Editing Midnight Oil (section)

== Overview ==
While studying at [[Australian National University]] in Canberra, vocalist [[Peter Garrett]]<ref name="McF">{{Cite book | title= [[Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop]] | last= McFarlane | first= Ian | author-link= Ian McFarlane | publisher= [[Allen & Unwin]] | year= 1999 | chapter= Encyclopedia entry for 'Midnight Oil' | chapter-url= http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=487 |isbn= 1-86448-768-2 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20040813100940/http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=487| access-date= 20 October 2008 | archive-date= 13 August 2004}}</ref> answered an advertisement for a spot in Farm,<ref name="RS3">{{Cite book | title= Rolling Stone Encyclopedia | chapter= Midnight Oil | pages= [https://archive.org/details/rollingstoneency00holl/page/648 648–649] | year= 2000 | edition= 3rd | isbn= 0-7432-0120-5 | chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/rollingstoneency00holl/page/648 | author= Rolling Stone | publisher= Touchstone }}</ref><ref name="Howl">{{cite web | archive-url= https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20120726191200/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/14231/20120727-0512/www.howlspace.com.au/en/midnightoil/midnightoil.htm | url= http://www.howlspace.com.au/en/midnightoil/midnightoil.htm | title= Midnight Oil | publisher= Howlspace | editor= [[Ed Nimmervoll]] | archive-date= 26 July 2012 | access-date= 22 January 2014 }}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> and by 1975 the band had started touring the east coast of Australia.<ref name="McF" /> By late 1976 Garrett had moved to Sydney to complete his law degree,<ref name="McF" /><ref name="Howl" /> and Farm changed its name to ''Midnight Oil'' by drawing the name out of a hat.<ref name="Jeff">{{Cite book | title= Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia | last1= Jenkins | first1= Jeff | last2= Meldrum | first2= Ian | year= 2007 | publisher= Wilkinson Publishing | location= Melbourne | pages= 21, 82, 237–241 | isbn= 978-1-921332-11-1}}</ref> The name was coined by Peter Watson, a short-term keyboard player with Farm.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zuel |first=Bernard |date=1 November 2012 |title=Midnight memories |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/midnight-memories-20121101-28lod.html |access-date=10 December 2023 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref>

Important to their development was manager Gary Morris, who successfully negotiated favourable contracts with tour promoters and record companies and frustrated rock journalists.<ref name="McF" /><ref name="Howl" />{{request quotation|date= October 2017}} Guitarist [[Martin Rotsey]] joined in 1977<ref name="ARDb">{{cite web | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120927020538/http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/m/midnightoil.html | url= http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/m/midnightoil.html | title= Midnight Oil | last1= Holmgren | first1= Magnus | last2= Stenerlöv | first2= Carl-Johan | publisher= [[Australian Rock Database]]. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren) | archive-date= 27 September 2012 | url-status= usurped | access-date= 12 February 2014 }}</ref> and Midnight Oil, with Morris, established their own record label, Powderworks,<ref name="ARDb" /> which released their debut [[Midnight Oil (Midnight Oil album)|eponymous album]] in November 1978. Their first single "Run by Night" followed in December.<ref name="McF" /><ref name="Howl" /> Founding bass-guitarist James, forced to leave due to illness in 1980, was replaced by [[Peter Gifford]]. Gifford was himself replaced by [[Bones Hillman]] in 1987.<ref name="McF" /><ref name="ARDb" /><ref name="Howl" /> Through a long and distinguished career, the band became known for its driving hard-rock sound, intense live performances and political activism, particularly in aid of [[anti-nuclear]], environmentalist and [[Indigenous Australians|indigenous]] causes.<ref name="RSBio">{{cite magazine| url= https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/midnightoil/biography | title= Midnight Oil Biography | magazine= [[Rolling Stone]] | last= Fricke | first= David | year= 2004 | access-date= 21 October 2008 | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071103105246/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/midnightoil/biography |archive-date= 3 November 2007 }}</ref>

The following Midnight Oil albums peaked in the Australian Top Ten:<ref name="Kent">{{Cite book | title= [[Kent Music Report|Australian Chart Book 1970–1992]] | author-link= David Kent (historian) | last= Kent | first= David | publisher= Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. | year= 1993 | isbn= 0-646-11917-6 }}</ref><ref name="AusCharts">{{cite web |url= http://australian-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Midnight+Oil | title= Midnight Oil discography | publisher= Australian Charts Portal | access-date= 20 October 2008 }}</ref>

* ''[[10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1]]''
* ''[[Red Sails in the Sunset (album)|Red Sails in the Sunset]]''
* ''[[Species Deceases]]''
* ''[[Diesel and Dust]]''
* ''[[Blue Sky Mining]]''
* ''[[Scream in Blue]] (Live)''
* ''[[Earth and Sun and Moon]]''
* ''[[Breathe (Midnight Oil)|Breathe]]''
* ''[[20,000 Watt R.S.L.]]''
* ''[[Redneck Wonderland]]''
* ''[[The Real Thing (Midnight Oil album)|The Real Thing]]''
* ''[[Capricornia (album)|Capricornia]]''
* ''[[Flat Chat]]''
* ''[[The Makarrata Project]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/oct/30/midnight-oil-the-makarrata-project-review-a-chorus-of-anger-over-stolen-land|title=Midnight Oil: The Makarrata Project review – a chorus of anger over stolen land|first=Bernard|last=Zuel|date=29 October 2020|access-date=13 January 2021|website=Theguardian.com}}</ref><ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/09/bones-hillmans-bass-was-exemplary-but-his-vocals-were-intrinsic-to-midnight-oils-sound|title=Bones Hillman's bass was exemplary but his vocals were intrinsic to Midnight Oil's sound|date=9 November 2020|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=13 January 2021}}</ref>
* ''[[Resist (Midnight Oil album)|Resist]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aria.com.au/charts/albums-chart/2022-02-28|title=ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart}}</ref>

The following Midnight Oil releases peaked in the Top Ten of the Australian singles chart:<ref name="Kent" /><ref name="AusCharts" />

* "[[Power and the Passion (song)|Power and the Passion]]"
* ''[[Species Deceases|Species Deceases EP]]'' ("Progress"/"Hercules"/"Blossom and Blood"/"Pictures")
* "[[The Dead Heart]]"
* "[[Beds Are Burning]]"
* "[[Blue Sky Mine]]"

Aside from chart success, the [[Australasian Performing Right Association]] (APRA) in 2001 listed both "Power and the Passion" and "Beds Are Burning" in the [[APRA Top 30 Australian songs|Top 30 best Australian songs]] of all time,<ref name=apra01>{{cite web
 | url= http://www.debbiekruger.com/pdfs/aprathirty.pdf | last= Kruger | first= Debbie | author-link= Debbie Kruger
 | title= The songs that resonate through the years
 | publisher= [[Australasian Performing Right Association]] (APRA) | date= 2 May 2001
| access-date= 20 October 2008 | url-status= dead
 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110709004348/http://www.debbiekruger.com/pdfs/aprathirty.pdf
 | archive-date= 9 July 2011 }}</ref>
a chart in which Midnight Oil are the only artists to feature twice. In December 2002 Garrett announced that he would seek to further his political career and Midnight Oil disbanded, but they reformed for two warm-up shows in Canberra leading up to their performance, at one of the "[[Sound Relief]]" charity concerts, in honour of the victims of the 2009 [[Black Saturday bushfires|"Black Saturday"]] fires in Victoria and floods in Queensland.

In 2010 their album ''[[Diesel and Dust]]'' ranked no. 1 in the book ''[[The 100 Best Australian Albums]]'' by [[Toby Creswell]], [[Craig Mathieson]] and [[John O'Donnell (music journalist)|John O'Donnell]].<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/musicnews/s3050375.htm
 |title       = The 100 Best Australian Albums &#124; Triple J
 |publisher   = Australian Broadcasting Corporation
 |date        = 28 October 2010
|access-date  = 9 July 2011
|url-status     = bot: unknown
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20101029201210/http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/musicnews/s3050375.htm
 |archive-date = 29 October 2010
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>