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1988 ARIA Music Awards
1988 ARIA Music Awards
Date	29 February 1988
Venue	Sheraton Wentworth Hotel,; Sydney, New South Wales
Most awards	John Farnham (3); Midnight Oil (3);
Website	ariaawards.com.au

The Second Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) was held on 29 February 1988 at the Sheraton Wentworth Hotel in Sydney.^[1]^[2]^[3] Cliff Richard was the host, with Bryan Ferry, Feargal Sharkey and Ian "Molly" Meldrum included as presenters of the 21 awards.^[1] Other presenters were Rudi Grassner (RCA/BMG boss), Col Joye and Richard Wilkins.^[4] There were no live performances and the awards were not televised.^[1] A shouting match developed between manager Gary Morris, accepting awards for Midnight Oil, and former Countdown compere Meldrum who was presenting.^[1]^[4]

Some significant changes were made for the second ARIA Awards. In addition to the categories for the inaugural year, "Best Children's Album" was added.^[1] The ARIA Hall of Fame was also created, with six acts being inducted: AC/DC, Slim Dusty, Col Joye, Johnny O'Keefe, Dame Joan Sutherland and Vanda & Young.^[1] Finally an "Outstanding Achievement Award" was created and first awarded to John Farnham.^[1]

Ceremony details

Midnight Oil won "Best Cover Art" for Diesel and Dust and both "Best Single" and "Best Song" for "Beds Are Burning".^[1]^[2] A shouting match developed between manager Gary Morris, accepting awards for Midnight Oil, and former Countdown compere Ian "Molly" Meldrum who was presenting:^[1]^[2]

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'.^[5]
— Gary Morris

Morris had also objected to ARIA's award category, Best Indigenous Release, as some nominees (including Midnight Oil themselves) had no Indigenous members.^[4] Meldrum objected to Morris' political commentary from the podium and the making jokes at the expense of Bryan Ferry who was wearing a (deliberately) crumpled suit:^[1]^[2]

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.^[5]
— Ian Meldrum

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".^[2] 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".^[2] 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".^[2]

Awards and nominations

Winners are listed first and bolded, other final nominees (where known) are listed alphabetically.^[1]^[2]^[6]

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"^[7]
  - Icehouse – "Crazy"
Highest Selling Album
- Icehouse – Man of Colours
Highest Selling Single
- Kylie Minogue – "Locomotion"
  - Dave Dobbyn with Herbs – "Slice of Heaven"^[7]
Best Group
- Crowded House
Best Female Artist
- Jenny Morris – Body and Soul^[8]
  - Anne Kirkpatrick – Come Back Again^[9]
  - Kate Ceberano
  - Sharon O'Neill
  - Shona Laing
Best Male Artist
- John Farnham
Best New Talent
- Weddings Parties Anything – Scorn of the Women^[8]
Best Country Album
- Flying Emus – This Town
  - Anne Kirkpatrick – Come Back Again^[9]
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^[10]
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^[11]

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)^[7]
  - Icehouse – "Crazy"
Producer of the Year
- Mark Opitz
  - Andrew Farriss^[12]
  - 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:^[1]^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Winners by Year 1988". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Middleton, Karen (3 March 1988). "Music Awards: A Scratch on the Record". The Canberra Times. p. 23. Retrieved 6 December 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Australia 1988 ARIA Awards". ALLdownunder.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c O'Grady, Anthony. "The 2nd Annual ARIA Music Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 16 December 2000. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
^ ^a ^b Jenkins, Jeff; Ian Meldrum (2007). Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia. Melbourne, Vic: Wilkinson Publishing. p. 228–229. ISBN 978-1-921332-11-1. Archived from the original on 24 June 2009.
^ "GOOD Times". The Canberra Times. 11 February 1988. p. 23. Retrieved 19 January 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Aussies fete Dave". Sunday Star. Auckland. 21 February 1988. p. B15.
^ ^a ^b "The Oil Is Burning Brightly". Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney. 1 March 1988. p. 5.
^ ^a ^b "Anne Kirkpatrick". www.countrymusichalloffame.com.au. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
^ "New year family concert". Times. Vol. 93, no. 14. Victor Harbour, South Australia. 18 December 1997. p. 12. Retrieved 5 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Film Details". www.mariomillo.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
^ "INXS: New Sensation". Rolling Stone. 16 June 1988. Retrieved 17 July 2016.