10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 by Midnight Oil

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" was the fourth album from Sydney's Midnight Oil, released in 1982 with Nick Launay producing, and it's the record where the Oils stopped being cult favourites at home and started shouting at the whole of Australasia. Peter Garrett barks and preaches up front, Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey lock their guitars into jagged, wiry patterns, Rob Hirst drives the drums like a pile-driver and Peter Gifford holds down the bass.

The politics sit right on the surface, as they would throughout the band's career, and "Power and the Passion" and "U.S. Forces" were the singles that carried the message. At home it climbed to number 3 on the Kent Music Report and hung around for 171 weeks, and it was also the band's first American release. Its reputation has only grown: in 2011 Triple J listeners put it at number 21 among the Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.