Drummer Rob Hirst, who co-founded the Australian rock group Midnight Oil and co-wrote some of the band’s biggest hits, has died. He was 70.
The group announced his death in a social media post on Jan. 20 but did not specify a date or cause. However, Hirst had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2023, Deadline reported. Hirst publicly revealed his condition in April 2025.
“After fighting heroically for almost three years, Rob is now free of pain -- ‘a glimmer of tiny light in the wilderness,’” the band wrote on Facebook. “He died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones.”
In addition to his hard-driving drumming ability, Hirst co-wrote some of Midnight Oil’s biggest songs, including the group’s 1987 signature hit, “Beds are Burning.”
He also co-wrote “Blue Sky Mine” (1990), “Forgotten Years” (1990), “Power and the Passion” (1982) and “King of the Mountain” (1990). The latter song, an anti-war anthem, “was Hirst’s answer to ‘Born in the U.S.A.,’” The Guardian wrote in 2022.
Hirst was born on Sept. 5, 1955, in Camden, New South Wales. According to Deadline, he formed a trio with schoolmates Jim Moginie on guitar and keyboards and Andrew “Bear” James on bass.
After playing under several names, the group added lead singer Peter Garrett in 1973, with guitarist Martin Rotsey joining the group in 1977.
The group officially changed its name to Midnight Oil in 1976.
Midnight Oil released its self-titled debut album in 1978 and went on to win 11 Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) awards. The group was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006.
The band’s 1987 album, “Diesel and Dust,” featured “Beds are Burning” and “The Dead Heart,” both co-written by Hirst.
“Beds Are Burning” hit No. 1 in three countries and was a top-10 hit in several others, Deadline reported.
It also rose to No. 6 on Billboard’s Album Rock Tracks chart.
The single “Blue Sky Mine” became the band’s biggest U.S. hit, reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts.
The songs Midnight Oil performed were politically charged, and Hirst had a hand in many of them. The lyrics of “Forgotten Years,” which also topped the Modern Rock chart, noted that the pain “aches like tetanus, it reeks of politics.”
The band took a break in 2002 and reunited in 2016, when it would release two more albums, People reported.
The group finally disbanded in 2022 after racking up six No. 1 ARIA albums.
“Rob was brash, funny and super intelligent, contrary to the clichéd view of drummers,” Moginie wrote in his 2024 memoir “The Silver River.”
According to The Guardian, Moginie called the drummer Midnight Oil’s “engine room, onstage and off.”
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