Posts Tagged ‘Midnight Oil’

Popdose Flashback ‘90: Midnight Oil, “Blue Sky Mining”

Released on February 25th, 1990, Midnight Oil’s Blue Sky Mining had a lot to accomplish and just as many parties to offend. Their previous album, Diesel and Dust (1988), was a major hit, pushing the group into the American spotlight for the first time, and many thought it was their first release. (Actually, it was their sixth; their debut arrived in 1978.)

Because the band was in the strange position of suddenly being new to a massive alternate audience, it’s no surprise that Blue Sky Mining sounds so close to its predecessor, and all indications seem to point to that being intentional. Prior to their American discovery, the band was a highly political, charged-up surf/punk/pop collective with a wide streak of experimentation hidden deep down (check out 1984’s Red Sails in the Sunset for an example). By contrast, Mining sounded almost tame, excepting the ferocious, dire “Mountains Of Burma.” The band — fiercely Australian, which had always been a vocal point of pride with frontman Peter Garrett — didn’t sound as they had on previous recordings, which might have alienated some longtime fans. The insinuation that they were smoothing out to court their new audience couldn’t have gone over too well, either. (more…)

The Friday Mixtape: 9/18/09

Remember that mixtape from last week? One hundred Beatles covers? That thing was EPIC! It was freaking magnificent!

Yup… That was… really something.

Well, then.

Midnight Oil – Under The Overpass from Capricornia (2002)

fun. – Benson Hedges from Aim and Ignite (2009)

The 77s – The Treasure In You from More Miserable Than You’ll Ever Be (1990)

Roland Orzabal – Dandelion from Tomcats Screaming Outside (2001)

Porcupine Tree – Black Dahlia from The Incident (2009)

Velvet Crush – Hold Me Up from Teenage Symphonies to God (1994)

Elton John – Something About The Way You Look Tonight from The Big Picture (1997)

Gin Blossoms – Till I Hear It From You from Outside Looking In: The Best Of Gin Blossoms (1999)

Yngwie Malmsteen – I’m My Own Enemy from Fire & Ice (1992)

Toto – Drag Him To The Roof from Tambu (1996)

The Smithereens – Behind The Wall Of Sleep from Especially for You (1986)

Elvis Costello And The Imposters – American Gangster Time from Momofuku (2008)

The Balls Of France – Message From The Country from Lynne Me Your Ears: A Tribute to the Music of Jeff Lynne (2001)

The Simpsons – What Do I Think Of The Pie? from The Simpsons: Testify (2007)

Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 59

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I’m going to issue you a promise — I promise to never Rickroll you again (in this series). I mean, there’s no way I could top last week’s shenanigans anyway.

As a reminder to those who are just tuning in, I only leave each week’s songs up until the next week’s entry is posted. After that you’re out of luck. But as a special treat, I’m going to leave “American Memories” posted for a second week. For those who still haven’t located it, go to the very bottom of last week’s post and look for “an extra song.” Sorry, I don’t take requests, so you’ve got one more week to pick it up.

As far as this week goes, M’s been such a mixed bag so far — we’ve seen some really good artists and heard a lot of rare songs, but this week we visit one of my least favorite artists of the decade. Way to kill my momentum, M!

There’s a whopping 23 songs in this post. Enjoy all but the last six as we continue looking at the ass end of the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the ’80s.

Menudo
“Hold Me” — 1985, #62 (download)

menudoPuberty is bad. Very bad. If you didn’t know that then you haven’t been following Menudo at all. Menudo is a rotating cast of children that got fired when they reached puberty to keep the group young looking. It must have been great for the gaggle of kids that were in this band at one point or another to sing for a while and then have your dreams shattered when you got a little hair on the family jewels. They’ve had like 40 records or so – which I guess isn’t so hard when you’re simply a corporation. “Hold Me” was their only US hit and one of the voices on here is courtesy of the most famous of all members of Menudo, Mr. Ricky Martin.

Men Without Hats
“I Like” — 1983, #84 (download)

I like bacon, long secluded periods of time with only Ambrosia records to listen to and your cute sister. Oh, and I like this song, the follow-up to “The Safety Dance.”

Freddie Mercury
“Love Kills” — 1984, #69 (download)
“I Was Born to Love You” — 1985, #76 (download)

I’m kind of torn what to think of either of these tracks. “Love Kills” is the better of the two, from the soundtrack of the movie Metropolis. But Queen clearly saw something in “I Was Born to Love You,” as the remaining members of the band reworked it for their 1995 album Made in Heaven. Neither of them really blow me away. I think Mr. Hughes likes “Love Kills” more than me, though.

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