Midnight Oil’s 10-1: Greatest album of all time
Midnight Oil’s incendiary 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 is the greatest Australian album of all time, according to a poll conducted by The Age’s weekly entertainment section, EG.
The album pipped offerings by some of Australia’s favourite acts, including AC/DC, INXS, Skyhooks, Paul Kelly, the Hoodoo Gurus and Crowded House, according the a panel of 60 experts comprising musicians, critics and broadcasters.
Midnight Oil, led by the country’s current arts and environment minister Peter Garrett, polled the most amount of votes (150), ahead of AC/DC (149).
Comprised of catchy, edgy political anthems US Forces, Power and the Passion, Short Memory, Outside World, Read About it, the album struck a nerve with Australian audiences when it was released in 1982. It reached no.3 on the charts and stayed there for more than 3 years, selling more than a quarter of a million copies.
“With the spectre of the Cold War hanging over us, it was full of brooding and minor cords, but it worked because we played so hard and we didn’t let it ever get preachy,” said Midnight Oil’s Rob Hirst, who described the album as career defining and the band’s creative peak. “We were hugely in debt at the time. If we didn’t have the success and support with it, I don’t know if we would have managed to go on.”
EG’s Patrick Donovan said the poll, conducted to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Australian rock on July 5, confirmed the nation’s love for “the Oils”, and kick-arse bands in general.
“There is no more uniquely Australian band than Midnight Oil. From Garrett’s impassioned lyrics and manic, jerky dancing to the band’s driving rhythm, they couldn’t have come from any other country. And this album was so fiercely passionate, with important messages hidden in sing-along pop anthems. With the catchcry `Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees’, it galvanised politically minded headbangers around the country. It hasn’t dated one bit.”
Only four singer songwriters made the list - Paul Kelly, Richard Clapton, Archie Roach and Stephen Cummings - which confirms our love affair with the great Aussie rock band.
AC/DC received the most nominations (four), while Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, the Saints, You Am I, Crowded House, Paul Kelly, The Go-Betweens the Easybeats received two each.
The list also confirmed that the 70’s and 80s remain the halcyon days of Australian music.
No albums from the 1950s and three albums from the 1960s made the list. Four albums from this decade - the Avalanches, Jet, Silverchair and the Drones - made the list.
For comments from the panelists, read EG in the Age tomorrow. For a full list of the panelists top 10s, and an audio-visual history of Australian music, see www.theage.com.au
