# Hot damn, Midnight Oil was a fine band! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2001, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126 "2001-01-09T06:17:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/1 "2001-01-09T06:17:51Z")
Yeah, I know they’re still around. But I’m talking about their 80s-early 90s stuff. Back in the day, I was considered very uncool by my punk rock brethren for listening to music like theirs and U2’s (not to mention Prince). I have always felt a pang of shame for enjoying them, but I just downloaded a bunch of their songs from Napster (oops, I mean “bought their CDs” - sorry, mods!), and I swear, that stuff makes me happy. I really did (and do) love all that great underground rock/hardcore from the era, too, but I’ve always been more open to mainstream stuff than some of my more purist friends. I mean, come on, is Fugazi _really_ that much better than, say, Beck? But what do I know? I think that new U2 song (“Beautiful Day”) is pretty nice, too. Maybe I’m mellowing in my old age. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/2 "2001-01-09T06:22:44Z")
Well, since Fugazi was on VH1 a couple weeks ago, I’d say they’re pretty mainstream. 😉 Gotta agree with you. Midnight Oil rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/3 "2001-01-09T06:26:54Z")
I just KNEW you were an old punker! Were you ever into Agent Orange? I saw them down in San Diego when I was 19, one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. I was definitely into the more mainstream stuff (I do have a Midnight Oil CD), but I was always a fan of what my friends dubbed “weird shit”. My sentimental favorites are KFMDM and Nitzer Ebb (sp?). ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/4 "2001-01-09T06:28:22Z")
I only know one song of theirs (“Beds Are Burning”), but I’m inclined to agree. Plus, a bald frontman in an 80s rock band is a rare and precious thing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/5 "2001-01-09T06:30:24Z")
Hey Sue! Actually, I played in a (horrible) punk/pop band for a few years, and we did a cover of “Bloodstains”. Yeah, Agent Orange was definitely cool. I never would have figured you for an ex-punker, though. I like you more every time you post. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/6 "2001-01-09T06:33:26Z")
Ohmygod, Sue! I have to second woodstockbirdybirdybirdybird again! Heehee I forgot about Nitzer Ebb till a couple weeks ago when I found my “Ebbhead” casette when packing to move to SF. I knew you were cool. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![absoul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@absoul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/absoul)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/7 "2001-01-09T06:35:54Z")
I never thought to hard on dying before, and now I feel like I’m, like I’m, like I’m… comin around. Give me the shot. Give me the pill. I admit… I teased a friend for liking Midnight Oil. I did end up enjoying a couple of their songs though. ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/8 "2001-01-09T06:39:51Z")
I wasn’t a punker, but I liked most of the music. I was more of a Goth, but I was into the Goth scene when it was more Glam Goth, if that makes sense. More Siouxsie and The Banshees than Marilyn Manson. The concert was really bizarre because Agent Orange was the warm up act too. These guys come out (no announcement) and do all Agent Orange songs, instrumentally, then leave. We’re standing around all, “Is that it?” Fifteen minutes later, they come back out in different clothes, DEFINITELY less sedate, and do the real set. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/9 "2001-01-09T06:47:13Z")
Rasa, you keep backing me up all you want. With you on my side I feel like I’m racking up cool points. 😃 Sue, when I was in school, all the goth kids and the punks hung out together. We had the “freak” table in the cafeteria, with our mohawks and Robert Smith hair. So you’re definitely cool in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/10 "2001-01-09T06:48:04Z")
Oh **Rasa** , I _USED_ to be cool. Now I’m a 30 yo mother of a toddler and married to a vice-president of a publicly traded company. I took my belly ring out, threw away my Docs and am having my tattoo removed. :weary smile: Growing old sucks. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@King\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/11 "2001-01-09T06:49:07Z")
“Truganini” is one of my all-time favorite sings and makes me nostalgic for the early-mid 1990’s. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/12 "2001-01-09T06:50:30Z")
Hey. If woodstock and I say you’re still cool, Sue, you’re still cool. So nya! Let’s all go sit at our own freak/geek/goth table! ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/13 "2001-01-09T07:12:46Z")
It makes me happy to recognized and accepted as a cool chick, retired. Thanks you two. :sniff sniff: ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/14 "2001-01-09T07:30:38Z")
Well, Sue, I’m 30 too and have _two_ kids, and I’m still waiting for a proposal from a vice-president of a publicly traded company. Always a bridesmaid…Anyway, consider yourself lucky. This bohemian lifestyle, it’s a dead end. It _is_ fun, though, I gotta admit. And you’re still cool. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/15 "2001-01-09T12:46:17Z")
I always admired the lead singer for Midnight Oil, Peter Garrett 'cause he was and still is a lawyer. I saw an interview with him once and they were discussing him being the band’s business manager. I’m pretty sure he negotiated all their contracts and business deals. He said that people didn’t quite know how to deal with him because of his appearance, but added that all the band members were “doing quite well” and had managed to keep and invest more of the money they made than the average band does. \>pushes submit reply button as the music fades Hey hey there’ll be food on the table tonight…in the end the rain comes down and washes clean the streets of the blue sky town… ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/16 "2001-01-09T12:49:13Z")
How can you tell a "true"unk group? I’m into The Offspring-do they count? ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/17 "2001-01-09T12:51:39Z")
Oops. That should read “a ‘true’ punk group”. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/18 "2001-01-09T22:48:08Z")
I never thought of U2 as punk-more as a political rock band that kicked ass. They were voted best band by my senior class…you got made fun of for listening to U2? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/19 "2001-01-10T01:09:28Z")
No, **Guin** , that’s just it - my friends made fun of me because U2 _weren’t_ a punk band. The last thing you wanted to admit to was liking something that was actually _popular_. \*\* > [@](#): > > _originally posted by Lizard_ > How can you tell a "true"unk group? I’m into The Offspring-do they count?\*\* I’m not sure how it works these days, Liz. Back when I was growing up, there wasn’t a chance in hell that you’d hear any punk music on the radio or MTV. Now it’s mainstream. I’m sure there are all kinds of purists who’d say that anything that makes it onto Top 40 radio is crap, but as far as I’m concerned, if it’s not Celine Dion or Kenny G it’s at least acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-damn-midnight-oil-was-a-fine-band/49126/20 "2001-01-10T01:27:41Z")
I’ve ALWAYS preferred the harder edge of the Backstreet Boys as opposed to those wussies in 'NSync. Who’s with me?