Remember Midnight Oil? Of course ya do. Who could forget “Beds are Burning”? Being a fatuous music dork, I could point out that the storied Australian band had cranked out many awesome albums before that single that (fleetingly) found them fame here in the US, but whatever. In any case, the clip below dates back to around 1990, around the release of their seventh (see?) studio album, Blue Sky Mine. As explained here, the band were in town to play Radio City Music Hall, and thought it would be a really keen, eco-conscious thing to do (along with, let's face it, great publicity) to play an impromptu protest set in front of what was then the Exxon building at 1251 Avenue of the Americas (conveniently catty-cornered to Radio City). It was a stunt that recalled the Stones' fabled Fifth Avenue press fake-out and U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" clip. I doubt very much that the Exxon corporation shook in its shoes, but I suppose it was a well-intentioned gesture on the part of Midnight Oil. No one could ever fault them for not having their hearts in the right place.
Why am I talking about all this now? Well, because I currently work in the building directly across the street from 1251, and every time I step outside my office, memories of this event flood back. While I also worked at 1271 Avenue of the Americas (aka the TIME-LIFE building) for over a decade, in 1990, you wouldn't have found me in this neighborhood, as at the time, I was sequestered in a cramped, dusty apartment on the Upper East Side, helping produce a tiny independent music magazine ... for no great amount of money and even less credibility, but who knew at the time?
In any case, 22 years later (streuth!, as the Oils might say), Exxon is no longer headquartered at 1251, having moved its New York offices to the seemingly incongruous environs of Brooklyn. Not sure who's holed up in that building, although the equally nefarious Chase Bank has a large share of it. Today, I work at 1250 6th Avenue, which is essentially the ass-end of the more prestigiously monikered "30 Rock." Midnight Oil, meanwhile, burned out in 2002, when lead singer Peter Garrett pursued political office in his native Australia. They reunited, briefly, in 2009, although I doubt the band could even get arrested here today, much less play a massive room like Radio City Music Hall.
Anyway, enjoy this quick taste of 1990 NYC. And if Midnight Oil's rock leaves you cold and clammy, know that they used to rock a bit harder than this slice of accessible pop. Personally speaking, I much prefer their more aggro stuff like "Don't Stand in Line," "Read About It," "The Power and the Passion" and the ass-whuptastic "Best of Both Worlds."
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