Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning

What this video is

Released in August 1987 as the second single from Diesel and Dust, 'Beds Are Burning' emerged directly from Midnight Oil's 1986 Blackfella/Whitefella Tour of remote Aboriginal communities across outback Australia, during which the band witnessed firsthand the severe conditions facing Indigenous peoples. The music video literalises the song's geographical and political specificity by filming in the very landscapes…

Why it matters

A landmark of Australian political rock and one of the defining protest music videos of the 1980s. The video established a template for location-based activist rock filmmaking in which documentary authenticity replaces studio spectacle. Its global chart success demonstrated that overtly political,…

The director

Born 1957 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Working primarily as a cinematographer and producer within the Australian film and music video industry, de Groot is credited on features including Strikebound (1984), and documentary productions including…