How Midnight Oil’s "Beds Are Burning" Became a Powerful Protest Anthem

Professor of Rock · May 31, 2023 · 22m

In the mid 80s Australian band Midnight Oil was one of the hottest box office draws on their continent, poised to sell out arenas around the country…But instead of accepting the lucrative payouts, they chose to tour the MOST remote areas of the region- for a pittance of what they could’ve made. In these places, singe Peter Garrett and his band witnessed the harsh conditions and poor health that ran amok within the communities they toured in. For decades the people were mistreated by the government, Outraged by what they saw, the band created a song that conveyed their fury and beseeched the…