Day After Day #156: Beds are Burning

 Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Beds are Burning (1987)

Sometimes political music can be a bit much if you're at a show just looking to have a good time. Nobody wants to be preached at or lectured for two hours by a rock band. But somehow Midnight Oil was able to make it work. Of course, it helps if you've got a killer live band.

Formed in 1972 in Sydney, Australia, the band was originally known as Farm before changing their name to Midnight Oil in 1976. Led by imposing frontman Peter Garrett, the band released its first album in 1978 but didn't start gaining international attention until its fourth album in 1982. By this time, Midnight Oil was fairly huge in Australia with their albums routinely going to #1 on the charts but they were barely making a dent elsewhere.

But in 1987, that all changed with the release of the band's sixth album Diesel and Dust (it was released in the U.S. in '88). Always concerned with political causes, the Oils made the album about the struggles of indigenous Australians and environmental causes, inspired by a tour through the Outback in 1986. 

Songwriters Garrett, Jim Moginie and Rob Hirst called attention to examples of people being forced from their land, and Garrett spits out the lyrics angrily.

"Out where the river broke/The bloodwood and the desert oak/Holden wrecks and boilin' diesels/Steam in 45 degrees/The time has come to say fair's fare/To pay the rent, to pay our share/The time has come, a fact's a fact/It belongs to them, let's give it back."

The song got a huge boost in the U.S. by its video, which got plenty of play on MTV, which then led to radio stations picking it up. The band is shown traveling through the Outback and playing the song in various locations. It also showcases Garrett's lanky dancing style.

"How can we dance when our earth is turnin'?/How do we sleep while our beds are burnin'?/How can we dance when our earth is turnin'?/How do we sleep while our beds are burnin'?"

The song was a huge hit for the band, going to #1 in New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, #3 in the Netherlands, #5 in France, #6 in the U.K., Australia and Ireland and #17 in the U.S. and Sweden. "The Dead Heart" was also a hit for the band, covering similar ground. Diesel and Dust ended up hitting #21 on the Billboard 200 and going platinum in the U.S. 

Midnight Oil had successful follow-up albums in 1990 and 1993; I saw them in '93 at Great Woods in Mansfield, Mass. with Ziggy Marley and the Hothouse Flowers. Their live reputation is well-earned; the band absolutely destroys in concert. They released three more albums before Garrett announced he was quitting the band in 2002 to run for political office in Australia; the other members of the band continued to work together under a different name. 

The band reunited in 2009 for a benefit show and then in 2016 for a world tour (I saw the Boston date). They toured again in 2019 and released a mini-album in 2020, followed by a full-length album in 2022. They toured Australia that year and said that would be their final tour, but that they would continue to make music together.