom & Blood
Short Memory
Progress
Under the Overpass
Hercules

Yeah nah. B&B might be top 25.

However, ‘Species Deceases’ was the official album of the 1990s Doctor Who Club of Victoria committee. After a couple softcock albums, it would also be fair to say we went nuts over the aggressive opening to ‘Redneck Wonderland’.

11

Best Of Both Worlds
One Country

Everything else. Throw a brick at 10-1 and you’ll hit three songs I could put in there.
I Don’t Wanna Be The One, Hercules, Jimmy Sharman’s Boxers, Back On The Borderline, Redneck Wonderland…

12
If you believe my iTunes script that gives points based on rating and plays per time:

Blossom & Blood
Short Memory
Progress
Under the Overpass
Hercules

Yeah nah. B&B might be top 25.

However, ‘Species Deceases’ was the official album of the 1990s Doctor Who Club of Victoria committee. After a couple softcock albums, it would be fair to say we went nuts over the aggressive opening to Redneck Wonderland.

That is close to the geekiest sentence I’ve ever heard.

13
FIVE?!?

Fark you and fark Carlton.

Lol. Yesterday, I found myself dealing with an at the door electricity sales dude on my doorstep, a real pushy b@stard. I’m standing there shivering & sniffing & telling him not now mate, but he wanted to keep telling me why I needed to hear him out.

I got riled & found myself about to drop the F Bomb, & as I do, I spy, the mum across the road coming back with her brood after school pick up, so …
“Fu aaaaaaaaaaar Karlton!” … came out, … then I just laughed til I coughed up a lung, … he got the message.

It has officially replaced Fu aaar Out & Fu aaar Canal, as the go to for a near f bomb misstep.

14

Trugannini
The Dead Heart
Us Forces
Kosciusko
Hercules

15

No. 1 for me. Wedding Cake Island

16

Brilliant, brilliant thread, but I’d struggle to keep it to 5 - just impossible.

The thing about oils live was they were the best by far live gig going round- their albums could never capture that. The fact that their 15+ songs were always played with people of all ages knowing all the words of each song even though they were 5, 10, 15 years old… The chant of oooiiiillllllsss as you knew they respond and come back of that extra one or two sets.

I’ll come back and revisit the top 5 live but Dead heart Was always really special

17

By the way, we need more oils lines quoted in blitz discussions! So many songs, so many lyrics - that would be so suitable at the right times :slight_smile:

18
Brilliant, brilliant thread, but I'd struggle to keep it to 5 - just impossible.

The thing about oils live was they were the best by far live gig going round- their albums could never capture that. The fact that their 15+ songs were always played with people of all ages knowing all the words of each song even though they were 5, 10, 15 years old… The chant of oooiiiillllllsss as you knew they respond and come back of that extra one or two sets.

I’ll come back and revisit the top 5 live but Dead heart Was always really special

Wholeheartedly agree with the bolded bit.
I highly recommend this CD if you are craving that powerful, raw sound of live Oils.

Pretty reasonably priced at JB, and they often have their 20% off CD’s.

When I get home this evening, I’ll change up the OP, as it’s clear that a Top 5 doesn’t work for most people :smile:

19

US Forces
Blue Sky Mining
King of the Mountain
Don’t Wanna Be The One
Power and the Passion

20

Probably the most consistent Aussie band ever in terms of sustained output over an extended period of time and as previously mentioned, brilliant on stage.

All my choices (except One Country) are from their earlier days when they were just so raw and powerful.

it’s threads like this that make me appreciate how old I am as I got to see one of the best live bands ever at their peak.

One Country (saw them do this live and it was farking awesome and so I have loved it ever since)
No Time For Games
Back On The Borderline
Short Memory
Armistice Day