RockLists.com
Cover of Blue Sky Mining by Midnight Oil
Cover: Blue Sky Mining

Song · Midnight Oil

“King of the Mountain” by Midnight Oil

From the album Blue Sky Mining (1990)

“King of the Mountain” by Midnight Oil appears on 19 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1990 and 2019. It was first released in 1990 on the album Blue Sky Mining. Its best result is #25 on the 91X Top 91 Songs of 1990. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #49 alternative song of 1990 and #1,173 alternative song of all time.

19countdowns
5stations
#25best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1990–2019years charted

Watch

Midnight Oil - King Of The Mountain (Official Video)

Video from YouTube (MidnightOilVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"King of the Mountain" came off Midnight Oil's 1990 album Blue Sky Mining, a song by drummer Rob Hirst and Jim Moginie that sounds like a band running uphill and loving the burn. Plenty of people figured it was about Peter Brock and the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama. Hirst has said otherwise: the spark was the footrace up Mount Cooroora, and the beauty and odd history of the Noosa hinterland around it.

Warne Livesey produced it with the band and David Nicholas engineered, and it drives with a stomping, wide-eyed urgency. In America it climbed to number 3 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The video took a swipe at big oil: part of it was shot outside the Exxon Building in Manhattan, the band playing under a banner that needled the company by name.

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1990 30 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1990 107
1990 25 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1990 91

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1999 1041 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
2000 1041 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 1038 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2002 1038 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 1191 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 1023 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2003 858 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) 2044
2004 1023 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 1024 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2007 950 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 883 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 904 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 933 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 964 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 1014 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2014 1055 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2019 1061 WYEP WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 1099

Also listed as: King Of The Mountain.

Charting alongside it in 1990

Best songs of 1990 →
  1. 1Nothing Compares 2 USinéad O'Connor
  2. 2The Only One I KnowThe Charlatans
  3. 3Blue Sky MineMidnight Oil
  4. 4Enjoy the SilenceDepeche Mode
  5. 5Here's Where The Story EndsThe Sundays
  6. 6The Emperor's New ClothesSinéad O'Connor

Comments

Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "King of the Mountain" by Midnight Oil.

Be kind and stay on topic. Guidelines

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.