Across a 45-year career ‘The Oils’ helped shape modern Australia with anthems like “US Forces”, “Beds Are Burning” and “Redneck Wonderland”. Featuring unseen footage and interviews with every band member, alongside signature moments including the outback tour with Warumpi Band, their Exxon protest gig in New York and those famous “Sorry” suits at the Sydney Olympics, Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line traces the journey of Australia’s quintessential rock band.
In 1984, Midnight Oil released their iconic record Red Sails in the Sunset. They embarked on a relentless tour around the nation performing raw and electrifying music that reignited the imagination of young Australians. That same year, their lead singer Peter Garrett committed to run for a Senate seat for the Nuclear Disarmament Party. With the mounting pressure of balancing the demands of music and politics this is the year that would make, but nearly break, Australia's most important rock and roll band. Thirty years in the making and featuring never seen before seen footage of the band on and off the stage, Midnight Oil: 1984 is the untold story of the year Australia’s most iconic rock band inspired the nation to believe in the power of music to change the world.
Rage celebrates turning 30 with this special look at its history and influence on Australian music and culture.
An observational documentary which looks at Sydney’s first community Aboriginal radio station, 88.9 Radio Redfern. Set against a backdrop of contemporary Aboriginal music, 88.9 Radio Redfern offers a special and rare exploration of the people, attitudes and philosophies behind the lead up to a different type of celebration of Australia’s Bicentennial Year. Throughout 1988, 88.9 Radio Redfern became an important focal point for communication and solidarity within the Aboriginal community. The film reveals how urban blacks are adapting social structures such as the mass media to serve their needs.
Every 'overnight sensation' in the music industry is preceded by a few years of fine-tuning the act. But 40,000 years? From the far north of Australia, YOTHU YINDI draws on the song cycle of its Arnhem Land ancestors to create a mesmeric mix of traditional Aboriginal music and rock 'n' roll. Into the Mainstream takes us on a journey across the vast continent of America with YOTHU YINDI, on the 'Diesel and Dust to Big Mountain' concert tour featuring MIDNIGHT OIL and American Indian band GRAFITTI MAN. The bands travel 16,000 km over 38 days and play to crowds of up to 10,000. On the way they meet American Indian communities to talk about land rights and cultural identity, culminating in the presentation of a gift from the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land to the Navajo elders in Big Mountain, Arizona. YOTHU YINDI proves to be a revelation on tour - Aboriginal traditional music and dance quickly become the latest American vogue in performing art.
On January 13th 1985, Midnight Oil performed the Oils on the Water concert on Goat Island, Sydney, to celebrate radio Triple-J's tenth birthday, before a select crowd of 400 (half competition winners and half staff, media and friends, though other fans swam across). The concert was simulcast live on ABC TV and Triple J radio, released on video, then later remastered as part of the 2004 Best of Both Worlds DVD set. Oils on the Water was a classic Midnight Oil performance and setting with the band in fine high-energy form, caught in the light of the setting sun, against the backdrop of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
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