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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

1982 album by Midnight Oil

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ2738790
Source-derived summary

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 is the fourth studio album by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, released in 1982 by Columbia Records. It hit number 3 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart during 171 total weeks. The band's first US release, it peaked at number 178 on the Billboard 200. At the Countdown Music Awards, it was nominated for Best Australian Album.

In October 2010, the album made the Top 40 of the book 100 Best Australian Albums. It is listed in the Triple J Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time, 2011, at number 21. In December 2021, it was number 19 in Rolling Stone Australia's "200 Greatest Albums of All Time" countdown.

Content

Contrary to the hard rock of Midnight Oil's previous albums, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 has been described as new wave and art rock, with difficult time signatures. Drummer Rob Hirst added, "With that album, we were one of the first Australian bands to get into sequencers and synthesisers. It was quite a landmark album at the time, and still stands up really well, because it managed to combine all the aggression and frustration of Midnight Oil with some amazing studio stuff courtesy of Nick."

The album's closing track "Somebody's Trying to Tell Me Something" contains a note held by the group which continues into the album's runout groove, and emulated on the CD version for just over 40 seconds.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1” as 1982 album by Midnight Oil. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around album and Midnight.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1982, 2010, 2011, 2021—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1982-11. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with album and Midnight providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1”, the useful work is to connect “1982 album by Midnight Oil” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2738790. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1982, 2010, 2011 and 2021.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 primary sources, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 archive and album research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.