The greatest hits cd by Midnight Oil is entitled (here in the US) "20000 Watts R.S.L."
Anyone know what “R.S.L” is referring to?? Something Australian? Something electrical? Something musical?
Returned Services League. I’m assuming from the description that it is an organization similar to the American VFW.
www.rsl.org.au
And a pun on RMS (root mean squared), the standard way of expressing power in electronics.
Well thats interesting, and shows my age :eek:
Apparently its the Returned AND Services League since 1990, when I was a kid it was the Returned Services League.
Anyway its a club for old soldiers and sailors and such (some not so old). There is branch in almost every town in Australia, and they are best known for beer drinking, bingo, poker machines and has-been pop star concerts.
It is a very right wing, nationalistic organisation, as would be expected. I think they do some charitable/welfare work with returned veterans and their families.
Quite what the title is supposed to mean I have never been sure, although no doubt the RSL is a reference to the Returned Services League, and a pun on RMS. Midnight Oil (particularly in their earlier years) were known for being damn loud. I once went to one of their concerts with a bad bad sinus headache. Stupid, stupid me. I was throwing up from the pain and had to leave partway through!
The RSL are (fairly or unfairly) generally associated with conservative hawkish attitudes.
Midnight Oil are known for the opposite. They are also generally no strangers to irony.
Any true Oilers out there who have heard the full story behind the title?
Everything I’ve ever heard pretty much backs up what’s already been said. That and the mental image of Midnight Oil on stage at the local RSL…well, it’s a picture, all right.
Ahh, I knew the Aussies would come thru!