''Species Deceases'' is an extended play by

Australian rock Rock music in Australia, also known as Oz rock, Australian rock and Aussie rock, is rock music from Australia. The nation has a rich history of rock music and an appreciation of the roots of various rock genres, usually originating in the United ...

music group,

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by H ...

, which was released on 26 November 1985 under the CBS record label. ''Species Deceases'' debuted at No. 1 on the Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...

Singles Chart for six weeks from December 1985 to January 1986. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replaci ...

(ARIA) created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. It was the first Australian single and/or EP to reach the number-one spot on its chart appearance and remains Midnight Oil's only No. 1 on the national singles chart.

Background

On 26 November 1985, Australian rock music group,

, released a four-track extended play, ''Species Deceases''. At the time Midnight Oil consisted of

Peter Garrett Peter Robert Garrett (born 16 April 1953) is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and former politician. In 1973, Garrett became the lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil. As a performer he is known for his signa ...

on lead vocals and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

;

Peter Gifford Peter Gifford (born 5 April 1955), sometimes known as "Giffo," is an Australian musician. From 1980 until 1987, he played bass guitar, Chapman Stick and sang backing vocals for Australian rock band Midnight Oil. Midnight Oil Gifford is credi ...

on bass guitar and backing vocals;

Rob Hirst Robert George Hirst (born 3 September 1955) is an Australian musician from Camden, New South Wales. He is a founding member of rock band Midnight Oil on drums, percussion and backing vocals (sometimes lead vocals) from the 1970s until the band ...

on drums and backing vocals;

Jim Moginie James Moginie (born 18 May 1956) is an Australian musician. He is best known for his work with Midnight Oil, of which he is a founding member, guitarist, keyboardist and leading songwriter. Career In addition to Midnight Oil, Moginie has work ...

on lead guitar and keyboards; and

Martin Rotsey Martin Rotsey is an Australian guitarist and a member of the rock band Midnight Oil, which was active from 1977 to 2002 and resumed performing together in 2017. Career In 2006, he joined fellow Midnight Oil member Rob Hirst's projects Ghostwrit ...

on lead guitar. It was produced with Francois Kevorkian at Paradise Studios,

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...

for Sprint Music and distributed by the CBS/Columbia label. ''Species Deceases'' became a big favourite of FM Radio around the world, with all four songs enjoying frequent airplay, sometimes all of them played back-to-back. According to Australian musicologist,

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the '' Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, ''Species Deceases'', with the track "Hercules", featured "a stripped-back pub-rock sound. In terms of sheer sonic firepower, it was one of the band's hardest hitting works". A line from the song "Blossom and Blood" appeared in the message that got flashed on infected computers by the worm WANK: "You talk of times of peace for all and then prepare for war."

Trivial Note

''Species Deceases'' was certified platinum on 14 December 1985, two weeks after its release.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Personnel

;Midnight Oil *

– lead vocals,

– bass guitar, backing vocals *

– drums, backing vocals *

– lead guitar, keyboards *

– lead guitar ;Production work * Producer – Midnight Oil, Francois Kevorkian * Engineer – David Price ** Assistant – Tom Colley * Mixer – David Price, Midnight Oil * Studio – Paradise Studios,

;Art work * Artwork concept – Midnight Oil, Philip Ellett Credits:

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1985 EPs Sprint Music EPs Columbia Records EPs Midnight Oil EPs Number-one singles in Australia Albums produced by François Kevorkian