END THE SHAME

So. Last night, we trotted along like My Little Pony to see the Frente reunion gig at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne. And it was marvellous, viewers! We don't care about all the hating that appears to be going on over in the various comments pages at ausculture.com - we have always loved Frente - particularly when they are at their most cloying and twee. It was truly a beautiful thing to see that Angie Hart and Simon Austin have well and truly buried the hatchet and have got it together to the extent that they are able to bang out almost all the "old favourites". Here is a picture of a hatchet similar to the one that Angie and Simon buried:



Now, where were we. The gig, right. Thinking about it today, Angie Hart reminds us a lot of Kylie Minogue in manner, if not stylistically. Both women are diligent, straightfoward, workmanlike performers. They know what the audience wants, and they proceed to go out, night after night, and flawlessly provide it, in a style that could only be described as "consummately professional". No dicking around, no vocal histrionics, no unnecessary carrying on - they both just DO THEIR JOB. A significant difference, however, is that while Kylie has come to terms with her past and now bangs out "Hand on your heart" to anyone who'll listen, Angie refused last night, as she did the last time we saw Frente back in 1996, to perform "Accidently Kelly Street". It's as though the song just DOESN'T EXIST! This is all very unfortunate. Fop can assure Ms Hart, "Accidently Kelly Street" definitely does exist and will continue to do so, in the minds and hearts of anyone who was in the mood for some charming, pretty and unique Australian pop back in 1994. Without that song, Frente would be LARGELY UNKNOWN! How DARE they leave it out, at their reunion gig! We recognise that the omission of "AKS" was almost certainly due to the fact that the song made Frente something of a joke, mainly because of an unfunny D-Generation song parody that picked up on the jaunty nature of the song and the oversized props in the video - how terribly incisive that was. And we know, to some extent, how Angie and Frente feel, about having a musical embarrassment of sorts in one's "repertoire" - here at Fop, we have experienced the full gamut of derision and physical abuse on account of our ownership of, and love for, our maxi-single of that bloated mid-90s opus, "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" by Celine Dion. But do you know, that in recent times, we seem to be experiencing more respect and less outright hatred as a result of our love for The Celine. It's time to EMBRACE our musical embarrassments, Angie Hart - especially when they are the most out-and-out pop moments of our short careers. No one at a Frente reunion gig is going to give you any grief for performing "Accidently Kelly Street", for goodness sake! Why, millions of Australian, and possibly New Zealander, children were enthralled by that song! Surely Kelly Street haters are negligible minority these days. Stand up and be proud of your big hits! The shame ends here! (And the same applies to you Tina Arena, in respect of "I Need Your Body" - HOW can this, the best song you ever put your name to by a country MILE, NOT be on your Greatest Hits, you RIDICULOUS WOMAN?)