Peter Garrett(I)

To call Peter Garrett a 'rock star' or a 'showman' would be a great insult to him. For Garrett, music was never about a good time, soul tunes and a beat that makes your feet move, it was about life itself! For over 20 years Garrett used the medium of music to convey his political views and messages to across the world. Garrett could best be described as a politician in a rock and roll stars body. Joining Midnight Oil in 1976, Garrett used the band as a means of conveying his strong political message to the world, with challenging songs that dealt with controversial subject matter such as nuclear disarmament, homeless youth, the stolen generation and saying 'sorry' to them, oppresion and the environment. Garrett showed his committment to politics over music when in 1984 he ran for the Australian senate on the Nuclear Disarmament Party. Although marginally losing out, Garrett continued to convey his challenging views to the world through his music. Midnight Oil shocked Australia in the early 80s when Garrett said they refused to appear on popular music show 'Countdown' - Midnight Oil were not showponies, their music had meaning! Some of their popular songs were 'Beds are burning', a challenging demanding song, which states 'the time has come, a facts a fact, the land is theirs, lets give it back', referring to the Australian colonial settlers taking the land from the Aboriginals, 'Black Fella, White Fella' which also examined the plight of the countries Indiginous people, 'Blue Sky Mine', 'Put down that weapon!','the dead heart', 'White belly, black heart' and their anthemic 'The power and the passion'. In 1987 they released their moat critically acclaimed album 'Diesel and Dust' which featured many political messages and pleas on the album. Garrett also collaborated with acclaimed indiginous songwriter Mandawuy Yunupingu for his controversial hit 'Treaty'. In 2000 Garrett performed with Midnight Oil at the sydney olympic games, performing a powerful rendition of 'Beds are Burning'. In a controversial move, all members of Midnight Oil wore shirts with 'sorry' impronted on them. Although Midnight Oil never recaptured their success from their album 'Diesel and dust' they continued to remain one of the countries most important bands right up until 2002, when Garrett announced he would be leaving to pursue his political and environmental goals. Peter Garrett is one of Australia's most powerful singers, and what made him even more powerful was the fact that his music carried a message, and listening to it made one think about what they could do to help make this world a better place.