ARIA Music Awards of 1988

Ceremony details

Midnight Oil won "Best Cover Art" for Diesel and Dust and both "Best Single" and "Best Song" for "Beds Are Burning". A fracas developed between manager Gary Morris, accepting awards for Midnight Oil, and former Countdown compere Ian "Molly" Meldrum who was presenting:

I think Molly was a little precious. He was in awe of Bryan [Ferry], whereas I had an attitude about bringing over offshore artists to present at a local awards [...] I said something like, 'The Poms look at us as being pretty archaic down here, but we've got room service. You could have ordered an iron, mate'.

Meldrum objected to Morris' political commentary from the podium and making jokes at the expense of Bryan Ferry who was wearing a (deliberately) crumpled suit:

I pointed out that Gary was staying in one of the very expensive hotel rooms, on behalf of Midnight Oil [...] Then I said, 'If we're talking about disrespect, what was he doing up here accepting the awards and not Midnight Oil'. Then it all boiled over.

Karen Middleton of The Canberra Times was disappointed by the ceremony where "[i]nsults flowed almost as freely as the wine and all three of the international guest presenters fell victim to flimsy jokes and foolishness". She felt that Morris was "winner of the unofficial prize for least-liked personality. ... [he] aimed a poor one-liner at British presenter Bryan Ferry". However the "greatest revelation of the evening proved that there are more sore losers in the business than the small screen would lead us to believe. When a winner happened to be a little unpopular, the beautiful people booed".

Awards and nominations

Winners are listed first and bolded, other final nominees (where known) are listed alphabetically.

ARIA Awards

Album of the Year

Icehouse – Man of Colours

Single of the Year

Midnight Oil – "Beds Are Burning"

Dave Dobbyn with Herbs – "Slice of Heaven"

Icehouse – "Crazy"

Highest Selling Album

Icehouse – Man of Colours

Highest Selling Single

Kylie Minogue – "Locomotion"

Dave Dobbyn with Herbs – "Slice of Heaven"

Best Group

Crowded House

Hunters & Collectors

Icehouse

INXS

Midnight Oil

Best Female Artist

Jenny Morris – Body and Soul

Anne Kirkpatrick – Come Back Again

Kate Ceberano

Sharon O'Neill

Shona Laing

Best Male Artist

John Farnham

Best New Talent

Weddings Parties Anything – Scorn of the Women

Dave Dobbyn

James Reyne

Lime Spiders

Painters and Dockers

Best Country Album

Flying Emus – This Town

Anne Kirkpatrick – Come Back Again

Best Indigenous Release

Gondwanaland – Gondwanaland

Australia all Over – Australia all Over

Flying Emus – This Town

Midnight Oil – Diesel and Dust

Warumpi Band – Go Bush

Best Adult Contemporary Album

John Farnham – "Touch of Paradise"

Best Comedy Release

The 12th Man – Wired World of Sports

Garry Who – "Life's Just a Routine"

Fine Arts Awards

Best Jazz Album

Vince Jones – It All Ends Up in Tears

The Don Burrows Quintet with the Adelaide Connection – Nice 'n' Easy

Best Classical Album

Voss (Australian Opera) – Voss

Dave Loew and the National Arts Orchestra Australia – Debut

Best Children's Album

Peter Combe – Toffee Apple

Best Original Soundtrack / Cast / Show Recording

Original Australian Cast Recording – Nine

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Mario Millo) – The Lighthorsemen

Artisan Awards

Song of the Year

Peter Garrett, Rob Hirst & Jim Moginie – "Beds Are Burning" (Midnight Oil)

Dave Dobbyn – "Slice of Heaven" (Dave Dobbyn with Herbs)

Icehouse – "Crazy"

Producer of the Year

Mark Opitz

Andrew Farriss

Jon Farriss

Engineer of the Year

David Nicholas – Richard Clapton – Glory Road, INXS – Kick

Best Video

Claudia Castle – Paul Kelly – "To Her Door"

Best Cover Art

Ken Duncan, Creative Type Wart, Gary Morris, Midnight Oil – Midnight Oil – Diesel and Dust

Outstanding Achievement Award

John Farnham

ARIA Hall of Fame inductees

The inaugural Hall of Fame inductees were:

AC/DC

Slim Dusty

Col Joye

Johnny O'Keefe

Dame Joan Sutherland

Vanda & Young