(Original article online here) Midnight Oil is a band who have defied all musical fashions to create 12 extraordinary albums (and two EPs) in their 21 year history, with combined international record sales of more than 12 million units - 3 million in Australia alone. A band that has rallied against injustice, apathy, inequality and the lurking evil forces of cynicism and conservatism with sound, fury and righteous indignation. A band that has written more wonderful songs, and more things that count, than virtually any band in the history of music. Redneck Wonderland was recorded in Melbourne with the bulk of the production duties handled by the band and Warne Livesey (Diesel and Dust and Blue Sky Mining). Of the origin of the album's title, Peter Garrett said: From Sony Music Sound Bytes, by Sony Music Australia (Note: this article has not been approved for reproduction.)
"There's a piece of graffiti in Melbourne, by the Yarra River, scrawled on an electricity substation with a map of Australia and the words Redneck Wonderland written across it. Underneath the map is a statement: Will the forests that survived the ice age survive the Howard Government. Save Coolengook Forest, and those two words just stuck with us."