Diesel and Dust

Diesel and Dust
Studio album by
Midnight Oil
Released21 August 1987
RecordedJanuary–April 1987
StudioAlbert (Sydney)
GenreAlternative rock
Length46:37
LabelSprint / Columbia
ProducerWarne Livesey, Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil chronology
Species Deceases
(1985) 		Diesel and Dust
(1987) 		Blue Sky Mining
(1990)
Singles from Diesel and Dust
  1. "The Dead Heart"
    Released: August 1986
  2. "Beds Are Burning"
    Released: August 1987
  3. "Put Down That Weapon"
    Released: December 1987
  4. "Dreamworld"
    Released: 1988

Diesel and Dust is the sixth studio album by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, released in August 1987 by SPRINT Music label under Columbia Records. Diesel and Dust was produced by Warne Livesey and the band. It is a concept album about the struggles of Indigenous Australians and environmental causes, issues important to the band. It drew inspiration from the Blackfella/Whitefella Tour of remote Indigenous communities with the Warumpi Band and Gondwanaland in 1986. The album peaked at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart for six weeks.

Diesel and Dust has been critically lauded since its release. Rolling Stone editors named it the best album of 1988 (the year of its United States release),[1] and later ranked it the 13th greatest record of the 1980s.[2][3] In October 2010, Diesel and Dust was listed at number 1 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.[4] In December 2021, the album was listed at no. 5 in Rolling Stone Australia's "200 Greatest Albums of All Time" countdown.[5]

  1. ^ "End of Year Critic Lists: 1988". Rolling Stone. Archived at Rocklist.net. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference RS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference McCarthy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference ODonnell was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone Australia, Rolling Stone Australia, 06 December 2021. Retrieved 06 December 2021.